Re: [PATCH] Docs: git checkout --orphan: `root commit' and `branch head'

From: Michael Witten <mfwitten@gmail.com>
Date: Sep 28, 2011, 15:06 UTC
Message-ID: <CAMOZ1Bs5GKE19nd+9sVQuEH+zRCug0OTGXAqpDjEgq=_pKzZxA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <vpq39fglo8y.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 14:45, Matthieu Moy <Matthieu.Moy@grenoble-inp.fr> wrote:

Show 26 quoted lines

> Michael Witten <mfwitten@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> Even if you use it normally:
>>>
>>> # I want to create a new root commit with a different tree
>>> git checkout -b new-project
>>> # hack for a while
>>> git status
>>> # ?!? why are files shown as 'deleted', 'moved', 'modified', I said I
>>> # was creating a new project!
>>>
>>> Also, with your proposal, we would need to add two flags to "commit"
>>> (--no-parent and --force), which is one of the first command beginners
>>> learn, while in the current state we have just one for "checkout" to do
>>> the trick, and newbies do not use or read the doc for checkout, so it's
>>> not scary for them.
>>
>> Well, those are mildly interesting scenarios. I can only say that I don't
>> think we should cater to people who either have amnesia or work casually
>> on a repository for short bursts every few months or so.
>
> How is the "git status" issue above linked to any kind of amnesia?
>
> When hacking to create a rootless commit, it seems legitimate to me to
> run "git status", and it seems _very_ confusing that "git status" still
> refers to the commit you don't want as parent.

I think "confusing" is perhaps the wrong word. How about "annoying"?

I suppose it is true that neither "--orphan" nor "--no-parent" is good enough alone. For instance:

  # I want to create a new root commit with a slightly different tree
  git checkout --orphan new-project
  # hack just a bit here and there
  git status
  # ?!? My slight alterations are obscured by hundreds of these
  #     "new file" status notifications!

> (I don't get the relation between your reply and the paragraph right
> above it either)

Is that a passive aggressive French way to state that I didn't respond to your concern?

I think it's moot now, anyway, given that both "--orphan" and "--no-parent" quite possibly have their logical purposes. However, perhaps:

  git checkout --orphan

should be renamed:

  git checkout --no-parent

in order to match:

  git commit --no-parent