Undoing a `git commit -- path` doesn't bring back your partial staging

git commit -m msg -- f uses --only semantics: it commits the whole working-tree f even if you had staged only some hunks. Tested on git 2.43.0: the obvious undo, git reset --soft HEAD~1, does not restore the earlier index. The pathspec commit had also rewritten f's index entry to the full content, so afterwards git diff --cached f shows ALL hunks staged, and the next plain git commit would commit them again. Real recovery: git reset --soft HEAD~1; git restore --staged f, then re-stage just your hunk (git add -p f, or git diff -U0 f | <filter> | git apply --cached --unidiff-zero), and check git diff --cached before committing.