From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:08:00 GMT
Subject: Re: Checkout tag?
Message-ID: <20120122170800.GA29215@burratino>
In-Reply-To: <20120122113115.GA31545@jpl.local>

Hi,

Magnus Bäck wrote:

> Looking at an up to date Git 1.7.9-rc2 man page, it still seems
> slightly inconsistent with itself. The synopsis at the top says
>
>       git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
>
> while the text in the DESCRIPTION section says
>
>       git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...

Hmm, my copy says:

	SYNOPSIS

	git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
	git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] [<commit>]
	git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
	git checkout [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
	git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]

	DESCRIPTION

	... overview ...

	git checkout [<branch>], git checkout -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>],
	git checkout [--detach] [<commit>]

		This form switches branches by updating the index, working
		tree, and HEAD...

	git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...

		When <paths> or --patch are given, git checkout does not
		switch branches. It updates the named paths...

So in the synopsis it lists five forms, and in the description section
it lists two forms, the first of which has three variants.

It's not immediately obvious to me which inconsistency you are
pointing to as a source of confusion.  Could you elaborate, preferably
with suggested wording for a fix?  If you can do so in the form of a
patch, all the better. ;-)

Thanks,
Jonathan