Re: does a stash *need* any reference to the branch on which it was created?

[Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com>]

On 06/02, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
>   i realize that, when you "git stash push", stash graciously saves
> the branch you were on as part of the commit message, but does any
> subsequent stash operation technically *need* that branch name?

    $ git stash list
    stash@{0}: WIP on master: 4e5a9c0166 checkout & worktree: introduce checkout.defaultRemote
                      ^^^^^^

Do you mean this branch name?  If so, no, afaik nothing in git stash
needs that.  It's merely a convenience for the user so they know which
branch the stash was based on.

>   it doesn't seem like it -- even "git stash branch" really only needs
> the commit that was the basis of that stash to create the new branch.

Correct, and it knows that by checking the parents of the stash (note
that a stash is represented internally as just a commit):

    $ git cat-file commit stash@{0}                                                                                                                                                                          ∞
    tree 9fc2608506404bebdeb0aea54e8c76944ae88a1a
    parent 4e5a9c01669919bcc2452e8e2491ee31dbf647fc
    parent 9e457faad129f832ce0070dcfd1f4cfd3f322df3
    author Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com> 1527971565 +0100
    committer Thomas Gummerer <t.gummerer@gmail.com> 1527971565 +0100

    WIP on master: 4e5a9c0166 checkout & worktree: introduce checkout.defaultRemote

The first parent here is the commit the stash is based on, so that's
what 'git stash branch' is using to base the new branch on.

>   so, does any stash operation actually need the originating branch
> name? (i'm guessing no, but i've been wrong before.)
> 
> rday
> 
> -- 
> 
> ========================================================================
> Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
>                   http://crashcourse.ca/dokuwiki
> 
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