Yes it is the tip. So all I'm doing is checking out the exact same commit (the tip of a branch), but in different ways and in different sequences. The result on disk is the same, but the issue is git branch/status doesn't always reflect what I just did... If I do git checkout origin/develop, git branch might still say "detached at 545a36f", which, while true, feels wrong. How can I know afterwards what branch I actually tried to check out? "Detached at origin/develop" would make that clear. (I use this information in a build script to embed version information (including the branch being built) into the binary.) Best regards, Stijn De Ruyck -----Original Message----- From: Michael J Gruber [mailto:git@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2015 11:07 AM To: Stijn De Ruyck; git@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Branch information (git branch/status) inconsistent when in detached HEAD state Stijn De Ruyck venit, vidit, dixit 06.10.2015 15:03: > Hello, > > Consider a repository with a develop branch tracking origin/develop and where HEAD = 545a36f = develop = origin/develop. > Tested with Git 2.4.3 and 1.8.3.4 on Linux. > > 1) git checkout develop > 2) git branch | head -1 (or git status) > * develop > 3) git checkout origin/develop > Note: checking out 'origin/develop'. > You are in 'detached HEAD' state. > 4) git branch | head -1 > * (HEAD detached at origin/develop) > 5) git checkout 545a36f > 6) git branch | head -1 > * (HEAD detached at origin/develop) > 7) git checkout develop > 8) git branch | head -1 (or git status) > * develop > 9) git checkout 545a36f > Note: checking out '545a36f'. > You are in 'detached HEAD' state. > 10) git branch | head -1 (or git status) > * (HEAD detached at 545a36f) > 11) git checkout origin/develop > 12) git branch | head -1 (or git status) > * (HEAD detached at 545a36f) > > As you can see, checking out a revision by SHA1 after checking out a local branch tells you you are detached at that SHA1. Ok. > But, checking out a revision by SHA1 after checking out a remote tracking branch tells you you are detached at that remote tracking branch. > And checking out a remote tracking branch after checking out a revision by SHA1 tells you you are detached at that SHA1. > > This is confusing. Is this by design? > For a script I am writing, it would be great if the output would be consistent. Checkout origin/develop should always say "detached at origin/develop". Checkout 545a36f should always say "detached at 545a36f". > > It looks like the detached head information is only updated when a detached head state is entered and not anymore when a checkout occurs "within" a detached head state. > > Best regards, Does 545a36f happen to be the tip (value) of origin/develop? For a sha1 different from the tip, I can't reproduce the effect that you describe. There have been some changes in related code recently, but I don't think they should affect this scenario. Michael -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html