Re: Suggestion: make git checkout safer

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Wed, Jun 03, 2015 at 10:32:40AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

> "git checkout $paths" (and you can give "." for $paths to mean
> "everything") is akin to "cp -R $elsewhere/$path ." to restore the
> working tree copies from somewhere else.
> 
> "Ouch, 'git checkout .'  overwrote what was in my working tree" is
> exactly the same kind of confusion as "I ran 'cp -r ../saved .' and
> it overwrote everything".  As you said in your initial response,
> that is what the command is meant for.
> 
> What does that similar command outside world, "cp", have for "more
> safety"?  'cp -i' asks if the user wants to overwrite a file for
> each path; perhaps a behaviour similar to that was the original
> poster wanted to see?

Yeah, I'd say "cp -i" is the closest thing. I don't have a problem with
adding that, but I'd really hate for it to be the default (just as I
find distros which "alias rm='rm -i" annoying).

-Peff