git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH 1/6] user-manual: more discussion of detached heads, fix typos

From
JFJ. Bruce Fields <bfields@citi.umich.edu>
Date
May 7, 2007, 05:13 UTC
Message-ID
<36724.5747046129$1178514857@news.gmane.org>
In-Reply-To
<11785148422793-git-send-email->
From: J. Bruce Fields <bfields@citi.umich.edu>

Nicolas Pitre pointed out a couple typos and some room for improvement in the discussion of detached heads.

Signed-off-by: "J. Bruce Fields" <bfields@citi.umich.edu>
Cc: Nicolas Pitre <nico@cam.org>
---
 Documentation/user-manual.txt |   20 +++++++++++++++-----
 1 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
index dff438f..54fd413 100644
--- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt
+++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
@@ -527,17 +527,16 @@ and git branch shows that you are no longer on a branch:
 ------------------------------------------------
 $ cat .git/HEAD
 427abfa28afedffadfca9dd8b067eb6d36bac53f
-git branch
+$ git branch
 * (no branch)
   master
 ------------------------------------------------
 
 In this case we say that the HEAD is "detached".
 
-This can be an easy way to check out a particular version without having
-to make up a name for a new branch.  However, keep in mind that when you
-switch away from the (for example, by checking out something else), you
-can lose track of what the HEAD used to point to.
+This is an easy way to check out a particular version without having to
+make up a name for the new branch.   You can still create a new branch
+(or tag) for this version later if you decide to.
 
 Examining branches from a remote repository
 -------------------------------------------
@@ -1560,8 +1559,19 @@ $ git show master@{2}		# See where the branch pointed 2,
 $ git show master@{3}		# 3, ... changes ago.
 $ gitk master@{yesterday}	# See where it pointed yesterday,
 $ gitk master@{"1 week ago"}	# ... or last week
+$ git log --walk-reflogs master	# show reflog entries for master
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+A separate reflog is kept for the HEAD, so
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git show HEAD@{"1 week ago"}
 -------------------------------------------------
 
+will show what HEAD pointed to one week ago, not what the current branch
+pointed to one week ago.  This allows you to see the history of what
+you've checked out.
+
 The reflogs are kept by default for 30 days, after which they may be
 pruned.  See gitlink:git-reflog[1] and gitlink:git-gc[1] to learn
 how to control this pruning, and see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS"
-- 
1.5.1.1.98.gedb4f
Next: J. Bruce Fields
Message 1 of 9 in “user-manual: more discussion of detached heads, fix typos”
  1. 1/6 user-manual: more discussion of detached heads, fix typosJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  2. 2/6 user-manual: add section ID'sJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  3. 3/6 user-manual: clean up fast-forward and dangling-objects sectionsJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  4. 4/6 user-manual: fix .gitconfig editing examplesJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  5. 5/6 user-manual: miscellaneous editingJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  6. 6/6 user-manual: stop deprecating the manualJ. Bruce Fields, May 7, 2007
  7. Johannes SchindelinMay 7, 2007
  8. Junio C HamanoMay 7, 2007
  9. J. Bruce FieldsMay 8, 2007

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.