Re: [PATCH v6] doc: add an explanation of Git's data model

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 13, 2025, 20:07 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqv7jdlmr7.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <2265ecb5-b0ba-4a28-904f-186ef5318562@app.fastmail.com>

"Julia Evans" <julia@jvns.ca> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

> From my point of view as a Git user one of Git's biggest strengths is its
> flexibility; because branches _can_ be moved to point at a different
> commit at any time in various ways (via `git reset --hard`, `git rebase`, or
> `git commit --amend`), there's a lot of flexibility in how someone can
> choose to use Git, including never using branches at all. 
> (the flexibility is also one of the things that makes Git hard of course :) )
>
> So I'd prefer to keep editorializing about what a branch "means"
> to a minimum.

OK.

If you go to such an extreme and make readers oblivious to what a branch means, some of the sanity measures we have (e.g., a branch ref will never point at anything but a commit object, not even a commit-ish tag is allowed) would become "unnecessary nuisance" to them. In other words, as I hinted, it takes a delicate balancing act.