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From: Petr Baudis <pasky@suse.cz>
To: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Cc: <git@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH] Documentation: Define symref and update HEAD description
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 20:44:08 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20061118194408.27106.65771.stgit@machine.or.cz> (raw)

HEAD was still described as a symlink instead of a symref.

Signed-off-by: Petr Baudis <pasky@suse.cz>
---

 Documentation/glossary.txt          |    7 +++++++
 Documentation/repository-layout.txt |   14 +++++++++-----
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/glossary.txt b/Documentation/glossary.txt
index 7e560b0..894883d 100644
--- a/Documentation/glossary.txt
+++ b/Documentation/glossary.txt
@@ -282,6 +282,13 @@ SCM::
 SHA1::
 	Synonym for object name.
 
+symref::
+	Symbolic reference: instead of containing the SHA1 id itself, it
+	is of the format 'ref: refs/some/thing' and when referenced, it
+	recursively dereferences to this reference. 'HEAD' is a prime
+	example of a symref. Symbolic references are manipulated with
+	the gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1] command.
+
 topic branch::
 	A regular git branch that is used by a developer to
 	identify a conceptual line of development.  Since branches
diff --git a/Documentation/repository-layout.txt b/Documentation/repository-layout.txt
index 275d18b..fd9f406 100644
--- a/Documentation/repository-layout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/repository-layout.txt
@@ -70,12 +70,16 @@ refs/tags/`name`::
 	object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
 
 HEAD::
-	A symlink of the form `refs/heads/'name'` to point at
-	the current branch, if exists.  It does not mean much if
-	the repository is not associated with any working tree
+	A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
+	describing the currently active branch.  It does not mean
+	much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
 	(i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid git repository
-	*must* have such a symlink here.  It is legal if the
-	named branch 'name' does not (yet) exist.
+	*must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
+	guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
+	(usually 'master').  It is legal if the named branch
+	'name' does not (yet) exist.  In some legacy setups, it is
+	a symbolic link instead of a symref, but this has been
+	deprecated long ago.
 
 branches::

             reply	other threads:[~2006-11-18 19:44 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2006-11-18 19:44 Petr Baudis [this message]
2006-11-18 19:55 ` [PATCH] Documentation: Define symref and update HEAD description Junio C Hamano
2006-11-18 21:31   ` Petr Baudis

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