X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-fast-import.txt;h=395c055f9571bfe66edd335ca84ac2c515ad2b86;hb=9e1f0a85c68323830ea117092c55192b17aa3ac8;hp=96f6767075b4173b81acf3eb413f5e1a35acb940;hpb=c484166374218c4af063c5b646af2a6e8fd7845e;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt b/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
index 96f676707..395c055f9 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
@@ -385,6 +385,9 @@ new commit.
 Omitting the `from` command in the first commit of a new branch
 will cause fast-import to create that commit with no ancestor. This
 tends to be desired only for the initial commit of a project.
+If the frontend creates all files from scratch when making a new
+branch, a `merge` command may be used instead of `from` to start
+the commit with an empty tree.
 Omitting the `from` command on existing branches is usually desired,
 as the current commit on that branch is automatically assumed to
 be the first ancestor of the new commit.
@@ -427,13 +430,15 @@ existing value of the branch.
 
 `merge`
 ^^^^^^^
-Includes one additional ancestor commit, and makes the current
-commit a merge commit.  An unlimited number of `merge` commands per
+Includes one additional ancestor commit.  If the `from` command is
+omitted when creating a new branch, the first `merge` commit will be
+the first ancestor of the current commit, and the branch will start
+out with no files.  An unlimited number of `merge` commands per
 commit are permitted by fast-import, thereby establishing an n-way merge.
 However Git's other tools never create commits with more than 15
 additional ancestors (forming a 16-way merge).  For this reason
 it is suggested that frontends do not use more than 15 `merge`
-commands per commit.
+commands per commit; 16, if starting a new, empty branch.
 
 Here `<committish>` is any of the commit specification expressions
 also accepted by `from` (see above).
@@ -1114,4 +1119,4 @@ Documentation by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.
 
 GIT
 ---
-Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite