From: Andreas Hartmetz <ahartmetz@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: git branch documentation improvements
Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 00:24:40 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <201005070024.41172.ahartmetz@gmail.com> (raw)
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Hello all,
Today I read the git branch documentation and noticed a few things, mostly
style and consistency related, that could easily be improved, so I did just
that.
Please consider merging the attached patch if it looks good, or tell me what
you don't like about it.
The most significant change is renaming <start-point> (or is it
<startpoint>...) to <branch-head> because even I as a relative beginner know
that a branch is defined by its (movable) head, and <start-point> *does*
actually specify the new branch head if I'm not mistaken.
Cheers,
Andreas Hartmetz
[-- Attachment #2: git-branch-doc.diff --]
[-- Type: text/x-patch, Size: 5865 bytes --]
diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
index 1940256..872bb3e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
@@ -11,51 +11,50 @@ SYNOPSIS
'git branch' [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [-r | -a]
[-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]]
[(--merged | --no-merged | --contains) [<commit>]]
-'git branch' [--set-upstream | --track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>]
+'git branch' [--set-upstream | --track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<branch-head>]
'git branch' (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
'git branch' (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-With no arguments, existing branches are listed and the current branch will
-be highlighted with an asterisk. Option `-r` causes the remote-tracking
-branches to be listed, and option `-a` shows both.
+With no arguments, local branches are listed and the current branch is
+highlighted with an asterisk. Option `-r` lists remote-tracking
+branches, and option `-a` lists both.
-With `--contains`, shows only the branches that contain the named commit
+With `--contains`, show only the branches that contain the named commit
(in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the
named commit). With `--merged`, only branches merged into the named
commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are reachable from the named
-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).
+commit) are listed. With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into
+the named commit are listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it
+defaults to 'HEAD', the tip of the current branch.
-The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname>
-which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given.
-
-Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
+The second form of the command creates a new branch head named <branchname>
+which points to the current 'HEAD', or <branch-head> if given.
+Note that this creates the new branch, but does not switch the
working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
new branch.
When a local branch is started off a remote branch, git sets up the
branch so that 'git pull' will appropriately merge from
the remote branch. This behavior may be changed via the global
-`branch.autosetupmerge` configuration flag. That setting can be
-overridden by using the `--track` and `--no-track` options.
+`branch.autosetupmerge` configuration flag. You can override the
+flag using the `--track` and `--no-track` options.
-With a '-m' or '-M' option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>.
+With the '-m' or '-M' command, <oldbranch> is renamed to <newbranch>.
If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match
<newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch
-renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename
-to happen.
+renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M can be used to forwe overwriting
+it.
-With a `-d` or `-D` option, `<branchname>` will be deleted. You may
-specify more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently
-has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted.
+With the `-d` or `-D` command, `<branchname>` is deleted. You may
+specify more than one branch to delete. If the branch currently
+has a reflog, the reflog is also be deleted.
-Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it
+Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note that it
only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist
-in the remote repository or if 'git fetch' was configured not to fetch
+in the remote repository, or if 'git fetch' was configured not to fetch
them again. See also the 'prune' subcommand of linkgit:git-remote[1] for a
way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.
@@ -79,7 +78,7 @@ OPTIONS
-f::
--force::
- Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists
+ Reset <branchname> to <branch-head> if <branchname> exists
already. Without `-f` 'git branch' refuses to change an existing branch.
-m::
@@ -119,8 +118,8 @@ OPTIONS
-t::
--track::
When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the
- start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This
- configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the
+ <branch-head> branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This
+ configuration tells git to show the relationship between the
two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore,
it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the
upstream when the new branch is checked out.
@@ -133,13 +132,13 @@ start-point is either a local or remote branch.
--no-track::
Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
- branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true.
+ branch.autosetupmerge configuration flag is true.
--set-upstream::
If specified branch does not exist yet or if '--force' has been
given, acts exactly like '--track'. Otherwise sets up configuration
like '--track' would when creating the branch, except that where
- branch points to is not changed.
+ <branchname> points to is not changed.
--contains <commit>::
Only list branches which contain the specified commit.
@@ -158,7 +157,7 @@ start-point is either a local or remote branch.
linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
-<start-point>::
+<branch-head>::
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 current HEAD will be used instead.
next reply other threads:[~2010-05-06 22:25 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2010-05-06 22:24 Andreas Hartmetz [this message]
2010-05-06 22:59 ` git branch documentation improvements Jon Seymour
2010-05-07 1:04 ` Andreas Hartmetz
2010-05-07 2:28 ` Andreas Hartmetz
2010-05-07 7:20 ` Johannes Sixt
2010-05-07 8:40 ` Jon Seymour
2010-05-08 16:39 ` Andreas Hartmetz
2010-05-10 6:22 ` Johannes Sixt
2010-05-11 18:27 ` Andreas Hartmetz
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