Subject: Re: `git stash pop` UX Problem

From: Damien Robert <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2014 12:23:18 +0100

Matthieu Moy  wrote in message <[email-masked]>:
>> Maybe status should display a stash count if that count is > 0, as
>> this is part of the state of the repo.
> Maybe it would help some users, but not me for example. My main use of
> "git stash" is a safe replacement for "git reset --hard": when I want to
> discard changes, but keep them safe just in case.
> So, my stash count is almost always >0, and I don't want to hear about
> it.

Related to your comment, I adapted git-stash
  https://gist.github.com/DamienRobert/9227034
to have the following (mis)features:

- There is a global --ref option that allows to specify the reference the
  stash will use (by default this is refs/mystash, git-stash.sh uses
  refs/stash).

  This allows to differenciate between different uses of stashes: save WIP
  before switching branch; keep a backup before a git reset;...

- There is a new command `git mystash dosave` that works like git stash but
  does not reset the worktree afterwards. Note that `git stash create`
  already does that, but it handles options differently than `git stash
  save`. `git mystash dosave` can be seen as a wrapper around `git stash
  create`.
  The reason is that while `git stash create` is intended for scripts, `git
  mystash dosave` is intended for the UI. One example of when we don't want
  to drop the worktree is when we want to do a `git checkout -m -- paths`
  but we want to save the current state in case the merge has conflicts.

- `git stash branch` pops the stash once the branch is created. I did not
  like this feature so `git mystash branch` does not pop the stash; use `git
  mystash popbranch` to have the original meaning of `git stash branch`.

- `git mystash save` (and `git stash dosave`) has a new option
  `--on-branch` which stores the stash onto the current branch rather than
  in $ref_stash. The idea is that when I use `git stash` for a WIP, then
  when I come back to the original branch I always forget that I had a
  stash for this branch, and if there were several WIP in between it can be
  hard to remember which stash to apply. With `--on-branch`, when I come
  back to the original branch I am now on the stash, and I know I just need
  to apply it. For that `git mystash apply` (or `git mystash pop`) also has
  a `--on-branch` option that tells it to use the stash on the current
  branch.

- `git mystash info` gives informations about a stash.

So obviously not all of these would be good for inclusion into git, but
maybe some of them would be somewhat worth it. When I have the time I'll
try to write tests and send proper patches.

-- 
Damien Robert