From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jonathan Nieder Subject: Re: git branch descriptions Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 18:26:12 -0500 Message-ID: <20100510232612.GA6890@progeny.tock> References: <657A681BEF27534399890012B8C8E50E1AD63D1FEA@lcs-exchange01.Lantekcs.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Cc: "git@vger.kernel.org" , Ramkumar Ramachandra To: Joel Reed X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Tue May 11 01:27:12 2010 connect(): No such file or directory Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@lo.gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.180.67]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OBcNT-0006C0-9c for gcvg-git-2@lo.gmane.org; Tue, 11 May 2010 01:27:11 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932616Ab0EJX0Q convert rfc822-to-quoted-printable (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 May 2010 19:26:16 -0400 Received: from mail-qy0-f183.google.com ([209.85.221.183]:53933 "EHLO mail-qy0-f183.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932569Ab0EJX0K (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 May 2010 19:26:10 -0400 Received: by qyk13 with SMTP id 13so7019629qyk.1 for ; Mon, 10 May 2010 16:26:09 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:date:from:to:cc:subject :message-id:references:mime-version:content-type:content-disposition :content-transfer-encoding:in-reply-to:user-agent; bh=yUyhVehsHiHGJfZFxIoZmXZb800NoooEDW3/P7BzbVs=; b=T7AFKe+rs0Tgu+MFoGAaCFTAE+2kUe+WLIpxmPzCIdWzjeYN5xyIg1mFd+pYioBamS c2VtW0dRtYvYVOlRapImGsvWosKM9pcPPG3KZE8JR8GXtoqpvgSb9YCL6QWMdsmpoFVN MipdRoFGIJgXKGNJw350b7xasjZXZBdU2ttWg= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id:references:mime-version :content-type:content-disposition:content-transfer-encoding :in-reply-to:user-agent; b=DNu2uMa/T0QmvuAC41L/0Js5f8RSfxW31xljEQe1Ah1vs+h+p0pKh0ZSTUx3YkgWAH N4N0GAA6xQz4yd8EqbCVxhy1BTVuXBJOQS2xXYK1cxVKtylT0whhwazLn/BAvFdCW37i jWP+4LNIWDC08NtD8z8YBzWGm/De0yq3guN1A= Received: by 10.224.71.130 with SMTP id h2mr3237817qaj.90.1273533969425; Mon, 10 May 2010 16:26:09 -0700 (PDT) Received: from progeny.tock (c-98-212-3-231.hsd1.il.comcast.net [98.212.3.231]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id f5sm4342002qcg.20.2010.05.10.16.26.07 (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Mon, 10 May 2010 16:26:08 -0700 (PDT) Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <657A681BEF27534399890012B8C8E50E1AD63D1FEA@lcs-exchange01.Lantekcs.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.20 (2009-06-14) Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: Hi, Joel Reed wrote: > Working on a wide range of topics/branches from week to week and > project to project, it's sometimes difficult to quickly remember > what each branch is about, without doing a git diff master . > =C2=A0I like to keep branch names short so they're easy to switch to = and > from, but being able to attach a description that would display when > doing a "git branch" would be a huge help. I think the closest thing we have now is =E2=80=98git branch -v=E2=80=99= , which tells the subject of the commit at the tip of the branch. =E2=80=98git notes= =E2=80=99 annotates commits rather than branches, so it occupies a different niche. Your request is a reasonable one, and it has come up a few times in different forms over the years: . per-branch descriptions in .git/description[1] . per-branch descriptions in .git/config[2][3] . README branch whose files describe the branches[4] Number [2] is my preferred choice (and comes with code!), for what it=E2=80=99s worth. That doesn=E2=80=99t address the problem of how to _share_ branch descriptions. That could be dealt with by extending the wire protocol as in [1], I think. Just sharing a list of branch descriptions is a bad idea imho, since related repositories need to be able to name their branches independently to avoid painful coordination problems. > My only intention with this email is to say "thanks" and put in a > vote for git branch descriptions. The best vote is to write a sample script for yourself, try it out, and tell us how it goes. :) Thanks for bringing this up. Jonathan [1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/8130/focus=3D= 8187 [2] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/33528/focus=3D= 33563 [3] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/46855/focus=3D= 47077 [4] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/93333/focus=3D= 93491