Re: [PATCH] Documentation/git-checkout: make doc. of checkout <tree-ish> clearer

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 18, 2017, 00:26 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqefwqims1.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <5EBADDE444D141918F6873BE8456E026@PhilipOakley>

"Philip Oakley" <philipoakley@iee.org> writes:

Show 5 quoted lines

> I'd guess that the misunderstanding is that you maybe thought that the
> whole directory would be reset to it's old state and the files b and c
> deleted, rather than just the named files present in that old commit
> being extracted. If we'd created and added a file d just before the
> checkout, what should have happened to d, and why?

It probably is a bit unfair to call it "misunderstanding". I've had this entry in the "Leftover Bits" list for quite some time:

    git checkout $commit -- somedir may want to remove somedir/file that
    is not in $commit but is in the original index. Anybody who wants to
    do this needs to consider ramifications and devise transition plans.
    Cf. $gmane/234935

In the thread, this message:

https://public-inbox.org/git/xmqqeh8nxltc.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com/

may be a good summary.