Merge branch 'maint'

[~andy/git] / Documentation / git-checkout.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
index 37c1810e3fc8424868333a22094107e99764fc37..afda5c36b5ac0061d94d706cd7a07ef8197b6b31 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
-'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [-b <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
+'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
 'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
 'git checkout' --patch [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
 
@@ -90,6 +90,24 @@ explicitly give a name with '-b' in such a case.
        Create the new branch's reflog; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for
        details.
 
+--orphan::
+       Create a new branch named <new_branch>, unparented to any other
+       branch.  The new branch you switch to does not have any commit
+       and after the first one it will become the root of a new history
+       completely unconnected from all the other branches.
++
+When you use "--orphan", the index and the working tree are kept intact.
+This allows you to start a new history that records set of paths similar
+to that of the start-point commit, which is useful when you want to keep
+different branches for different audiences you are working to like when
+you have an open source and commercial versions of a software, for example.
++
+If you want to start a disconnected history that records set of paths
+totally different from the original branch, you may want to first clear
+the index and the working tree, by running "git rm -rf ." from the
+top-level of the working tree, before preparing your files (by copying
+from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.) in the working tree.
+
 -m::
 --merge::
        When switching branches,
@@ -136,6 +154,10 @@ edits from your current working tree.
 As a special case, the `"@\{-N\}"` syntax for the N-th last branch
 checks out the branch (instead of detaching).  You may also specify
 `-` which is synonymous with `"@\{-1\}"`.
++
+As a further special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
+merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
+leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
 
 <new_branch>::
        Name for the new branch.