Re: `git status` output is very misleading after a merge on a "detached HEAD"

["Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 5:13 PM, Enis Bayramoğlu <enis@picussecurity.com> wrote:
>> Well, what do you suggest as an alternative?
>>
>> Git tells you that you are in detached state and where you came from
>> (detached from).
>
> I think it'd be best if git status somehow indicated that you're no
> longer at the same commit. Maybe something like:
>
> $ git status
> HEAD detached from origin/master, no longer at the same commit
> nothing to commit, working directory clean

I'm not saying this is clear, I didn't know this until I read the code
just now, but for what it's worth it says "detached at" if you're
detached from BRANCH but at the same commit, and "detached from" if
you're now on a different commit.

> or, to be more informative
>
> HEAD detached from origin/master 1 commit ago,

In lieu of that, which would need some of the rev-list machinery to be
invoked on every git-status, I wonder if just saying "HEAD detached &
diverged from origin/master" wouldn't be clearer:

diff --git a/wt-status.c b/wt-status.c
index 308cf3779e..79c8cfd1cf 100644
--- a/wt-status.c
+++ b/wt-status.c
@@ -1542,7 +1542,7 @@ static void wt_longstatus_print(struct wt_status *s)
                                if (state.detached_at)
                                        on_what = _("HEAD detached at ");
                                else
-                                       on_what = _("HEAD detached from ");
+                                       on_what = _("HEAD detached &
diverged from ");
                        } else {
                                branch_name = "";
                                on_what = _("Not currently on any branch.");




> On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 5:55 PM, Michael J Gruber <git@grubix.eu> wrote:
>> Enis Bayramoğlu venit, vidit, dixit 11.04.2017 10:57:
>>> I've encountered a very misleading output from `git status`. Here's a
>>> sequence of events that demonstrates the issue:
>>>
>>> $ git --version
>>> git version 2.12.0
>>>
>>> $ git checkout origin/master
>>>
>>> $ git status
>>> HEAD detached from origin/master
>>> nothing to commit, working directory clean
>>
>> Hmm. My Git would display "detached at" here as long as you are on the
>> commit that you detached from.
>>
>>> $ git merge --ff f3515b749be861b57fc70c2341c1234eeb0d5b87
>>>
>>> $ git status
>>> HEAD detached from origin/master
>>> nothing to commit, working directory clean
>>>
>>> $ git rev-parse origin/master
>>> e1dc1baaadee0f1aef2d5c45d068306025d11f67
>>>
>>> $ git rev-parse HEAD
>>> 786cb6dd09897e0950a2bdc971f0665a059efd33
>>>
>>> I think it's extremely misleading that `git status` simply reports
>>> "HEAD detached from origin/master" while this simply happens to be a
>>> mildly relevant fact about some past state.
>>>
>>> Thanks and regards
>>>
>>
>> Well, what do you suggest as an alternative?
>>
>> Git tells you that you are in detached state and where you came from
>> (detached from).
>>
>> Michael