How is that I'm able to view a different branch on the github web interface while others are possibly viewing different branches of the same repo (on the )via the web interface? isn't checkout a stateful operation?
Not that it answers your question directly, but this might be the best shot at finding out: <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4892602/how-does-the-github-website-work-architecture" rel="nofollow">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4892602/how-does-the-gith...</a>