Subject: Re: [PATCH] Documentation/git-checkout: make doc. of checkout <tree-ish> clearer

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2017 17:26:22 -0700

"Philip Oakley" <[email-masked]> writes:

> I'd guess that the misunderstanding is that you maybe thought that the
> whole directory would be reset to it's old state and the files b and c
> deleted, rather than just the named files present in that old commit
> being extracted. If we'd created and added a file d just before the
> checkout, what should have happened to d, and why?

It probably is a bit unfair to call it "misunderstanding".  I've had
this entry in the "Leftover Bits" list for quite some time:

    git checkout $commit -- somedir may want to remove somedir/file that
    is not in $commit but is in the original index. Anybody who wants to
    do this needs to consider ramifications and devise transition plans.
    Cf. $gmane/234935

In the thread, this message:

https://public-inbox.org/git/[email-masked]/

may be a good summary.