Intelligent branch switching for git

Description

This script performs "intelligent checkout" of branches in git. When switching from branch testA to branch testB, the following happens, in order:

• Stashes any works in progress on testA
• Checks out testB
• Looks for an auto-stashed stash on testB; if found, it is applied and popped

This allows users to quickly switch between branches, keeping their intermediate work without needing to commit it first. This is intended to mimic the behavior a user would get from having a separate clone for each branch and switching directories in order to switch branches.

Usage

First, make sure that the script is executable ("chmod a+x icheckout.py"). After this, you can simply call

./icheckout.py destination_branch

You should be able to use any other arguments normally used with 'git checkout' as long as the branch name is the last argument to this script.

To make an alias (so you can use, for example, "git icheckout destination_branch" instead), add the following lines to your .git/config:

[alias]
   icheckout = !./icheckout.py

In my setup, icheckout.py is in the root folder of the repository. You may prefer to store the script in your /usr/local/bin folder.

Bugs

I have not thoroughly tested this script. If you find any bugs, please report them using the github issue tracker or fix them and issue a pull request.