"Kerry, Richard" <richard.kerry@xxxxxxxx> writes: >> > git branch switch >> > git tag switch // detach >> > git commit switch // detach >> >> Why? You don't switch tags or commits. You switch only branches, > > Yes you do. No, you don't. You probably didn't read my sentence carefully. Please try to read what is written there, and see below for more explanations. > You can switch to branches, tags or commits. 1. Switch branch /to a tag/ is not the same as switching /tag/. You can reset tag to point to another commit, yes, but that was outside of the scope of the discussion. Switching *commit* doesn't make sense at all. Overall, you don't switch tags or commits when you switch branches, -- that's the meaning of my original sentence. 2. Event when you switch /to/ tags or commits, you actually still switch to a branch, as you can still create new commits that will grow that branch. This "detached HEAD" thingy that has been adopted to support switching to commits is just a misnomer that obscures understanding, and should be eventually replaced, probably by means of introducing the notion of "unnamed" or "automatic" branch. > > If I remember correctly, "branch" is used in Subversion and CVS only > for the creation of a branch. Likewise "tag" for creating a tag. > And I think they both use "update" to load the required > branch/tag/commit into the current working area. > > If git were to do that then I think we might get around some of this > confusion. > > In that case: > git branch = create a branch Sorry, it's too late. I don't think we can actually do it. > git tag = create a tag Ditto. Too late. > > And then a new "update", so: > git update <branchname> = make the current working area contain a copy > of the given branch, and similarly "git update <tagname>" or "git > update <commit-id>" It's already called "git restore", no? > > In all these cases the keyword after "git" is definitely a verb, even > where the actual word used could be either, and you need to look at > all the definitions in the dictionary to check. In the current "git branch" command "branch" is a noun, and then a verb defining exact operation follows as an option, or is assumed. You may well think about it as being "namespace": "git" -- enter "git" namespace "branch" -- enter "git:branch" namespace and everything that follows is about Git branches with more or less random syntax for particular functions to be performed. Thanks, -- Sergey Organov
