Re: Git documentation on branching.
- From
- Samuel Åslund <samuel@update.uu.se>
- Date
- Apr 10, 2017, 10:45 UTC
- Message-ID
- <3b793b18-7911-1859-e54d-8817f9c97a78@update.uu.se>
- In-Reply-To
- <CACBZZX5jD0AhqZ8ucdicW=6s3=HPfpPeyne6jSVbZKnQ+sRZkQ@mail.gmail.com>
On 17/4/10 12:21, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
Show 27 quoted lines
> On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 8:56 AM, Samuel Åslund <samuel@update.uu.se> wrote: >> Hi all. >> >> I just started playing around with branching in git. >> I have been using it more or less as Subversion until now. >> >> One feature with "git branch xyz" and "git checkout xyz" that is rather >> obvious if you know them but bit me a little since I did not, is that >> uncommitted work in progress is not affected or saved when switching between >> branches. Thus I cleaned up the directory when working with the branch and >> now I'm trying to find a stash where I hopefully have a copy of those files. >> >> Would it be possible to add something in the documentation to warn others >> that uncommitted work is not saved or affected by branching? > > The main UI in git for switching branches is "git checkout", and it's > mentioned in the second paragraph of the documentation: > > "[when switching branches] local modifications to the files in the > working tree are kept, so that they can be committed to the > <branch>.". > > Did you read this and find it unclear, and if so can you elaborate on > what the confusion was, maybe we can fix the docs with that in mind? > > Or did you read some entirely different docs (what docs?) where we're > perhaps not mentioning this as prominently?
No, I did not read the git checkout manpage. When I googled "git branch" I got the two pages mentioned below and this one: Git - Basic Branching and Merging https://git-scm.com/.../Git-Branching-Basic-Branching-and-Mer...
I find that mostly manpages require some context before they are useful so I go for the more wordy pages when trying to get my head around something new. Neither of the three top-hits on google included the local modifications comment where I noticed it. An actual search for that string right now does not find anything either.
The comment you refer to in the git checkout man-page is probably enough heads-up for someone who knows git reasonably well, I do not know if it would have made me realize exactly how the feature works. I'm not even sure I know how "local modifications" is defined in Git terminology, does it include "(un)staged changes", and or untracked files?
Thanks for the attention.
Show 16 quoted lines
>> The first two hits on my google search was very informative about branching >> but I did not see that specific nugget of information (I might have been >> careless reading, but if I did not see it others will probably also miss >> it). >> >> Git - git-branch Documentation >> https://git-scm.com/docs/git-branch >> >> Git - Branches in a Nutshell >> https://git-scm.com/book/.../Git-Branching-Branches-in-a-Nutsh... >> >> This is my first try to contribute to the Git community, I hope it will be >> useful to somebody. >> >> Regards, >> //Samuel