From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A, SPF_HELO_PASS,SPF_PASS shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id E499B1F66F for ; Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:56:51 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1727450AbgKSLu1 (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Nov 2020 06:50:27 -0500 Received: from smtp.hosts.co.uk ([85.233.160.19]:23256 "EHLO smtp.hosts.co.uk" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1727329AbgKSLu0 (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Nov 2020 06:50:26 -0500 Received: from host-89-243-187-160.as13285.net ([89.243.187.160] helo=[192.168.1.37]) by smtp.hosts.co.uk with esmtpa (Exim) (envelope-from ) id 1kfiSG-0004so-9d; Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:50:25 +0000 Subject: Re: [PATCH 00/28] Use main as default branch name To: Sergey Organov Cc: Junio C Hamano , "Eric W. Biederman" , Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget , git@vger.kernel.org, Johannes Schindelin References: <87r1oraewl.fsf@x220.int.ebiederm.org> <1389dabc-33c9-1e65-a3de-43729a6c2e70@iee.email> <7df660f2-ad74-7d1f-eb13-a0edadffbfbf@iee.email> <871rgpr497.fsf@osv.gnss.ru> From: Philip Oakley Message-ID: Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2020 11:50:23 +0000 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <871rgpr497.fsf@osv.gnss.ru> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Language: en-GB Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org On 19/11/2020 11:10, Sergey Organov wrote: > Philip Oakley writes: > >> On 19/11/2020 01:51, Junio C Hamano wrote: >>> Philip Oakley writes: >>> >>>> An alternative in the other direction is to go with the 'not currently >>>> on any branch' (detached at nowhere) but then require users to >>>> deliberately create their first branch with their chosen name. This >>>> moves the 'backward incompatibility' to a different place, which may be >>>> easier to manage. >>> As has already been mentioned by Peff, I do not think that is a >>> workable alternative, especially given that people are generally >>> afraid of and easily get confused by being on a detached HEAD. >> Yes, our use of the technical phrase 'detached HEAD' is confusing, >> compared with the more pleasant 'not on any branch', or 'not at a branch >> tip'. Such is the curse of knowledge. > To me "not on a branch [tip]" is also confusing, as in fact you are, as > is easily seen after you perform a few commits, and now HEAD points > directly to the tip of the branch (that has no other references). > > I wonder why Git didn't rather adopt "unnamed branch" or "nameless > branch" to describe this mode of operation? Given the ephemeral nature of branches they sound like good suggestion. However I suspect "history" to be the "why" of the current 'detached head' usage. Maybe it's a side reference to Nearly Headless Nick or other discussions of the time (aka lost in history)? -- Philip