title: git checkout doesn't do what it's supposed
body: <p>I cloned a repository (the <a href="https://github.com/altera-opensource/linux-socfpga" rel="nofollow noreferrer">linux-socfpga</a>) and did some changes in <code>make menuconfig</code> without commiting. Now I want to discard my changes. I did <code>git checkout .</code> which does nothing. </p>
  
  <p>I would like easy things to be easy but git makes the easy tasks impossible. </p>
  
  <p>Wherever I read for instructions it just says do <code>git checkout .</code> but it does nothing. My changes are still there. </p>