From: Dun Peal Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:16:37 GMT Subject: Re: Proper way to checkout a tag? Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <20101201195125.GC27347@burratino> On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Jonathan Nieder wrote: > The idea is this: when you check out a tag or a remote-tracking > branch, it is not to make changes to it.  Tags are unchanging, > remote-tracking branches track remote state that the user does not > directly control. Yes, users checkout a release tag just so they can build parts of it. There's definitely no intention of creating new changes on top of them, and if there is then it should properly be a head (branch). I guess that's exactly the use-case for detached HEAD, so I guess the answer is that we should all stop being afraid of that superficially scary term. Thanks, D