CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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Archie
Archie

Reputation: 5421

Why does git checkout modify the index without being documented as such?

Here is what git checkout treeish -- file does:

$ git init foo
$ cd foo/
$ echo aaaa > file.txt
$ git add file.txt
$ git commit -m 'commit aaaa'
$ git checkout -b bbbb
$ echo bbbb > file.txt
$ git add file.txt
$ git commit -m 'commit bbbb'
$ git checkout master
$ git checkout bbbb -- file.txt
$ cat file.txt
bbbb
$ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

    modified:   file.txt

Note that file.txt has not only been modified to contain bbbb, but this change has also been added to the index.

Yet the man page states:

DESCRIPTION
       Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
       or the specified tree. If no paths are given, git checkout will
       also update HEAD to set the specified branch as the current branch.
...
       git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
           When <paths> or --patch are given, git checkout does not switch
           branches. It updates the named paths in the working tree from
           the index file or from a named <tree-ish> (most often a commit).
           In this case, the -b and --track options are meaningless and
           giving either of them results in an error. The <tree-ish> argument
           can be used to specify a specific tree-ish (i.e. commit, tag or
           tree) to update the index for the given paths before updating
           the working tree.

The man page talks only about 'working tree' and states nothing about updating the index.

I don't understand the inconsistency.

Is the executable or the man page incorrect? ... or is there some missing assumed magic git knowledge that I lack?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 932

Answers (1)

David Deutsch
David Deutsch

Reputation: 19025

From the man page you pasted in your question:

The <tree-ish> argument can be used to specify a specific tree-ish (i.e. commit, tag or tree) to update the index for the given paths before updating the working tree.

So you can see, it does clearly state that the index will be updated.

Upvotes: 1

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