Merge branch 'gb/1.7.0-diff-whitespace-only-output'

[git.git] / Documentation / git-branch.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
index 7f7b781f24cd916da71b2481a122fa1d59762cae..0e836809c20c83b8798fc77fa373f17fbf5f1eb6 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt
@@ -30,10 +30,8 @@ commit) will be listed.  With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into
 the named commit will be listed.  If the <commit> argument is missing it
 defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch).
 
-In the command's second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
-It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
-If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
-equal to that of the currently checked out branch.
+The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname>
+which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given.
 
 Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
 working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
@@ -76,8 +74,9 @@ OPTIONS
        based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}".
 
 -f::
-       Force the creation of a new branch even if it means deleting
-       a branch that already exists with the same name.
+--force::
+       Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists
+       already. Without `-f` 'git-branch' refuses to change an existing branch.
 
 -m::
        Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog.
@@ -100,7 +99,9 @@ OPTIONS
 
 -v::
 --verbose::
-       Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head.
+       Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with
+       relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print
+       the name of the upstream branch, as well.
 
 --abbrev=<length>::
        Alter the sha1's minimum display length in the output listing.
@@ -109,29 +110,35 @@ OPTIONS
 --no-abbrev::
        Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them.
 
+-t::
 --track::
-       When creating a new branch, set up the configuration so that 'git-pull'
-       will automatically retrieve data from the start point, which must be
-       a branch. Use this if you always pull from the same upstream branch
-       into the new branch, and if you do not want to use "git pull
-       <repository> <refspec>" explicitly. This behavior is the default
-       when the start point is a remote branch. Set the
-       branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you want
-       'git-checkout' and 'git-branch' to always behave as if '--no-track' were
-       given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
-       start-point is either a local or remote branch.
+       When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the
+       start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This
+       configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the
+       two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore,
+       it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the
+       upstream when the new branch is checked out.
++
+This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote branch.
+Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you
+want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track'
+were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
+start-point is either a local or remote branch.
 
 --no-track::
-       Ignore the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable.
+       Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
+       branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true.
 
 --contains <commit>::
        Only list branches which contain the specified commit.
 
---merged::
-       Only list branches which are fully contained by HEAD.
+--merged [<commit>]::
+       Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the
+       specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
 
---no-merged::
-       Do not list branches which are fully contained by HEAD.
+--no-merged [<commit>]::
+       Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the
+       specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
 
 <branchname>::
        The name of the branch to create or delete.
@@ -140,9 +147,9 @@ OPTIONS
        may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
 
 <start-point>::
-       The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this.  It may
-       be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag.  If this option
-       is omitted, the current branch is assumed.
+       The new branch head will point to this commit.  It may be
+       given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag.  If this
+       option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead.
 
 <oldbranch>::
        The name of an existing branch to rename.
@@ -203,6 +210,14 @@ but different purposes:
 - `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging
   into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD.
 
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1],
+linkgit:git-fetch[1],
+linkgit:git-remote[1],
+link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is
+a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual.
+
 Author
 ------
 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>