Re: [RFC] Teach git-branch howto rename a branch

From: Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com>
Date: Nov 25, 2006, 11:00 UTC
Message-ID: <8c5c35580611250300q521c5723t2d356d73d4c4fdb6@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4c8ef70611250239h4e03b9c7k971b60187aa0f56d@mail.gmail.com>

On 11/25/06, Fredrik Kuivinen <frekui@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 16 quoted lines

> On 11/25/06, Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com> wrote:
> > This adds a '--rename' option to git branch. If specified, branch
> > creation becomes branch renaming.
> >
> > With a single branchname, the current branch is renamed and .git/HEAD is
> > updated.
> >
> > With two branchnames, the second name is renamed to the first.
>
> Nice idea. But wouldn't it be more sensible to rename the first branch to the
> second instead of the other way around? That is, the syntax would be
>
>     git branch --rename FROM TO
>
> which is more similar to how "mv" works.
>

Possibly, but then we would have

  git branch newbranch [oldbranch]

when creating a new branch, and

  git branch --rename [oldbranch] newbranch

for rename/move.

I'd prefer to be "internally consistent", but it does look and feel a little strange...

Another option would be:

  git branch [--rename] [--from <branch>] newbranch

and deprecate the usage of two unnamed argumens for create/rename