Re: What exactly does 'needs update' mean?

Joshua Jensen [off-list ref] writes:

 I've come to accept the term 'needs update' when I've forgotten to
stash or commit before certain Git operations.  However, I got
cornered today and was asked to explain what it means.  I had to admit
I don't know.

It came from "you need to run update-index on that path, as you have local
modification in the working tree".