Re: [PATCH 1/1] reset: fix reset when using the sparse-checkout feature.

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sep 9, 2017, 03:18 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqr2vgy2yt.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <SN1PR21MB0014638E5D9CBFD0D9D85F10B7950@SN1PR21MB0014.namprd21.prod.outlook.com>

Kevin Willford <kewillf@microsoft.com> writes:

Show 11 quoted lines

> 1. reset mixed when there were files that were added
>
> In this case the index will no longer have the entry at all because
> the reset is making the index look like before the file was added
> which didn't have it. When not using the sparse-checkout this is fine
> because the file is in the working directory and the reset didn't touch
> it.  But using the sparse-checkout on that file and if the file was not
> in the working directory, the index gets reset and the entry for that
> file is gone and if we don't put the index version of the file before the
> reset into the working directory, then we have lost the content for
> that file

I do not quite understand this argument.  If you do

	edit $path
	git add $path
	rm $path
	git reset

for a $path that is not involved in the sparse thing, the version that was previously indexed will be lost, but that is fine---the user said that version is expendable by saying "reset".

How would that be different when the $path were not to be materialized in the working tree due to sparseness? Where did that "blob" object in the index immediately before you called "reset" came from, and why do you say that the user does *not* consider that one expendable, unlike the case for non-sparse path example above?

I suspect that a similar reasoning would apply to your 2., but I didn't think it through.

The possible misconception, which I perceive in both of these, is that you are somehow disagreeing with this basic assumption: by saying "git reset [<tree-ish>]", the user is telling us that the version in the index, even if that is different from HEAD, <tree-ish>, or the file in the working tree, is *unwanted* and be replaced with the one in HEAD (or <tree-ish> when given). Touching the working tree files upon "git reset" is the last thing the user expects to happen.