HEAD
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:45:49 PM
What is HEAD in Git?
What is HEAD in Git?
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:56:08 PM
Few key points on HEAD
HEAD refers to the current branch (that is checked out)
For example you can do "cat .git/HEAD" it will have "ref: refs/heads/master"
Each branch then refers to its latest commit point
An intermediate commit point of a branch can have a tag
A HEAD, if not otherwise specified, only refers to a branch that is current and indirectly points to the head of that current branch.
A HEAD can be made point to an intermediate commit point of the current branch or a tagged commit point of another branch. In such cases it is called a detached HEAD
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:56:38 PM
Here is a wonderful description of Detached HEAD
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:57:43 PM
I have talked more about this while talking about Branches
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:58:16 PM
I have talked about this with "Checkout" as well
satya - 3/10/2019, 4:59:26 PM
So HEAD really tells git what the current branch is :)
And it is switched to a different branch with checkout
it is synonymous with checking out a branch