git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: [BUG] git checkout <branch> allowed with uncommitted changes

From
PJ Weisberg <pj@irregularexpressions.net>
Date
Oct 13, 2011, 19:44 UTC
Message-ID
<CAJsNXTktP_sAOS=nXiyAQOK8LudT-wLRGM+=BoQNt4=-c9otyg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<loom.20111013T171530-970@post.gmane.org>
On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 8:53 AM, arQon <arqon@gmx.com> wrote:
Show 10 quoted lines
>>git co master
> error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by
> checkout:
>        file1.txt
> Please, commit your changes or stash them before you can switch branches.
> Aborting
>
> I'm sure if I thought about it enough (ie re-read Andreas's post a couple
> more times) I'd be able to understand why git gets it right sometimes but
> not other times, but I'm too tired right now. Even when I *am* awake and

Git gets it "right" (by your definition) when file1.txt on one branch is different from file1.txt on the other branch. That means that switching branches would require changing the file, so it refuses to overwrite your changes by doing so. If it CAN switch branches without losing your changes, it does.

The fundamental problem is that you're thinking of the changes to the working tree (which aren't commited) as being "on" some branch. Until they're committed, changes in the working tree are only in the working tree. That's basically the difference between "committed" and "not committed".

-PJ
Previous: Sergei OrganovNext: Holger Hellmuth
Message 29 of 36 in “[BUG] git checkout <branch> allowed with uncommitted changes”
  1. arQonOct 13, 2011
  2. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyOct 13, 2011
  3. Alexey ShumkinOct 13, 2011
  4. arQonOct 13, 2011
  5. Andreas EricssonOct 13, 2011
  6. arQonOct 13, 2011
  7. Carlos Martín NietoOct 13, 2011
  8. arQonOct 13, 2011
  9. Alexey ShumkinOct 13, 2011
  10. Jakub NarebskiOct 13, 2011
  11. arQonOct 13, 2011
  12. Carlos Martín NietoOct 13, 2011
  13. arQonOct 13, 2011
  14. Alexey ShumkinOct 13, 2011
  15. Alexey ShumkinOct 14, 2011
  16. Holger HellmuthOct 13, 2011
  17. Carlos Martín NietoOct 13, 2011
  18. arQonOct 13, 2011
  19. Junio C HamanoOct 13, 2011
  20. arQonOct 13, 2011
  21. Jeff KingOct 14, 2011
  22. Holger HellmuthOct 14, 2011
  23. Victor EngmarkOct 14, 2011
  24. arQonOct 16, 2011
  25. Junio C HamanoOct 16, 2011
  26. Holger HellmuthOct 16, 2011
  27. Carlos Martín NietoOct 13, 2011
  28. Sergei OrganovOct 13, 2011
  29. PJ WeisbergOct 13, 2011
  30. Holger HellmuthOct 13, 2011
  31. arQonOct 13, 2011
  32. Holger HellmuthOct 13, 2011
  33. Victor EngmarkOct 13, 2011
  34. arQonOct 13, 2011
  35. Victor EngmarkOct 14, 2011
  36. Michael J GruberOct 13, 2011

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.