Re: Should "git log --decorate" indicate whether the HEAD is detached?
- From
Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net>
- Date
- Feb 18, 2015, 19:45 UTC
- Message-ID
- <54E4EBC4.6000802@drmicha.warpmail.net>
- In-Reply-To
- <xmqq8ufv408l.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
Junio C Hamano venit, vidit, dixit 18.02.2015 18:07:
Show 30 quoted lines
> Michael J Gruber <git@drmicha.warpmail.net> writes: > >> "git branch" will tell you your branches and which one is checked out >> (or HEAD); "git status" will tell you the latter. >> >> "git log" is about the DAG which has absolutely nothing to do with what >> you have currently checked out. > > Yeah, that summarizes my reaction, too. More importantly, "log" is > about showing commits and "--decorate" is a way to enrich the > presentation of commits---it talks about commits in terms of refs; > the command and the option is not about describing refs and their > relationships. > > I do not terribly mind showing the fact that HEAD points at a branch > when --decorate talks about HEAD, partly because we will be showing > both HEAD and the branch name _anyway_ in the output. But I am not > sure if the extra bit of information is more helpful to the readers > or being distracting. > > Julien's "HEAD=master, other" vs "HEAD, master, other" may be > subdued enough to be undistracting, I would guess. I do not think > the distinction between "HEAD = master" and "HEAD -> master" would > be useful, on the other hand. We already know that the names listed > all refer to the same commit, which means that we do not have to say > "HEAD is detached" explicitly as long as we have a way to say "HEAD > points at this branch". If HEAD is listed and is not marked to > point at another branch that is shown, by definition it is detached, > no? >
Yep, it very well is. Also, that approach would tell you which branch is checked out, though I don't consider that git log's business.
OTOH, it's "backwards" in the sense that it marks the "ordinary" case (HEAD is symref, branch is checked out) specially compared to the "exceptional/dangerous" case (HEAD is ref, detached). And status, branch will point out that latter case more verbously, too.
Michael