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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/user-manual.txt | 43 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 22 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt index 6df5e617a5..3ed9f84524 100644 --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt @@ -288,21 +288,22 @@ collection of files. It stores the history as a compressed collection of interrelated snapshots (versions) of the project's contents. -A single git repository may contain multiple branches. Each branch -is a bookmark referencing a particular point in the project history. -The gitlink:git-branch[1] command shows you the list of branches: +A single git repository may contain multiple branches. It keeps track +of them by keeping a list of <<def_head,heads>> which reference the +latest version on each branch; the gitlink:git-branch[1] command shows +you the list of branch heads: ------------------------------------------------ $ git branch * master ------------------------------------------------ -A freshly cloned repository contains a single branch, named "master", -and the working directory contains the version of the project -referred to by the master branch. +A freshly cloned repository contains a single branch head, named +"master", and working directory is initialized to the state of +the project referred to by "master". -Most projects also use tags. Tags, like branches, are references -into the project's history, and can be listed using the +Most projects also use <<def_tag,tags>>. Tags, like heads, are +references into the project's history, and can be listed using the gitlink:git-tag[1] command: ------------------------------------------------ @@ -320,9 +321,9 @@ v2.6.13 ------------------------------------------------ Tags are expected to always point at the same version of a project, -while branches are expected to advance as development progresses. +while heads are expected to advance as development progresses. -Create a new branch pointing to one of these versions and check it +Create a new branch head pointing to one of these versions and check it out using gitlink:git-checkout[1]: ------------------------------------------------ @@ -346,10 +347,10 @@ the current branch to point at v2.6.17 instead, with $ git reset --hard v2.6.17 ------------------------------------------------ -Note that if the current branch was your only reference to a +Note that if the current branch head was your only reference to a particular point in history, then resetting that branch may leave you -with no way to find the history it used to point to; so use this -command carefully. +with no way to find the history it used to point to; so use this command +carefully. Understanding History: Commits ------------------------------ @@ -452,17 +453,15 @@ be replaced with another letter or number. Understanding history: What is a branch? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Though we've been using the word "branch" to mean a kind of reference -to a particular commit, the word branch is also commonly used to -refer to the line of commits leading up to that point. In the -example above, git may think of the branch named "A" as just a -pointer to one particular commit, but we may refer informally to the -line of three commits leading up to that point as all being part of +When we need to be precise, we will use the word "branch" to mean a line +of development, and "branch head" (or just "head") to mean a reference +to the most recent commit on a branch. In the example above, the branch +head named "A" is a pointer to one particular commit, but we refer to +the line of three commits leading up to that point as all being part of "branch A". -If we need to make it clear that we're just talking about the most -recent commit on the branch, we may refer to that commit as the -"head" of the branch. +However, when no confusion will result, we often just use the term +"branch" both for branches and for branch heads. Manipulating branches --------------------- |