Re: GIT vs Other: Need argument

On Apr 23, 2007, at 7:24 PM, Linus Torvalds wrote:

So I don't really see the problem with just saying:

 - the remote *has* a default branch. That's the one you get by  
default
   with "git clone".

 - if you want to track another branch, you should just tell git  
that you
   want to track it, and switch to that instead:

	git branch --track mybranch origin/otherbranch
	git checkout mybranch

   and be happy with it.

Yes, it's two extra commands, but they aren't *that* hard to explain,
after all. You really can basically explain each stage both very  
simply
and naturally with just

It's even better than that.  Just use "git checkout --track -b  
mybranch origin/otherbranch".  Slightly cumbersome, but is only one  
command.  And easily explained: "Checkout a tracking branch named  
mybranch for origin/otherbranch".

And the --track can be removed by using branch.autosetupmerge for  
people who always want it.

Actually the man page appears to be minorly incorrect.  It has "[-b  
[ --track | --no-track ]", which doesn't work.  Git gives me "git  
checkout: updating paths is incompatible with switching branches/ 
forcing".  I think it's interpreting --track as the new branch name.   
I'll send a patch reversing the order of the arguments in the man page.

~~ Brian