Subject: [PATCH 7/9] Documentation: clarify branch creation

From: Jonathan Nieder <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 05:19:40 -0500

The documentation seems to assume that the starting point for a new
branch is the tip of an existing (ordinary) branch, but that is not
the most common case.  More often, "git branch" is used to begin
a branch from a remote-tracking branch, a tag, or an interesting
commit (e.g. origin/pu^2).  Clarify the language so it can apply
to these cases.

Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <[email-masked]>
---
 Documentation/git-branch.txt |   17 ++++++++++-------
 1 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
index e8b32a2..990f782 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
@@ -30,10 +30,11 @@ commit) will be listed.  With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into
 the named commit will be listed.  If the <commit> argument is missing it
 defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch).
 
-In the command's second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
-It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
-If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
-equal to that of the currently checked out branch.
+In the command's second form, creates a new branch named <branchname>.
+The branch will start out with head pointing to the commit
+<start-point>.  If no <start-point> is given, the branch will start
+out with head pointing to the tip of the currently checked out branch,
+or the currently checked out commit if no branch is checked out.
 
 Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
 working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
@@ -149,9 +150,11 @@ start-point is either a local or remote branch.
 	may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
 
 <start-point>::
-	The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this.  It may
-	be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag.  If this option
-	is omitted, the current branch is assumed.
+	The new branch head will point to this commit.  It may be
+	given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag.  If this
+	option is omitted, the currently checked out branch head
+	is used, or the current commit if no branch is checked
+	out.
 
 <oldbranch>::
 	The name of an existing branch to rename.
-- 
1.6.5.rc1.199.g596ec