From: Junio C Hamano Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:29:33 GMT Subject: Re: Remote tracking option hint for git-switch still shows git-checkout command Message-ID: In-Reply-To: Simon Cheng writes: > When `git-switch my-branch` is unable to guess a unique remote > tracking branch, the shown hint still displays an example with the > `git-checkout` command. > > ❯ git switch my-branch > hint: If you meant to check out a remote tracking branch on, e.g. 'origin', > hint: you can do so by fully qualifying the name with the --track option: > hint: > hint: git checkout --track origin/ > hint: > hint: If you'd like to always have checkouts of an ambiguous prefer > hint: one remote, e.g. the 'origin' remote, consider setting > hint: checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config. > fatal: 'my-branch' matched multiple (2) remote tracking branches > > Of course that works too, but it keeps the user guessing whether the > `--track` option also exists for `git-switch`. Not to mention that > `git-checkout` is now largely superseded by `git-switch` and > `git-restore` and is no longer recommended, as far as I understand it. > > So I think it makes sense to either: > 1. make the recommended command match the one ran by the user, or > 2. always recommend `git-switch` as opposed to `git-checkout` Here is what I did while waiting for -rc2 to pass my local tests, which is unfinished, but it would be a good start. What missing are (1) get rid of the usagestr[] parameter from checkout_main(), move the usage strings for these three commands into the function scope of checkout_main(), and choose among them based on the value of which_command parameter; (2) tests. We are not deprecating checkout in any way, so #1 is far more preferrable than #2. builtin/checkout.c | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git c/builtin/checkout.c w/builtin/checkout.c index 0ba4f03f2e..4d0e70ea15 100644 --- c/builtin/checkout.c +++ w/builtin/checkout.c @@ -1293,9 +1293,17 @@ static void setup_new_branch_info_and_source_tree( } } + +enum checkout_switch { + CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT = 1, + CHECKOUT_SWITCH = 2, + CHECKOUT_RESTORE = 3, +}; + static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg, struct object_id *rev, - int could_be_checkout_paths) + int could_be_checkout_paths, + enum checkout_switch which_command) { int num_matches = 0; char *remote = unique_tracking_name(arg, rev, &num_matches); @@ -1308,14 +1316,30 @@ static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg, if (!remote && num_matches > 1) { if (advice_enabled(ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME)) { + const char *cmdname; + + switch (which_command) { + case CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT: + cmdname = "checkout"; + break; + case CHECKOUT_SWITCH: + cmdname = "switch"; + break; + default: + BUG("command <%d> should not reach parse_remote_branch", + which_command); + break; + } + advise(_("If you meant to check out a remote tracking branch on, e.g. 'origin',\n" "you can do so by fully qualifying the name with the --track option:\n" "\n" - " git checkout --track origin/\n" + " git %s --track origin/\n" "\n" "If you'd like to always have checkouts of an ambiguous prefer\n" "one remote, e.g. the 'origin' remote, consider setting\n" - "checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config.")); + "checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config."), + cmdname); } die(_("'%s' matched multiple (%d) remote tracking branches"), @@ -1327,6 +1351,7 @@ static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg, static int parse_branchname_arg(int argc, const char **argv, int dwim_new_local_branch_ok, + enum checkout_switch which_command, struct branch_info *new_branch_info, struct checkout_opts *opts, struct object_id *rev) @@ -1436,7 +1461,8 @@ static int parse_branchname_arg(int argc, const char **argv, if (recover_with_dwim) { remote = parse_remote_branch(arg, rev, - could_be_checkout_paths); + could_be_checkout_paths, + which_command); if (remote) { *new_branch = arg; arg = remote; @@ -1767,6 +1793,7 @@ static char cb_option = 'b'; static int checkout_main(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, struct checkout_opts *opts, struct option *options, + enum checkout_switch which_command, const char * const usagestr[]) { int parseopt_flags = 0; @@ -1893,7 +1920,7 @@ static int checkout_main(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, opts->dwim_new_local_branch && opts->track == BRANCH_TRACK_UNSPECIFIED && !opts->new_branch; - int n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok, + int n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok, which_command, &new_branch_info, opts, &rev); argv += n; argc -= n; @@ -2032,6 +2059,7 @@ int cmd_checkout(int argc, options = add_checkout_path_options(&opts, options); return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options, + CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT, checkout_usage); } @@ -2071,6 +2099,7 @@ int cmd_switch(int argc, cb_option = 'c'; return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options, + CHECKOUT_SWITCH, switch_branch_usage); } @@ -2107,5 +2136,6 @@ int cmd_restore(int argc, options = add_checkout_path_options(&opts, options); return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options, + CHECKOUT_RESTORE, restore_usage); }