Git 2.23 brings experimental commands git switch and git restore

Experimental commands

Git 2.23 includes two new experimental commands designed to provide a better interface for git checkout. Their aim is to clearly define the responsibilities of git checkout into two categories: git switch takes care of operations that change branches and git restore takes care of operations that change files.

When working with git checkout, it’s now easier to change branch. So instead of  git checkout --branch (or alternatively, git checkout -b), you can instead use git switch --branch. There are many more examples and usage guides in the documentation, so check that out for more detailed information.

As for git restore, this command can be used to work out which files will change, as well as how and where they’ll change. Passing --worktree will ensure the changes go into your working copy, whereas passing --staged will put them in your index. Passing both will change both to the same thing. For more information, check out the git restore documentation.

git merge –quit

The new --quit option is for use with git merge. It behaves like --abort in that it declares the merge aborted unsuccessfully, but unlike --abort it leaves the state of your working copy (and index) untouched.

git cherry-pick

Another command that got an update is git cherry-pick, which applies the changes from one or more commits on top of your current branch. If you’re applying a single commit, you can always cancel the cherry-pick. However, now, if you’re applying multiple commits and the application fails in the middle of the list you can run git cherry-pick --skip where previously you would have had to run git reset && git cherry-pick --continue.

git multi-pack-index

Two new commands have been introduced for git multi-pack-index: expire and repack. repack breaks down the objects in your MIDX into smaller packfiles, then recreates the MIDX with the new packs. Once that’s done, running expire will clean up references to packfiles that don’t have objects listed in the MIDX.

SEE ALSO: Software, access, and realpolitik — How should open source communities respond to the GitHub restrictions?

Other changes

• git for-each-ref with multiple patterns have been optimized.
• Commit graphs have been updated.
• The git grep and git diff rules for determining what is a valid function signature and what encloses a valid function context have been extended to cover Octave and Rust.
• Calculating whether a branch is ahead or behind of a remote branch can now be switched off by default by setting the configuration variable status.aheadBehind.

For more information, read the full release notes or the blog post.

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