Re: [PATCH] Docs: git checkout --orphan: `root commit' and `branch head'

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

Michael Witten [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

It seems like a more logical approach would be instead for "git
commit" to take a "--root" option that would create a new root commit
based on the current index and then point the current branch head to
the new root commit. Thus:

  $ git checkout -b new_branch old_branch
  $ # Manipulate or not
  $ git commit --root

That's how people think.

This may indeed be an improvement. I suspect that we'd need to think about
it a bit more, but it feels right (perhaps introduce this new option,
deprecate --orphan from the checkout, and then eventually remove it
sometime in 1.8.0 timeframe).

Hrm, create new_branch just so you can immediately clobber its SHA1
with the new commit that has no parents. That doesn't seem quite
right. Imagine you use "git commit --root" by accident while on
master, then you have to dig into your reflog?

But it's close. Maybe:

$ git commit --new-root-branch=<name>

Which creates <name> with the index as its sole commit and switches
you to that branch? That doesn't feel quite right either.

</thinking out loud>

j.