From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:48:16 GMT
Subject: Re: master^ is not a local branch -- huh?!?
Message-ID: <7veil8iqnj.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <fabb9a1e1001291235h26681e65qe4851cae1c536b6d@mail.gmail.com>

Sverre Rabbelier <srabbelier@gmail.com> writes:

>> master^ is a commit (the first parent of master), not a branch (local
>> or otherwise).
>
> Perhaps we should change the message to say "not a branch" if it's not
> a reference to a remote branch? Or simply changing the text to "not a
> (local) branch"?

I think "not a branch" is a good suggestion, whether the target of
checkout is "master^" or "origin/topic".

These days, you can say "git checkout topic" to automagically create a
local "topic" branch that forks from "origin/topic" remote tracking branch
when you have one, thanks to Dscho's UI improvement ideas (one less
reason you may end up on a detached HEAD state without wanting to).