Re: Instructions concerning detached head lead to lost local changes

From: Nicolas Pitre <nico@cam.org>
Date: Feb 2, 2007, 02:49 UTC
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0702012135550.3021@xanadu.home>
In-Reply-To: <7v1wl9mj48.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> Alternatively we could add yet another suggestion that let's you
> discard the detached HEAD but still keep your local changes.
> Either --drop by Linus renamed to some sensible name, or "the
> obscure but useful trick".
> 
> I dunno.

I have a feeling that proper reflog for HEAD would make the issue so much simpler.

But in the mean time I tend to agree with Ted about the fact that simply losing the detached position is not _that_ important. If you go to HEAD^ and want to come back to master I think it should just work (with a display of what the last position was as Carl mentioned).

It might be some work to get to a given position with a detached head and this very position might be valuable information, but if you then do "checkout HEAD^" you will still be detached but your previous position is lost just like it would be if you moved to master. Yet you're not prevented from going to HEAD^ but you are prevented from going to master.

Same issue if you perform a commit on top of a detached head. Nothing prevents you from doing "checkout HEAD^" which will leave your head detached but it will also silently drop your last commit dangling.

In short I think there is no magic solution other than proper reflog for HEAD.

Nicolas