Re: Find the starting point of a local branch
- From
Martin von Zweigbergk <martinvonz@gmail.com>
- Date
- Dec 24, 2012, 17:24 UTC
- Message-ID
- <CANiSa6iSYvLbp1s8h9pwi=P1m0QdZPqf06hAm+4muChgJUuj=g@mail.gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <20121224073103.GA10793@zuhnb712>
On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 11:31 PM, Woody Wu <narkewoody@gmail.com> wrote:
Show 33 quoted lines
> On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 11:09:58PM -0500, Seth Robertson wrote: >> >> In message <20121224035825.GA17203@zuhnb712>, Woody Wu writes: >> >> How can I find out what's the staring reference point (a commit number >> or tag name) of a locally created branch? I can use gitk to find out it >> but this method is slow, I think there might be a command line to do it >> quickly. >> >> The answer is more complex than you probably suspected. >> >> Technically, `git log --oneline mybranch | tail -n 1` will tell you >> the starting point of any branch. But...I'm sure that isn't what you >> want to know. >> >> You want to know "what commit was I at when I typed `git branch >> mybranch`"? > > Yes, this is exactly I want to know. > >>The problem is git doesn't record this information and >> doesn't have the slightest clue. >> >> But, you say, I can use `gitk` and see it. See? Right there. That >> isn't (necessarily) the "starting point" of the branch, it is the >> place where your branch diverged from some other branch. Git is >> actually quite able to tell you when the last time your branch >> diverged from some other branch. `git merge-base mybranch master` >> will tell you this, and is probably the answer you were looking for. > > This is not working to me since I have more than one local branch that > diverged from the master, and in fact, the branch I have in question was > diverged from another local branch.
As Jeff mentions in a later message, "git pull --rebase" would probably do what you want. It works with local branches too.
I once tried to add the same cleverness that "git pull --rebase" directly in "git rebase" [1], but there were several issues with those patches, one of was regarding the performance ("git pull --rebase" can be equally slow, but since it often involves network, users probably rarely notice). I think it would be nice to at least add it as an option to "git rebase" some day. Until then, "git pull --rebase" works fine.
[1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/166710