RE: [PATCH] rebase: learn --discard subcommand

> Date: Sat, 28 May 2011 18:08:44 -0500
> From: jrnieder@gmail.com
> Martin von Zweigbergk wrote:
> > Teach git-rebase the --discard subcommand, which is similar to
> > --abort, but does not move back to the original branch. Suggest this
> > new subcommand to the user where we currently suggest to delete
> > $GIT_DIR/rebase-apply (or rebase-merge).
>
> Good idea.
>
> At first the name --discard made me think it was going to move back to
> the original branch and discard the reset of the patch series being
> rebased. Not sure what a better name would be, though.
>
> > --- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
> > +++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
> > @@ -238,6 +238,9 @@ leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
> [...]
> > +--discard::
> > + Abort the rebase operation without restoring the original branch.
>
> A reader without a complete mental model for what "git rebase" does
> could be very confused by this. One might think: does this mean that
> git has been scribbling over the original branch, and this switch
> almost completely cancels that but leaves the branch still
> scribbled-on?
>
> How about something like:
>
> --keep-head::
> When aborting a rebase, do not check out the original branch
> but leave the HEAD alone. This can be useful if you forgot
> about a conflicted or interactive rebase in progress and have
> been committing on top of one of the commits being replayed.
>
> ?
>
> Agh, "git rebase --abort --keep-head" feels a little too long to be
> memorable. Still, hope that helps.