CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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Ram Rachum
Ram Rachum

Reputation: 88678

Git start branch from another branch without tracking

I want to create a branch foo (and have it checked out) that'll start on the same commit as origin/bar, but I don't currently have origin/bar checked out. Is there a one-liner that does this?

Upvotes: 15

Views: 6345

Answers (4)

CodeWizard
CodeWizard

Reputation: 142412

Git has a flag for creating such a branch:

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-checkout/

--orphan
Create a new orphan branch, named , started from and switch to it. The first commit made on this new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new history totally disconnected from all the other branches and commits.

The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run git checkout <start_point>.

This allows you to start a new history that records a set of paths similar to by easily running git commit -a to make the root commit.

This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish an open source branch of a project whose current tree is clean, but whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of code.

If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths that is totally different from the one of , then you should clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan branch by running git rm -rf . from the top level of the working tree. Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.

Upvotes: -1

Dan Lowe
Dan Lowe

Reputation: 56637

It depends whether you want your new branch to track the remote origin/bar.

To track the remote:

git checkout -b foo origin/bar

To not track the remote:

git checkout -b foo --no-track origin/bar

(You can always add a tracking relationship later.)

Upvotes: 3

user743382
user743382

Reputation:

You can do it in a single command: git checkout allows git branch's --no-track option to be specified directly.

git checkout -b foo --no-track origin/bar

Upvotes: 15

Igal S.
Igal S.

Reputation: 14583

This should do the trick:

git branch foo origin/bar
git checkout foo

And if you insist on oneline:

git checkout -b foo origin/bar

Upvotes: 1

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