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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt | 29 |
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 18 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt index 68ac6a65df..4bc35a1d4b 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt @@ -19,29 +19,22 @@ argument to see on which branch your working tree is on. Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to point at the given branch <ref>. -Traditionally, `.git/HEAD` is a symlink pointing at -`refs/heads/master`. When we want to switch to another branch, -we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we want +A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that +begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is +a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. + +NOTES +----- +In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at +`refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, +we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks, or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as -advertised (horrors). - -A symbolic ref can be a regular file that stores a string that -begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` *can* -be a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. -This can be used on a filesystem that does not support symbolic -links. Instead of doing `readlink .git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref -HEAD` can be used to find out which branch we are on. To point -the HEAD to `newbranch`, instead of `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch -.git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/newbranch` can be -used. - -Currently, .git/HEAD uses a regular file symbolic ref on Cygwin, -and everywhere else it is implemented as a symlink. This can be -changed at compilation time. +advertised (horrors). Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated +and symbolic refs are used by default. Author ------ |