Re: [PATCH 1/5] revisions.txt: document more special refs

From

Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>

Date

Apr 14, 2023, 21:14 UTC

Message-ID

<ZDnCMegeiw0kT5oj@nand.local>

In-Reply-To

<ebcf2426-db40-e967-9db5-532869cac8ff@github.com>

On Fri, Apr 14, 2023 at 12:49:16PM -0700, Victoria Dye wrote:

> To help with that, you could create visual separation in the rendered doc by
> adding a '+' between each special ref description; converting them into a
> bullet pointed list would also work, I think.

--- 8< ---

diff --git a/Documentation/revisions.txt b/Documentation/revisions.txt
index 98b8f89bc8..b34f981622 100644
--- a/Documentation/revisions.txt
+++ b/Documentation/revisions.txt
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ characters and to avoid word splitting.
   explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell Git which one you mean.
   When ambiguous, a '<refname>' is disambiguated by taking the
   first match in the following rules:
-
++
   . If '$GIT_DIR/<refname>' exists, that is what you mean (this is usually
     useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD`, `ORIG_HEAD`, `MERGE_HEAD`,
     `REBASE_HEAD`, `REVERT_HEAD`, `CHERRY_PICK_HEAD` and `BISECT_HEAD`);
@@ -44,26 +44,34 @@ characters and to avoid word splitting.
   . otherwise, 'refs/remotes/<refname>' if it exists;

   . otherwise, 'refs/remotes/<refname>/HEAD' if it exists.
+
 +
-`HEAD` names the commit on which you based the changes in the working tree.
-`FETCH_HEAD` records the branch which you fetched from a remote repository
-with your last `git fetch` invocation.
-`ORIG_HEAD` is created by commands that move your `HEAD` in a drastic
-way (`git am`, `git merge`, `git rebase`, `git reset`),
-to record the position of the `HEAD` before their operation, so that
-you can easily change the tip of the branch back to the state before you ran
-them.
-`MERGE_HEAD` records the commit(s) which you are merging into your branch
-when you run `git merge`.
-`REBASE_HEAD`, during a rebase, records the commit at which the
-operation is currently stopped, either because of conflicts or an `edit`
-command in an interactive rebase.
-`REVERT_HEAD` records the commit which you are reverting when you
-run `git revert`.
-`CHERRY_PICK_HEAD` records the commit which you are cherry-picking
-when you run `git cherry-pick`.
-`BISECT_HEAD` records the current commit to be tested when you
-run `git bisect --no-checkout`.
+  `HEAD`:::
+    names the commit on which you based the changes in the working tree.
+  `FETCH_HEAD`:::
+    records the branch which you fetched from a remote repository with
+    your last `git fetch` invocation.
+  `ORIG_HEAD`:::
+    is created by commands that move your `HEAD` in a drastic way (`git
+    am`, `git merge`, `git rebase`, `git reset`), to record the position
+    of the `HEAD` before their operation, so that you can easily change
+    the tip of the branch back to the state before you ran them.
+  `MERGE_HEAD`:::
+    records the commit(s) which you are merging into your branch when you
+    run `git merge`.
+  `REBASE_HEAD`:::
+    during a rebase, records the commit at which the operation is
+    currently stopped, either because of conflicts or an `edit` command in
+    an interactive rebase.
+  `REVERT_HEAD`:::
+    records the commit which you are reverting when you run `git revert`.
+  `CHERRY_PICK_HEAD`:::
+    records the commit which you are cherry-picking when you run `git
+    cherry-pick`.
+  `BISECT_HEAD`:::
+    records the current commit to be tested when you run `git bisect
+    --no-checkout`.
+
 +
 Note that any of the 'refs/*' cases above may come either from
 the `$GIT_DIR/refs` directory or from the `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs` file.
--- >8 ---

Thanks,
Taylor