Page 5 of 8~112 min topic

Git basics

Debug accidentally staging both files in the focused Git commit

Page 5 reproduces and repairs the characteristic failure of the focused commit for evaluation-script change: accidentally staging both files, or committing from the wrong directory.

~14 min this pageDebugging

1Learn the idea

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Reproduce before you repair

Do not start with a speculative fix for the focused Git commit. Force the failure on purpose, save the before output, then change one cause at a time. Retries are allowed only for transient conditions—not for bad input that will fail forever on git-basics.

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Force the failure

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if README was staged by mistake:

git restore --staged README.md git status --short


Expected evidence: **README unstaged again**. If you cannot reproduce on demand, you do not yet control the failure mode for `git-basics`.

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Repair with a reviewable diff

After repair, rerun the exact reproduction command. Keep the failing fixture as a regression seed for the observability page. For the focused commit for evaluation-script change, remember the claim you are restoring: git show --stat on HEAD lists train.py but not README.md.

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Lab notebook: reproduce on command

Store a one-command reproduction for: accidentally staging both files, or committing from the wrong directory. The command should use repo with dirty train.py (eval) and README.md (docs) or a minimal mutant of it. Paste the failing output into notes/failure-before.txt (or your shell scrollback as copied text). After the fix, paste notes/failure-after.txt and keep both.

Retries belong only on transient faults. If the failure is bad input, a bad allowlist, or a logic bug in the focused Git commit, retrying will amplify cost without repairing trust around land only the tested train.py evaluation change while README edits stay unstaged.

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Worked judgment

Classify the failure as prevent, detect, contain, or recover—using this lab’s language, not a generic poster. For git-basics, the first fix should usually be detect+prevent at the boundary, because accidentally staging both files, or committing from the wrong directory is cheaper to stop early than to explain in production prose.

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Why this stage matters for the focused Git commit

At the debugging stage for git-basics, the job is narrower than finishing a product demo. You are creating one progressive evidence piece about repo with dirty train.py (eval) and README.md (docs) that later pages inherit without redefining success. Keep that fixture small enough to inspect by hand, keep outputs copy-pasteable as text, and refuse to narrate this baseline as if it were a production SLA: git status and git diff before any add.

For this page specifically, success looks like before/after evidence for the characteristic failure while still centering the user decision to land only the tested train.py evaluation change while README edits stay unstaged. If you cannot point to a file, command, or assertion that proves that for the focused Git commit, stay on this page instead of advancing.

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Before you start

Why this matters

Describe the smallest fixture that triggers accidentally staging both files. Predict the first visible symptom (exception, wrong label, silent empty success). You will compare that prediction with the reproduction below.

In the wild

See how this idea shows up as a product and a company — then come back to the lesson. Skills transfer across vendors.

Check your understanding

Page assessment

Answer from memory. Completion is saved from this evidence, not from opening the next page.

1. Can you reproduce the failure with a one-command fixture?
2. Did you avoid retrying non-transient bad input?
3. Is before/after evidence saved as text (not only a screenshot)?
4. Does the repair restore the metric path toward: git diff --cached --name-only shows only train.py before commit?

All responses are required.