Update tutorial.txt branches/tags to use the nicer helper syntax

Teach people to use "git tag <tag-name>" instead of writing the current
HEAD by hand into the .git/refs/tags/<tag-name> file.  Most people
probably don't really want to know about how git does things internally.

diff --git a/Documentation/tutorial.txt b/Documentation/tutorial.txt
index 4a29607915844473eeb05f54730b3503a6ebe5fd..ede48ebc31f5f02756590a9ccbc8324cb621f782 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/tutorial.txt
+++ b/Documentation/tutorial.txt
@@ -472,10 +472,11 @@ A "light" tag is technically nothing more than a branch, except we put
 it in the ".git/refs/tags/" subdirectory instead of calling it a "head".
 So the simplest form of tag involves nothing more than
 
 it in the ".git/refs/tags/" subdirectory instead of calling it a "head".
 So the simplest form of tag involves nothing more than
 

-       cat .git/HEAD > .git/refs/tags/my-first-tag
+       git tag my-first-tag

 
 

-after which point you can use this symbolic name for that particular
-state. You can, for example, do
+which just writes the current HEAD into the .git/refs/tags/my-first-tag
+file, after which point you can then use this symbolic name for that
+particular state.  You can, for example, do

 
        git diff my-first-tag
 
 
        git diff my-first-tag
 


@@ -487,9 +488,9 @@ since you tagged it.
 A "signed tag" is actually a real git object, and contains not only a
 pointer to the state you want to tag, but also a small tag name and
 message, along with a PGP signature that says that yes, you really did
 A "signed tag" is actually a real git object, and contains not only a
 pointer to the state you want to tag, but also a small tag name and
 message, along with a PGP signature that says that yes, you really did

-that tag. You create these signed tags with
+that tag. You create these signed tags with the "-s" flag to "git tag":

 
 

-       git tag <tagname>
+       git tag -s <tagname>

 
 which will sign the current HEAD (but you can also give it another
 argument that specifies the thing to tag, ie you could have tagged the
 
 which will sign the current HEAD (but you can also give it another
 argument that specifies the thing to tag, ie you could have tagged the


@@ -620,7 +621,7 @@ repository, and checked it out.
        ---------------------
 
 Branches in git are really nothing more than pointers into the git
        ---------------------
 
 Branches in git are really nothing more than pointers into the git

-object space from within the ",git/refs/" subdirectory, and as we
+object space from within the ".git/refs/" subdirectory, and as we

 already discussed, the HEAD branch is nothing but a symlink to one of
 these object pointers. 
 
 already discussed, the HEAD branch is nothing but a symlink to one of
 these object pointers. 
 


@@ -632,36 +633,45 @@ want (and indeed, subdirectories), but the convention is that the
 and nothing enforces it. 
 
 To show that as an example, let's go back to the git-tutorial archive we
 and nothing enforces it. 
 
 To show that as an example, let's go back to the git-tutorial archive we

-used earlier, and create a branch in it.  You literally do that by just
-creating a new SHA1 reference file, and switch to it by just making the
-HEAD pointer point to it:
+used earlier, and create a branch in it. You do that by simply just
+saying that you want to check out a new branch:

 
 

-       cat .git/HEAD > .git/refs/heads/mybranch
-       ln -sf refs/heads/mybranch .git/HEAD
+       git checkout -b mybranch

 
 

-and you're done.
+will create a new branch based at the current HEAD position, and switch
+to it. 

 
 

-Now, if you make the decision to start your new branch at some other
-point in the history than the current HEAD, you usually also want to
-actually switch the contents of your working directory to that point
-when you switch the head, and "git checkout" will do that for you:
-instead of switching the branch by hand with "ln -sf", you can just do
+[ Side note: if you make the decision to start your new branch at some
+  other point in the history than the current HEAD, you can do so by
+  just telling "git checkout" what the base of the checkout would be. 
+  In other words, if you have an earlier tag or branch, you'd just do

 
 

-       git checkout mybranch
+       git checkout -b mybranch earlier-branch

 
 

-which will basically "jump" to the branch specified, update your working
-directory to that state, and also make it become the new default HEAD. 
+  and it would create the new branch "mybranch" at the earlier point,
+  and check out the state at that time. ]

 
 You can always just jump back to your original "master" branch by doing
 
        git checkout master
 
 
 You can always just jump back to your original "master" branch by doing
 
        git checkout master
 

-and if you forget which branch you happen to be on, a simple
+(or any other branch-name, for that matter) and if you forget which
+branch you happen to be on, a simple

 
        ls -l .git/HEAD
 
 will tell you where it's pointing.
 
 
        ls -l .git/HEAD
 
 will tell you where it's pointing.
 

+NOTE! Sometimes you may wish to create a new branch _without_ actually
+checking it out and switching to it. If so, just use the command
+
+       git branch <branchname> [startingpoint]
+
+which will simply _create_ the branch, but will not do anything further. 
+You can then later - once you decide that you want to actually develop
+on that branch - switch to that branch with a regular "git checkout"
+with the branchname as the argument.
+

 
        Merging two branches
        --------------------
 
        Merging two branches
        --------------------