From: Martin <git@mfriebe.de>
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2021 15:23:23 GMT
Subject: switch requires --detach [[Re: What actually is a branch]]
Message-ID: <57f316cb-850d-706a-592b-4376f240e032@mfriebe.de>
In-Reply-To: <60e8666c8707f_2153208c0@natae.notmuch>


On 09/07/2021 17:08, Felipe Contreras wrote:
> and the fact that
> `git switch` expects branches is one of the things that bothers me about
> it.

Ah, good point.

I would word it differently though.
"git switch forces the use of --detach if switching to a non branch"

Bit of a twist.
It's a nice safety for beginners. I remember when I started, I kept 
ending up detached. And I had no idea what to do next.


But once you are a bit more experienced the need to add that option can 
be bothersome.
It's not common in my workflow, but I can see that it can be an issue.

So how to remedy?

- Drop the option / Make it default?
- add --allow-detach  and git config switch.detach allow ?

I don't really have a preference.

I think its a nice protection, but even without it, the warning on 
entering detached HEAD state is pretty good.


There is also a curious side effect.

If you went into detached, you can go back to attached using
   git switch -

but not back to detached by again doing
   git switch -

Even though you had been there, and that means you had used --detached, 
and therefore known what you did.