Git v1.8.2 Release Notes
========================
-Backward compatibility notes
-----------------------------
-
-In the next major release Git 2.0 (not *this* one), we will change the
-behavior of the "git push" command.
-
-When "git push [$there]" does not say what to push, we have used the
-traditional "matching" semantics so far (all your branches were sent
-to the remote as long as there already are branches of the same name
-over there). We will use the "simple" semantics that pushes the
-current branch to the branch with the same name, only when the current
-branch is set to integrate with that remote branch. There is a user
-preference configuration variable "push.default" to change this.
+Backward compatibility notes (this release)
+-------------------------------------------
"git push $there tag v1.2.3" used to allow replacing a tag v1.2.3
that already exists in the repository $there, if the rewritten tag
and starting with this release, any attempt to update an existing
ref under refs/tags/ hierarchy will fail, without "--force".
-When "git add -u" and "git add -A", that does not specify what paths
-to add on the command line, is run from inside a subdirectory, the
+When "git add -u" and "git add -A" that does not specify what paths
+to add on the command line is run from inside a subdirectory, the
scope of the operation has always been limited to the subdirectory.
Many users found this counter-intuitive, given that "git commit -a"
and other commands operate on the entire tree regardless of where you
-are. In this release, these commands give warning in such a case and
-encourage the user to say "git add -u/-A ." instead when restricting
-the scope to the current directory. At Git 2.0 (not *this* one), we
-plan to change these commands without pathspec to operate on the
-entire tree, and training your fingers to type "." will protect you
-against the future change.
+are. In this release, these commands give a warning message that
+suggests the users to use "git add -u/-A ." when they want to limit
+the scope to the current directory; doing so will squelch the message,
+while training their fingers.
+
+
+Backward compatibility notes (for Git 2.0)
+------------------------------------------
+
+When "git push [$there]" does not say what to push, we have used the
+traditional "matching" semantics so far (all your branches were sent
+to the remote as long as there already are branches of the same name
+over there). In Git 2.0, the default will change to the "simple"
+semantics that pushes the current branch to the branch with the same
+name, only when the current branch is set to integrate with that
+remote branch. There is a user preference configuration variable
+"push.default" to change this. If you are an old-timer who is used
+to the "matching" semantics, you can set it to "matching" to keep the
+traditional behaviour. If you want to live in the future early,
+you can set it to "simple" today without waiting for Git 2.0.
+
+When "git add -u" and "git add -A", that does not specify what paths
+to add on the command line is run from inside a subdirectory, these
+commands will operate on the entire tree in Git 2.0 for consistency
+with "git commit -a" and other commands. Because there will be no
+mechanism to make "git add -u" behave as if "git add -u .", it is
+important for those who are used to "git add -u" (without pathspec)
+updating the index only for paths in the current subdirectory to start
+training their fingers to explicitly say "git add -u ." when they mean
+it before Git 2.0 comes.
Updates since v1.8.1
* Scripts to test bash completion was inherently flaky as it was
affected by whatever random things the user may have on $PATH.
+
+ * An element on GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES could be a "logical" pathname
+ that uses a symbolic link to point at somewhere else (e.g. /home/me
+ that points at /net/host/export/home/me, and the latter directory
+ is automounted). Earlier when Git saw such a pathname e.g. /home/me
+ on this environment variable, the "ceiling" mechanism did not take
+ effect. With this release (the fix has also been merged to the
+ v1.8.1.x maintenance series), elements on GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES
+ are by default checked for such aliasing coming from symbolic
+ links. As this needs to actually resolve symbolic links for each
+ element on the GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES, you can disable this
+ mechanism for some elements by listing them after an empty element
+ on the GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES. e.g. Setting /home/me::/home/him to
+ GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES makes Git resolve symbolic links in
+ /home/me when checking if the current directory is under /home/me,
+ but does not do so for /home/him.
+ (merge 7ec30aa mh/maint-ceil-absolute later to maint).