[PATCH 5/5] doc: git-add: explain inconsistent terminology

From: Julia Evans via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 12, 2025, 20:07 UTC
Message-ID: <f7e8e4c63a1205740c2d54368d7bcdd686882680.1755029249.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.1952.git.1755029249.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Julia Evans <julia@jvns.ca>

I think the fact that git uses these three terms interchangeably is extremely confusing and that it deserves to be noted.

Signed-off-by: Julia Evans <julia@jvns.ca>
---
 Documentation/git-add.adoc | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-add.adoc b/Documentation/git-add.adoc
index 77cadbfee8e3..084342155f8b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-add.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-add.adoc
@@ -40,6 +40,13 @@ exact filename of an ignored file (e.g. `git add ignored.txt`), `git
 add` will fail with a list of ignored files. Otherwise it will silently
 ignore the file.
 
+TERMINOLOGY NOTE
+----------------
+
+Git uses the terms "staging area", "index" and "cache" interchangeably
+for historical reasons. Many commands have flags like `--staged`,
+`--index`, or `--cached`, and they all refer to the index.
+
 OPTIONS
 -------
 `<pathspec>...`::

-- 
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