Re: [PATCH v2] checkout: add --autostash option for branch switching

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 12, 2026, 19:50 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqjyvgesjx.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <pull.2234.v2.git.git.1773344022931.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

"Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

Show 17 quoted lines

> From: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
>
> When switching branches, local modifications in the working tree can
> prevent the checkout from succeeding.  While "git rebase" and "git
> merge" already support --autostash to handle this case automatically,
> "git checkout" and "git switch" require users to manually stash and
> unstash their changes.
>
> Teach "git checkout" and "git switch" to accept --autostash and
> --no-autostash options that automatically create a temporary stash
> entry before the branch switch begins and apply it after the switch
> completes.  If the stash application results in conflicts, the stash
> entry is saved to the stash list so the user can resolve them later.
>
> Also add a checkout.autoStash configuration option that enables this
> behavior by default, which can be overridden with --no-autostash on
> the command line.

With this, shouldn't "-m" become a synonym for "--autostash"? For users of "checkout -m", this is a strictly improved version of the same feature, it seems.

Also, "stash" is merely an implementation detail of how we make the merge safer, so from end-user's point of view, this feature is more like "switch to the other branch, while merging the local changes there", so calling it "--merge" or something may be much better than calling it "--autostash".

Other than that, I like the implementation in general.