Re: [PATCH] commit: do not switch branch during a rebase unless -f is given

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sep 28, 2010, 05:38 UTC
Message-ID: <7vfwwuv35o.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <1285649564-24737-1-git-send-email-pclouds@gmail.com>

Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy  <pclouds@gmail.com> writes:

Show 8 quoted lines

> It does not make much sense to switch branch when you are in a middle
> of a rebase. Sometimes you might want to switch away for a moment then
> back with "git checkout - ". But I find myself so many times switching
> away then forget that I was rebasing something.
>
> Avoid doing that by default. Users can use -f if they really want to.
>
> Signed-off-by: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>

I think you need to retitle the patch.

You should realize that overloading "-f" and conflating its totally different meaning, which is to discard local changes, with this new usage to say "override the 'you are in rebase' switch" closes the door to future improvements we could make to rebase so that it does not to require a totally clean working tree. It would be Ok with today's rebase, as you wouldn't have local changes when it runs, but we might regret this 9 months down the road.

>  I know there are other commands like rebase ("git am" comes to mind)
>  but I don't use those. Feel free to put some more on top if somebody
>  finds it a good thing to do.

If you envision something similar to be used during "git am", then you really shouldn't be reusing "-f", as "git am" is designed to be usable in a dirty working tree.