From: Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku•dk>
To: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox•com>
Cc: git@vger•kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Mention that git-branch -M can cause problems for tracking branches
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 23:04:11 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20071102220411.GA13666@diku.dk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <7vlk9g1k1q.fsf@gitster.siamese.dyndns.org>
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox•com> wrote Fri, Nov 02, 2007:
> Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku•dk> writes:
>
> > Signed-off-by: Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku•dk>
> > ---
> > Documentation/git-branch.txt | 5 +++++
> > 1 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> >
> > I made a patch to discard the overwritten branch's configuration
> > section, which Spearce felt was too lossy a behaviour. However, since
> > it confused me, I think it should at least be mentioned in the manpage.
> > Maybe the warning message from git should also be added to improve its
> > "googlability".
> >
> > diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
> > index 5e81aa4..def4e85 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
> > +++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
> > @@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ If you are creating a branch that you want to immediately checkout, it's
> > easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create
> > a branch and check it out with a single command.
> >
> > +When a branch is renamed so that it overwrites an existing branch unintended
> > +problems can arise. This is because git refuses to discard the configuration
> > +section of the overwritten branch. As a result git can become confused if, for
> > +example, the branches involved were used for tracking two different remote
> > +branches. The only way to fix this is to edit the configuration file manually.
>
> I do not understand this bit about "refuse".
>
> - To "refuse to discard", somebody has to ask to discard ---
> who asks so and when?
IMO, the user asks when using git-branch -M. And in case it is not clear
the problem arises for the command sequence:
$ git branch --track o-next origin/next
$ git branch --track m-next madcoder/next
$ git branch -M o-next m-next
$ git remote
Warning: more than one branch.m-next.remote
...
> - Is there a reason to "refuse" when such a removal request is
> made? If so, what is it? If not, why refusal?
Personally, I don't see why we need to refuse, since git-branch -M is
somewhat similar to saying -m (rename) plus adding a "force" flag
meaning: "yes, I know that this will potentially throw away settings for
an already existing branch".
The main reason to "refuse" the removal is that for the general case,
e.g. when using `git-config --rename-section`, this can potentially lead
to loss of valuable config settings. This was pointed out by Shawn in
his reply to my patch[0]. I agreed to this in my follow-up and asked if
it would be acceptable to add an additional flag to so that git-branch
can switch on this request for removal.
[0] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/61291
--
Jonas Fonseca
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2007-11-02 22:04 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2007-11-02 9:17 [PATCH] Mention that git-branch -M can cause problems for tracking branches Jonas Fonseca
2007-11-02 20:14 ` Junio C Hamano
2007-11-02 22:04 ` Jonas Fonseca [this message]
2007-11-02 22:30 ` Junio C Hamano
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