Re: [PATCH] user-manual: remove temporary branch entry from todo list

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Dec 28, 2015, 02:41 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqtwn39tx6.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <1450918023-30309-1-git-send-email-ischis2@cox.net>

"Stephen P. Smith" <ischis2@cox.net> writes:

> Remove the suggestion for using a detached HEAD instead of a
> temporary branch.

That is something we can read from the patch text. Please explain why it is a good idea to remove it.

I can think of two completely different reasons:

 (1) Maybe the task was done some time ago, and we are seeing a
     stale todo item?

 (2) The task the todo item hints at was not done, but maybe it is
     not a good thing to do after all?

You seem to be hinting the former, but I do not think "the task was done" is the case here.

Show 27 quoted lines

> Signed-off-by: Stephen P. Smith <ischis2@cox.net>
> ---
>
> Notes:
>     A search of the user manual found only one location which refers to
>     temporary branches.  This has to do with how Tony Luck uses them.
>     
>     Even then there is a clarifying parenthetical noting that the
>     temporary branches are topic branches.
>     
>     A git blame showed that the last time that the entry was updated was
>     in 2007.
>
>  Documentation/user-manual.txt | 3 ---
>  1 file changed, 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
> index 1c790ac..18e2f1e 100644
> --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt
> @@ -4636,9 +4636,6 @@ Scan email archives for other stuff left out
>  Scan man pages to see if any assume more background than this manual
>  provides.
>  
> -Simplify beginning by suggesting disconnected head instead of
> -temporary branch creation?
> -

What does "beginning" refer to in this sentence, though?

After a quick reading of the beginning part of the document, I am getting the impression that it refers to the use of the 'new' branch, which is initially created out of v2.6.13 and then later reset to v2.6.17 while the user is in the sightseeing mode. And this way of working _is_ a remnant from the days back when detached HEAD was not with us.

It is a completely separate matter if it is a good idea to teach detached HEAD that early in the tutorial, though. So "remove the task because detached HEAD is a bit too weird thing to learn in that early stage in the learning curve" (i.e. the latter reason) might apply.