Re: git checkout -b origin/mybranch origin/mybranch

From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Date: Mar 12, 2009, 13:02 UTC
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.1.00.0903121357320.6335@intel-tinevez-2-302>
In-Reply-To: <43d8ce650903120448x51220ba0k660be7706acba755@mail.gmail.com>

Hi,

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009, John Tapsell wrote:

Show 24 quoted lines

> 2009/3/12 Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>:
>
> > On Thu, 12 Mar 2009, John Tapsell wrote:
> >
> >>   One of my collegues did:
> >>
> >> git checkout origin/somebranch
> >>
> >>   git complained that they need to specify the name with -b.  So they did:
> >>
> >> git checkout -b origin/somebranch origin/somebranch
> >
> > Yeah, a pilot error.  It should have been
> >
> >        $ git checkout -t origin/somebranch
> 
> Maybe the error message for "git checkout origin/somebranch"  should
> suggest:  git checkout -t origin/somebranch?
> 
> > I have to wonder, though, why "git checkout origin/somebranch" did not
> > detach your HEAD.
> 
> It did.  But that doesn't affect doing "git checkout -b
> origin/somebranch origin/somebranch"  afterwards.

So did the warning read something like this?

-- snip --
moving to "d36a18dc9cdf1dfce8632e42491b826387aa3230" which isn't a local 
branch
If you want to create a new branch from this checkout, you may do so
(now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example:
  git checkout -b <new_branch_name>
-- snap --

If so, why did you not follow the recipe

	$ git checkout -b somebranch

but something like

	$ git checkout -b origin/somebranch origin/somebranch

I do not think there is a way to tell the user more explicitely what to do without insulting the user's intelligence ;-)

> > I wonder why you did not just "git branch -m somebranch".
> 
> Because they didn't know what on earth was going on, and git was 
> spitting out errors everywhere, they were afraid git would crash.

Yeah, I know those reactions. All of a sudden, people panic, destroying everything in the process. Do tell them to calm down first of all. Unless you do something like "rm -rf .git" or "git branch -d", it is actually pretty hard to lose data with Git.

Ciao, Dscho