Enhanced git branch list (proposal)

[John Bartholomew <jpa.bartholomew@gmail.com>]

I find the output of `git branch' to be quite bare, and would like to
see more information; most importantly, what the state of the branch
is in relation to its upstream. For some time I have been using my
own script to do this. It produces output like this:

$ git lsb
  commodity-market-lua [behind 'brianetta/commodity-market-lua' by 2
commits]
  filesystem [up-to-date with 'jpab/filesystem']
  fix-ring-blending [ahead of 'jpab/fix-ring-blending' by 1 commit]
  galaxy-refactor
  galaxy-refactor-2 [diverged from 'jpab/galaxy-refactor', by 6
commits/626 commits (us/them)]
  hud-pitch-ladder [up-to-date with 'jpab/hud-pitch-ladder']
= issue-1388
  issue-695
  lmr-mtllib-improvements
  marcel-stations
* master [up-to-date with 'jpab/master']
  refcounted-body [up-to-date with 'jpab/refcounted-body']
  string-formatter [up-to-date with 'jpab/string-formatter']

The first column indicates the relation to HEAD: '*' marks the current
head, '=' marks a branch which is identical with the current HEAD.

Branches which have a configured upstream (branch.remote and
branch.merge are set) show the relation to the corresponding remote
branch.

Some key text ('up-to-date', 'ahead', 'behind' or 'diverged', and the
name of the current HEAD) is displayed with colour if colour is
enabled.

Arguments can be passed to show remote branches (for all remotes, or
for a specified remote), or all branches, and to show each branch
in relation to a specified target branch instead of the configured
remote tracking branch.

I would like to know whether there is any interest in incorporating
this functionality into the main git distribution, either as a
separate command, or within `git branch'. For my purposes I have it
aliased under the name `git lsb' for `list branches'.

You can examine the script I'm using for this at:

https://github.com/johnbartholomew/gitvoodoo/blob/master/bin/git-xbranch

Regards,

John B