X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-symbolic-ref.txt;h=f93b79a85e1259f789551a94ab422a846cf4cf65;hb=e0d10e1c63bc52b37bbec99b07deee794058d9b4;hp=68ac6a65df304adf99f0af95698ffc901dda873c;hpb=b642d9ef643371990c0a921836f2a074d48ce1b3;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt
index 68ac6a65d..f93b79a85 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-symbolic-ref.txt
@@ -3,11 +3,11 @@ git-symbolic-ref(1)
 
 NAME
 ----
-git-symbolic-ref - read and modify symbolic refs
+git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs
 
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
-'git-symbolic-ref' <name> [<ref>]
+'git-symbolic-ref' [-q] <name> [<ref>]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -19,29 +19,34 @@ argument to see on which branch your working tree is on.
 Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to
 point at the given branch <ref>.
 
-Traditionally, `.git/HEAD` is a symlink pointing at
-`refs/heads/master`.  When we want to switch to another branch,
-we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we want
+A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that
+begins with `ref: refs/`.  For example, your `.git/HEAD` is
+a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`.
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+
+-q::
+	Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a
+	symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with
+	non-zero status silently.
+
+NOTES
+-----
+In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at
+`refs/heads/master`.  When we wanted to switch to another branch,
+we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted
 to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`.
 This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by
 default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks,
 or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit
 cumbersome.  On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as
-advertised (horrors).
-
-A symbolic ref can be a regular file that stores a string that
-begins with `ref: refs/`.  For example, your `.git/HEAD` *can*
-be a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`.
-This can be used on a filesystem that does not support symbolic
-links.  Instead of doing `readlink .git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref
-HEAD` can be used to find out which branch we are on.  To point
-the HEAD to `newbranch`, instead of `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch
-.git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/newbranch` can be
-used.
-
-Currently, .git/HEAD uses a regular file symbolic ref on Cygwin,
-and everywhere else it is implemented as a symlink.  This can be
-changed at compilation time.
+advertised (horrors).  Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated
+and symbolic refs are used by default.
+
+git-symbolic-ref will exit with status 0 if the contents of the
+symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested
+name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs.
 
 Author
 ------