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

[Harald Hanche-Olsen]

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.

– Harald