i o wrote: > I suggest adding `--soft` and `--mixed` options to `git checkout`, that act > similarly to the corresponding options of `git reset`, i.e. `git checkout > --soft <tree-ish>` should move the HEAD to <tree-ish> without affecting the > working tree or index, and `git checkout --mixed <tree-ish>` should move the > HEAD to <tree-ish> and update the index to match it without changing the > working tree. In my opinion it's pretty clear `--soft` and `--mixed` were terrible names and I suggested in the past to rename them to `--no-stage` and `--stage` [1]. We should not repeat those mistakes with `git checkout`. If the new options were: * git checkout --no-stage * git checkout --no-work-tree I think it would be pretty clear what is intended without explanation (as opposed to `--soft` and `--mixed`). > The difference between this and `git reset` of course would be that, unlike > the latter, this doesn't 'drag' the current branch along with HEAD; instead > the usual behaviour would apply depending on what exactly <tree-ish> is, i.e. > `git checkout [--soft|--mixed] <commit>` would detach HEAD and point it to > <commit>, In my mind the whole point of `git checkout` is to update the work-tree, if the command is not going to do that, then I don't think it should be `git checkout`. In theory all these three would do the same, correct? * git checkout --no-stage --no-work-tree <commit> * git reset --no-stage --detach <commit> * git update-ref --no-deref HEAD <commit> My preference would be `git reset --no-stage --detach <commit>`. > whereas `git checkout [--soft|--mixed] <branch>` would move HEAD > and switch from the current branch to <branch>. If we are going to switch the current branch, then `git switch` makes more sense: * git switch --no-stage <branch> Then, for the case of a commit we could do: * git switch --no-stage --detach <commit> The advantage of limiting ourselves to `git switch` is that it doesn't have the historical of `git checkout`/`git reset`. Cheers. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/20130829180129.GA4880@nysa/ -- Felipe Contreras
