From: Peter Baumann <waste.manager@gmx.de>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:14:31 GMT
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] git checkout: create unparented branch by --orphan
Message-ID: <20100321171431.GE2557@m62s10.vlinux.de>
In-Reply-To: <1269185678-3039-1-git-send-email-erick.mattos@gmail.com>

On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 12:34:38PM -0300, Erick Mattos wrote:
> Similar to -b, --orphan creates a new branch, but it starts without any
> commit.  After running "git checkout --orphan newbranch", you are on a
> new branch "newbranch", and the first commit you create from this state
> will start a new history without any ancestry.
> 
> "git checkout --orphan" keeps the index and the working tree files
> intact in order to make it convenient for creating a new history whose
> trees resemble the ones from the original branch.
> 

Sorry to skim in so late but --orphan sounds - at least to me as a non native
speaker - a little strange. Yes, I know it means "without parents", but
actually it would be the *last* thing I would search for after opening the
manpage.

Wouldn't --empty-parent or --no-parent describe the situation better?
It actually has the benefit that it would match on a search for /parent/,
which I would have searched for if I want to create a new empty branch.

--
Peter