git.vger.kernel.org archive mirror
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Alex Vandiver <alex@chmrr.net>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] Reword -M, when in `git log`s documention, to suggest --follow
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:40:59 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <1261428059-31286-1-git-send-email-alex@chmrr.net> (raw)

The documentation for `git log` is sadly misleading when it comes
to tracking renames.  By far the most common option that users
new to git want is the ability to view the history of a file
across renames.  Unfortunately, `git log --help` shows:

    NAME
           git-log - Show commit logs
    [...]
    OPTIONS
    [...]
           -M
               Detect renames.

...and most users stop reading there.  Unfortunately, what
they're generally looking for comes significantly later:

    [...]
           --follow
               Continue listing the history of a file beyond renames.

Signed-off-by: Alex Vandiver <alex@chmrr.net>
---
 Documentation/diff-options.txt |    6 ++++++
 1 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/diff-options.txt b/Documentation/diff-options.txt
index 8707d0e..bcbad88 100644
--- a/Documentation/diff-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/diff-options.txt
@@ -175,7 +175,13 @@ endif::git-format-patch[]
 	Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and create.
 
 -M::
+ifdef::git-log[]
+	Show renames in diff output.  See `--follow` to track history
+	across renames.
+endif::git-log[]
+ifndef::git-log[]
 	Detect renames.
+endif::git-log[]
 
 -C::
 	Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
-- 
1.6.6.rc0.363.g69d13.dirty

             reply	other threads:[~2009-12-21 20:41 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2009-12-21 20:40 Alex Vandiver [this message]
2010-01-01  0:45 ` [PATCH] Reword -M, when in `git log`s documention, to suggest --follow Alex Vandiver
2010-01-01  4:35 ` Junio C Hamano
2010-01-02  6:38   ` Alex Vandiver
2010-01-02 18:43     ` Junio C Hamano

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=1261428059-31286-1-git-send-email-alex@chmrr.net \
    --to=alex@chmrr.net \
    --cc=git@vger.kernel.org \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).