Re: git question: how do I get a specific git version into my working directory?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2015 16:07:44 +0200
> From: Harald Hanche-Olsen <hanche@math.ntnu.no>
> Cc: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > If I were you, I'd do all this in a separate branch, just to be sure
> > my 'master' branch had no chance whatsoever to be affected.  Then you
> > could simply delete that branch when no longer needed.
> 
> Since the master branch is just a pointer into some specific commit, I 
> don't think anything you do while in a headless commit can affect the 
> master branch in any way. (Unless, of course, you run commands that 
> specifically name the master branch in order to change it.)
> 
> To get to the master branch just as it was, run “git checkout master”.
> 
> If you made changes while in the headless commit, that will fail. In 
> which case, either abandon the changes with “git checkout -f master”, or 
> stash them first.

Yes, I know all that.  But I'd still do all that on a separate branch,
since 'master' is not supposed to be used for such stuff, it's
supposed to track upstream as close as possible.

Better be safe than sorry.