I used git worktree add
to create a new worktree. I noticed that is has created a new branch in the repo with the same name as the worktree. What is this branch for
git worktree --help clearly mentions this as below.
COMMANDS
add <path> [<branch>]
Create <path> and checkout <branch> into it. The new working directory is linked to the current repository, sharing everything
except working directory specific files such as HEAD, index, etc.
If <branch> is omitted and neither -b nor -B is used, then, as a convenience, a new branch based at HEAD is created automatically,
as if -b $(basename <path>) was specified.
prune
Prune working tree information in $GIT_DIR/worktrees.
Seems you can run in detached mode with --detach
, which won't create branches. This may be useful if you don't plan to do modifications in the worktree, but just run build or run tests for example.
Source: https://stacktoheap.com/blog/2016/01/19/using-multiple-worktrees-with-git/#long-running-tasks
The branch is necessary because you cannot have the same branch checked out in different worktrees at the same time.
So if you do not specify a branch when adding the worktree, then git will add one automatically, based on your current branch and with the name of the worktree directory.
You may ask, why cannot I have the same branch checkout out twice? Think of what will happen to worktree A when you commit to B, if they both share the branch... the worktree A will see the commit in B as a local difference, but in reverse! just as if you did git reset --soft HEAD^
... That would be quite dangerous.
BTW, that is the same reason why you cannot push to a branch of a non-bare repository that is checked out.
About your last question: can you delete the branch? Of course, that branch is in no way special. You can delete it as long as it is not checked out anywhere.
From Git 2.17.0, you can safely run this all-in-one command
git worktree remove <path>
git worktree will add a new branch if none are specified:
If
<commit-ish>
is omitted and neither-b
nor-B
nor--detach
used, then, as a convenience, a new branch based at HEAD is created automatically, as if-b $(basename <path>)
was specified.
Since Git 2.17, you can delete that branch with git worktree remove.
But, that same remove
command also included:
Unclean working trees or ones with submodules can be removed with
--force
.
The main working tree cannot be removed.
True... except --force
was not fully implemented in Git 2.17.
With Git 2.18 (Q2 2018), "git worktree remove
" learned that "-f
" is a shorthand for "--force
" option, just like for "git worktree add".
See commit d228eea (17 Apr 2018) by Stefan Beller (stefanbeller).
Helped-by: Eric Sunshine (sunshineco).
(Merged by Junio C Hamano -- gitster -- in commit 90186fa, 08 May 2018)
worktree
: accept-f
as short for--force
for removalMany commands support a "
--force
" option, frequently abbreviated as "-f
".
However, "git worktree remove
"'s hand-rolledOPT_BOOL
forgets to recognize the short form, despitegit-worktree.txt
documenting "-f
" as supported.
ReplaceOPT_BOOL
withOPT__FORCE
, which provides "-f
" for free, and makes 'remove
' consistent with 'add
' option parsing (which also specifies thePARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE
flag).
As the other guys answer this question, I put commands to delete the folder
, delete worktree
and delete branch
here:
first, list all of your worktrees to double check...
$ git worktree list
then, delete the folder of the worktree
$ rm -rf path/to/worktree
after that, delete the worktree itself
$ git worktree prune
in case you have more than one worktree, the above command only prune the worktree that its path doesn't exist anymore, so don't worry!
finally, delete the branch (same branch-name as the worktree)
$ git branch -D <branch-name>