Re: [PATCH v8 3/4] worktree add: add --orphan flag

> On 23/01/16 10:47AM, Phillip Wood wrote:
>> Hi Jacob
>>
>> On 14/01/2023 22:47, Jacob Abel wrote:
>>> On 23/01/13 10:20AM, Phillip Wood wrote:
>>>> Hi Jacob
>>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> I'll reply to this message with the one-off patch to get feedback. Since this is
>>> essentially a discrete change on top of v8, I can either keep it as a separate
>>> patch or reroll depending on how much needs to be changed (and what would be
>>> easier for everyone).
>>>
>>>> 	git worktree add --orphan -b topic main
>>>> 	git worktree add --orphan -B topic main
>>>
>>> I am hesitant to add these as they break away from the syntax used in
>>> `git switch` and `git checkout`.
>>
>> When I wrote my original email I wrongly though that --orphan did not
>> take an argument for "git checkout". While I think it is a mistake for
>> checkout and switch to have --orphan take an argument they do at least
>> always need a branch name with that option. "git worktree" add already
>> has the branch name in the form of the worktree directory in the common
>> case.
> 
> Understood.
> 
> I'm not entirely opposed to making this change to OPT_BOOL but I have to wonder
> how often `--orphan` will actually be used by a given user and whether the
> slightly shorter invocation will be used regularly.
> 
> With the base `git worktree add $path`, the shorthand/DWYM makes sense as it's
> used regularly but I don't see users working with `--orphan` outside of trying
> to create the first branch in a repository.

> And I'd like that operation of creating the first branch in a repo to eventually
> "just work" with the base command, i.e. `git worktree add main/`. The reason I
> hadn't yet added that is because I've yet to figure out how to get it to work
> without accidentally introducing potentially confusing situations and I didn't
> want to hold up introducing the core functionality itself.
> 
> Once that main use-case "just works", I don't see users utilising `--orphan`
> except in very rare circumstances. Doubly so since the average user likely
> shouldn't be using `--orphan` in most cases.

> Hence the question of whether this change would be worth it vs the existing
> `--orphan $branchname $path` which is (for better or worse) consistent with `-b`
> and `-B`.
> 
>>
>>> Also apologies for the tangent but while researching this path, I noticed that
>>> --orphan behaves unexpectedly on both `git switch` and `git checkout` when mixed
>>> with `-c` and `-b` respectively.
>>>
>>>       % git switch --orphan -c foobar
>>>       fatal: invalid reference: foobar
>>>
>>>       % git switch -c --orphan foobar
>>>       fatal: invalid reference: foobar
>>>       % git checkout -b --orphan foobar
>>>       fatal: 'foobar' is not a commit and a branch '--orphan' cannot be created from it
>>>
>>>       % git checkout --orphan -b foobar
>>>       fatal: 'foobar' is not a commit and a branch '-b' cannot be created from it
>>
>> The messages for checkout look better than the switch ones to me as they
>> show the branch name which makes it clearer that we're treating what
>> looks like an option as an argument. What in particular is unexpected
>> here - --orphan and -b take an argument so they'll hoover up the next
>> thing on the commandline whatever it is.
>>
>> Best Wishes
>>
>> Phillip
>>
>>> [...]
> 
> Agreed. I wasn't sure if this would be something worth addressing in a patch but
> at the very least I can work on putting together a small patch for `git switch`
> since it doesn't seem to be hoovering the flags like `git checkout` does.
>