Re: Issue 2100: Explanation of branches for CG (issue 5539062)

[Graham Percival]

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 04:26:04PM -0000, Phil Holmes wrote:
> @example
> [remote "origin"]
> fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
> url = ssh://git.sv.gnu.org/srv/git/lilypond.git
> @end example

This is precisely what we should avoid.  Explaining how to modify
.git/config by hand is tedious, complicated, and will almost
always lead to questions and getting "talked through" the changes.
We've seen this at least 4 times so far on -devel.

If there is *any* way of making a recipe that works "out of the
box" starting from a simple git clone, we should use that.  Manual
modifications to .git/config should be an absolute last resort;
AFAIK this is only needed once when somebody gets ssh push
ability.

> Note that this does not work well for complex changes on other
> branches - if you're doing this you'll need to have better git
> understanding.  However, "make your change" could include applying
> a patch previously you've made.

The new instructions really push (no pun intended) the use of
branches, even for a single small doc-typo fix.  We're still
simplifying and streamlining those instructions, but once they're
done I really think they will make everybody's life much simpler.

- Graham