* Re: Remote tracking option hint for git-switch still shows git-checkout command
2026-01-27 9:31 Remote tracking option hint for git-switch still shows git-checkout command Simon Cheng
@ 2026-01-27 16:29 ` Junio C Hamano
0 siblings, 0 replies; 2+ messages in thread
From: Junio C Hamano @ 2026-01-27 16:29 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Simon Cheng; +Cc: git
Simon Cheng <cyqsimon@gmail.com> writes:
> When `git-switch my-branch` is unable to guess a unique remote
> tracking branch, the shown hint still displays an example with the
> `git-checkout` command.
>
> ❯ git switch my-branch
> hint: If you meant to check out a remote tracking branch on, e.g. 'origin',
> hint: you can do so by fully qualifying the name with the --track option:
> hint:
> hint: git checkout --track origin/<name>
> hint:
> hint: If you'd like to always have checkouts of an ambiguous <name> prefer
> hint: one remote, e.g. the 'origin' remote, consider setting
> hint: checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config.
> fatal: 'my-branch' matched multiple (2) remote tracking branches
>
> Of course that works too, but it keeps the user guessing whether the
> `--track` option also exists for `git-switch`. Not to mention that
> `git-checkout` is now largely superseded by `git-switch` and
> `git-restore` and is no longer recommended, as far as I understand it.
>
> So I think it makes sense to either:
> 1. make the recommended command match the one ran by the user, or
> 2. always recommend `git-switch` as opposed to `git-checkout`
Here is what I did while waiting for -rc2 to pass my local tests,
which is unfinished, but it would be a good start. What missing are
(1) get rid of the usagestr[] parameter from checkout_main(), move
the usage strings for these three commands into the function
scope of checkout_main(), and choose among them based on the
value of which_command parameter;
(2) tests.
We are not deprecating checkout in any way, so #1 is far more
preferrable than #2.
builtin/checkout.c | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git c/builtin/checkout.c w/builtin/checkout.c
index 0ba4f03f2e..4d0e70ea15 100644
--- c/builtin/checkout.c
+++ w/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -1293,9 +1293,17 @@ static void setup_new_branch_info_and_source_tree(
}
}
+
+enum checkout_switch {
+ CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT = 1,
+ CHECKOUT_SWITCH = 2,
+ CHECKOUT_RESTORE = 3,
+};
+
static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg,
struct object_id *rev,
- int could_be_checkout_paths)
+ int could_be_checkout_paths,
+ enum checkout_switch which_command)
{
int num_matches = 0;
char *remote = unique_tracking_name(arg, rev, &num_matches);
@@ -1308,14 +1316,30 @@ static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg,
if (!remote && num_matches > 1) {
if (advice_enabled(ADVICE_CHECKOUT_AMBIGUOUS_REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME)) {
+ const char *cmdname;
+
+ switch (which_command) {
+ case CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT:
+ cmdname = "checkout";
+ break;
+ case CHECKOUT_SWITCH:
+ cmdname = "switch";
+ break;
+ default:
+ BUG("command <%d> should not reach parse_remote_branch",
+ which_command);
+ break;
+ }
+
advise(_("If you meant to check out a remote tracking branch on, e.g. 'origin',\n"
"you can do so by fully qualifying the name with the --track option:\n"
"\n"
- " git checkout --track origin/<name>\n"
+ " git %s --track origin/<name>\n"
"\n"
"If you'd like to always have checkouts of an ambiguous <name> prefer\n"
"one remote, e.g. the 'origin' remote, consider setting\n"
- "checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config."));
+ "checkout.defaultRemote=origin in your config."),
+ cmdname);
}
die(_("'%s' matched multiple (%d) remote tracking branches"),
@@ -1327,6 +1351,7 @@ static char *parse_remote_branch(const char *arg,
static int parse_branchname_arg(int argc, const char **argv,
int dwim_new_local_branch_ok,
+ enum checkout_switch which_command,
struct branch_info *new_branch_info,
struct checkout_opts *opts,
struct object_id *rev)
@@ -1436,7 +1461,8 @@ static int parse_branchname_arg(int argc, const char **argv,
if (recover_with_dwim) {
remote = parse_remote_branch(arg, rev,
- could_be_checkout_paths);
+ could_be_checkout_paths,
+ which_command);
if (remote) {
*new_branch = arg;
arg = remote;
@@ -1767,6 +1793,7 @@ static char cb_option = 'b';
static int checkout_main(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
struct checkout_opts *opts, struct option *options,
+ enum checkout_switch which_command,
const char * const usagestr[])
{
int parseopt_flags = 0;
@@ -1893,7 +1920,7 @@ static int checkout_main(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
opts->dwim_new_local_branch &&
opts->track == BRANCH_TRACK_UNSPECIFIED &&
!opts->new_branch;
- int n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok,
+ int n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok, which_command,
&new_branch_info, opts, &rev);
argv += n;
argc -= n;
@@ -2032,6 +2059,7 @@ int cmd_checkout(int argc,
options = add_checkout_path_options(&opts, options);
return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options,
+ CHECKOUT_CHECKOUT,
checkout_usage);
}
@@ -2071,6 +2099,7 @@ int cmd_switch(int argc,
cb_option = 'c';
return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options,
+ CHECKOUT_SWITCH,
switch_branch_usage);
}
@@ -2107,5 +2136,6 @@ int cmd_restore(int argc,
options = add_checkout_path_options(&opts, options);
return checkout_main(argc, argv, prefix, &opts, options,
+ CHECKOUT_RESTORE,
restore_usage);
}
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