Subject: Re: [PATCH] Detached HEAD (experimental)

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:05:26 -0800

Carl Worth <[email-masked]> writes:

> On Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:19:28 -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:
>> The first checkout, because there is no branch v1.4.0, makes the
>> HEAD detached.  You are no longer on any branch at that point,
>> and "git checkout v1.2.0" that follows do not trigger the check
>> which is about "coming back from the detached HEAD state".
>
> So what's the final check? Is it "can come from detached HEAD to a
> branch only if the detached HEAD is reachable from the target branch"?
>
> If so, that's still a trap for people who are just exploring with "git
> checkout" and never make any commits while detached.

An obvious alternative is not to allow building on top of a HEAD
that is detached at all, which I suggested initially.

A non-alternative is to silently lose commits, which you seem to
be suggesting, but I would rather play it safe.

The wording used for current warning that says "use checkout -f"
is horrible, and it needs to be reworded much better, but other
than that, I think playing safer is much better than making a
worse trap of silently losing the commits they may make before
they come to understand how "a branch" works.