From: Duy Nguyen <pclouds@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 13 May 2018 06:03:24 GMT
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] checkout.c: add strict usage of -- before file_path
Message-ID: <CACsJy8DZ1QvjO+JdbB76TOLtB2wp4Ya+CgsTyD1oz2Y+ZdKdYQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <1526178214-30956-1-git-send-email-danniercl@gmail.com>

On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 4:23 AM, Dannier Castro L <danniercl@gmail.com> wrote:
> Currently, <checkout> is a complex command able to handle both
> branches and files without any distintion other than their names,
> taking into account that depending on the type (branch or file),
> the functionality is completely different, the easier example:
>
> $ git checkout <branch>  # Switch from current branch to <branch>.
> $ git checkout <file>    # Restore <file> from HEAD, discarding
>                          # changes if it's necessary.
> $ git checkout -- <file> # The same as the last one, only with an
>                          # useless '--'.
>
> For GIT new users, this complicated versatility of <checkout> could
> be very confused, also considering that actually the flag '--' is
> completely useless (added or not, there is not any difference for
> this command), when the same program messages promote the use of
> this flag.

I would like an option to revert back to current behavior. I'm not a
new user. I know what I'm doing. Please don't make me type more.

And '--" is not completely useless. If you have <file> and <branch>
with the same name, you have to give "--" to to tell git what the
first argument means.

> Regarding the <checkout>'s power to overwrite any file, discarding
> changes if they exist without some way of recovering them, the
> solution propuses that the usage of '--' is strict before to
> specify the file(s) path(s) for any <checkout> command (including
> all types of flags), as a "defense barrier" to make sure about
> user's knowledge and intension running <checkout>.
>
> The solution consists in detect '--' into command args, allowing
> the discard of changes and considering the following names as
> file paths, otherwise, they are branch names.
-- 
Duy