Re: [PATCH v2] advice: add stashBeforeCheckout advice for dirty branch switches
- From
Karthik Nayak <karthik.188@gmail.com>
- Date
- Mar 10, 2026, 14:31 UTC
- Message-ID
- <CAOLa=ZRfaSR2CisUrW0gLf_45KQj1wQZ70F4PZ5XcwWZ--+HhQ@mail.gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <pull.2233.v2.git.git.1773140364525.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
"Arsh Srivastava via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:
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> From: Arsh Srivastava <arshsrivastava00@gmail.com> > > Add a new advice type ADVICE_STASH_BEFORE_CHECKOUT to guide users > when they attempt to switch branches with local modifications that > would be overwritten by the operation. > > This includes: >> New ADVICE_STASH_BEFORE_CHECKOUT enum value in advice.h >> Corresponding "stashBeforeCheckout" entry in advice_setting[] >> New advise_on_checkout_dirty_files() function that lists the > affected files and suggests using git stash push/pop >> Documentation entry in Documentation/config/advice.txt >
Nit: Did you mean to add bullet point here? '>' is generally used to quote text. Perhaps use '-' or '*'.
[snip]
Show 6 quoted lines
> > Documentation/config/advice.adoc | 5 +++++ > advice.c | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > advice.h | 2 ++ > 3 files changed, 34 insertions(+) >
Hmm. Shouldn't there be changes which actually call the newly introduced function? Also shouldn't there be tests added?
Show 13 quoted lines
> diff --git a/Documentation/config/advice.adoc b/Documentation/config/advice.adoc > index 257db58918..8752e05636 100644 > --- a/Documentation/config/advice.adoc > +++ b/Documentation/config/advice.adoc > @@ -126,6 +126,11 @@ all advice messages. > Shown when a sparse index is expanded to a full index, which is likely > due to an unexpected set of files existing outside of the > sparse-checkout. > + stashBeforeCheckout:: > + Shown when the user attempts to switch branches but has > + local modifications that would be overwritten by the > + operation, to suggest using linkgit:git-stash[1] to > + save changes before switching.
Doesn't 'ADVICE_COMMIT_BEFORE_MERGE' already do this?
In one of my repos:
❯ git status On branch master Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
nothing to commit, working tree clean
❯ echo "aldjf" >> LICENSE
❯ git status On branch master Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
Changes not staged for commit: (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed) (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) modified: LICENSE
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
❯ git checkout 0-1-stable error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by checkout: LICENSE Please commit your changes or stash them before you switch branches. Aborting
So won't this simply be duplicating the same message?
Show 45 quoted lines
> statusAheadBehind::
> Shown when linkgit:git-status[1] computes the ahead/behind
> counts for a local ref compared to its remote tracking ref,
> diff --git a/advice.c b/advice.c
> index 0018501b7b..e1264f525c 100644
> --- a/advice.c
> +++ b/advice.c
> @@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ static struct {
> [ADVICE_SET_UPSTREAM_FAILURE] = { "setUpstreamFailure" },
> [ADVICE_SKIPPED_CHERRY_PICKS] = { "skippedCherryPicks" },
> [ADVICE_SPARSE_INDEX_EXPANDED] = { "sparseIndexExpanded" },
> + [ADVICE_STASH_BEFORE_CHECKOUT] = { "stashBeforeCheckout" },
> [ADVICE_STATUS_AHEAD_BEHIND_WARNING] = { "statusAheadBehindWarning" },
> [ADVICE_STATUS_HINTS] = { "statusHints" },
> [ADVICE_STATUS_U_OPTION] = { "statusUoption" },
> @@ -312,3 +313,29 @@ void advise_on_moving_dirty_path(struct string_list *pathspec_list)
> "* Use \"git add --sparse <paths>\" to update the index\n"
> "* Use \"git sparse-checkout reapply\" to apply the sparsity rules"));
> }
> +
> +void advise_on_checkout_dirty_files(struct string_list *file_list)
> +{
> + struct string_list_item *item;
> +
> + if (!file_list->nr)
> + return;
> +
> + fprintf(stderr, _("The following files have local modifications that would\n"
> + "be overwritten by switching branches:\n"));
> + for_each_string_list_item(item, file_list)
> + fprintf(stderr, "\t%s\n", item->string);
> +
> + advise_if_enabled(ADVICE_STASH_BEFORE_CHECKOUT,
> + _("You can save your local changes before switching by running:\n"
> + "\n"
> + "\tgit stash push\n"
> + "\n"
> + "Then restore them after switching with:\n"
> + "\n"
> + "\tgit stash pop\n"
> + "\n"
> + "Or to discard your local changes, use:\n"
> + "\n"
> + "\tgit checkout -- <file>"));
> +}This doesn't seem to be formatted with tabs.