[PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means
From: Jeff King <hidden>
Date: 2016-06-15 22:46:36
Subsystem:
documentation, the rest · Maintainers:
Jonathan Corbet, Linus Torvalds
Possibly related (same subject, not in this thread)
- 2016-06-15 · Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means · Junio C Hamano <hidden>
- 2016-06-15 · Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means · Mark Levedahl <hidden>
- 2016-06-15 · Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means · Junio C Hamano <hidden>
- 2016-06-15 · Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means · Jakub Narebski <hidden>
- 2016-06-15 · Re: [PATCH 5/5] docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means · Jeff King <hidden>
In the code we literally stick "refs/heads/" on the front and see if it resolves, so that is probably the best explanation. Signed-off-by: Jeff King <redacted> --- I hope this helps a little bit with Mark's confusion. But while writing it, I really think it would be a simpler rule to say "if it's in refs/heads/, then it's a branch" (which is similar to what Mark suggested earlier). So "git checkout refs/heads/master" would be identical to "git checkout master". That would require a code change, though. Documentation/git-checkout.txt | 10 +++++----- 1 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
index 4a1fb53..ad4b31e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ the conflicted merge in the specified paths. "merge" style, shows the original contents). <branch>:: - Branch to checkout (when no paths are given); may be any object - ID that resolves to a commit. Defaults to HEAD. -+ -When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object), -your HEAD becomes 'detached'. + Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that, + when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that + branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid + commit, your HEAD becomes "detached" and you are no longer on + any branch (see below for details). + As a special case, the `"@\{-N\}"` syntax for the N-th last branch checks out the branch (instead of detaching). You may also specify
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1.6.3.rc0.148.g141203.dirty