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authorJonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>2009-10-09 13:34:08 -0500
committerJunio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>2009-10-09 14:54:15 -0700
commitbb35f35e67ed2fdfce1892cc9d55827b90fcb775 (patch)
tree28bd4d73885be16c332ca88a2a0504f967b488ef /Documentation/git-branch.txt
parent58d2c961b310d9366dd193f2d95d7eae56edecec (diff)
downloadgit-bb35f35e67ed2fdfce1892cc9d55827b90fcb775.tar.gz
Documentation: clarify branch creation
The documentation seems to assume that the starting point for a new branch is the tip of an existing (ordinary) branch, but that is not the most common case. More often, "git branch" is used to begin a branch from a remote-tracking branch, a tag, or an interesting commit (e.g. origin/pu^2). Clarify the language so it can apply to these cases. Thanks to Sean Estabrooks for the wording. Also add a pointer to the user's manual for the bewildered. Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/git-branch.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/git-branch.txt16
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
index f34911fe9a..0e836809c2 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
@@ -30,10 +30,8 @@ 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).
-In the command's second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
-It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
-If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
-equal to that of the currently checked out 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
working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
@@ -149,9 +147,9 @@ start-point is either a local or remote branch.
may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
<start-point>::
- The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this. It may
- be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this option
- is omitted, the current branch is assumed.
+ 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.
<oldbranch>::
The name of an existing branch to rename.
@@ -216,7 +214,9 @@ SEE ALSO
--------
linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1],
linkgit:git-fetch[1],
-linkgit:git-remote[1].
+linkgit:git-remote[1],
+link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is
+a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual.
Author
------