Re: [PATCH] t4202 (log): add failing test for log with subtree

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@gmail.com> writes:

> Am I making any sense?

I dunno.  Depends on the definition of "sense".

It sounds like you are repeating the same old "let's record renames
in the commit", and in a system (not Git) where recording renames
may make sense, you may be making sense.

But we will not record renames in the commit.  Time to re-read
$gmane/217, perhaps?

A subtree merge that slurps everything from a side branch under a
single directory, say gitk/, is not at all different from a normal
merge with many renames.

Imagine an alternate world where we had a small "git.git" project
with 11 files totallying 1244 lines.  Then Paul Mackerras forks that
project, remove everything from the top-level directory and adds a
Tck/Tk script "gitk".  Linus merges that history as-is, keeping all
our files intact (i.e. ignoring his removal) but taking the addition
of "gitk" from him.

Then after I inherit the project, I rename "gitk" to "gitk-git/git".
Paul does not rename his.  We keep developing in parallel and I
occassionally merge from his tree, which has "gitk" at the top,
while mine has it in a directory "gitk-git".  The ordinary rename
detection kicks in and integrates his updates to "gitk" into my
"gitk-git/gitk".

The only difference the above imaginary history has from the reality
is Paul's history does not share that root, but everything else is
the same.