I still use git whatchanged

I still use git whatchanged

[Mira Skwar]

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know that I still actively use the |git 
whatchanged| command, so I’d appreciate if it remains available.

Thank you for maintaining Git!

Best regards,

Mira Skwar

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

Hi

On Tue, Aug 26, 2025, at 14:42, Mira Skwar wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I just wanted to let you know that I still actively use the |git
> whatchanged| command, so I’d appreciate if it remains available.
>
> Thank you for maintaining Git!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mira Skwar

You can replace it with `git log`:

• Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
• Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`

... with some minor output caveats about empty commits (commits with
no changes).[1]

🔗 1: https://lore.kernel.org/git/20250825085428.GA367101@coredump.intra.peff.net/

-- 
Kristoffer Haugsbakk

I still use git whatchanged

[Henrik Bennin]

May I ask not to remove git whatchanged because I still use it regularly?

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2025, at 10:42, Henrik Bennin wrote:
> May I ask not to remove git whatchanged because I still use it regularly?

What the error message you got doesn’t say is that you can use
git-log(1) instead.  It supports everything that git-whatchanged(1)
supports.

• Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
• Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`

Additionally for the sake of readability, you might have more use for
`--stat` or `--name-only` rather than `--raw` if you are only reading
the output.

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Junio C Hamano]

"Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com> writes:

> On Mon, Sep 29, 2025, at 10:42, Henrik Bennin wrote:
>> May I ask not to remove git whatchanged because I still use it regularly?
>
> What the error message you got doesn’t say is that you can use
> git-log(1) instead.  It supports everything that git-whatchanged(1)
> supports.
>
> • Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
> • Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`
>
> Additionally for the sake of readability, you might have more use for
> `--stat` or `--name-only` rather than `--raw` if you are only reading
> the output.

We probably should merge kh/you-still-use-whatchanged-fix to produce
Git 2.51.1 sooner.

Thanks.

I still use git whatchanged

[Samer Abdallah]

Hello,
I still use git whatchanged.
Thank you.
Samer 

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Mon, Oct 13, 2025, at 23:59, Samer Abdallah wrote:
> I still use git whatchanged.

You can replace it with `git log` in this way:

• Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
• Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`

Additionally for the sake of readability, you might have more
use for `--stat` or `--name-only` rather than `--raw` if you are only
reading the output (not feeding the output to another program).

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Junio C Hamano]

"Kristoffer Haugsbakk" <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com> writes:

> On Mon, Oct 13, 2025, at 23:59, Samer Abdallah wrote:
>> I still use git whatchanged.
>
> You can replace it with `git log` in this way:
>
> • Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
> • Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`
>
> Additionally for the sake of readability, you might have more
> use for `--stat` or `--name-only` rather than `--raw` if you are only
> reading the output (not feeding the output to another program).

Thanks for fielding these repeated questions.

Let's do a maintenance release Git 2.51.1 very soon with your 
kh/you-still-use-whatchanged-fix topic, together with other minor
documentation changes and probably a hdnful of ci related fixes.

We haven't had non-security maintenance releases for quite a while,
so I may need to remember and practice the procedure to cut one ;-)

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Tue, Oct 14, 2025, at 01:01, Samer Abdallah wrote:
> Hi Kristoffer,
>
> Thank you for your reply.
> I should have added that I use it to see the history of changes for the current
> file I’m editing, using the `-p` option and a file name argument, (and binding
> it to the command `:Ghist` in vim.)
>
> However, the following seems to produce the same output, as you suggested
>
> 	git log -p --no-merges —raw <filename>

Good. That’s great.

I still use git whatchanged

[Chia-Sheng Chang]

Hi Git team,

I still use git whatchanged command.

Best regards,

Chia-Sheng Chang

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Sat, Nov 15, 2025, at 04:16, Chia-Sheng Chang wrote:
> Hi Git team,
>
> I still use git whatchanged command.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Chia-Sheng Chang

This command is being removed because it was supplanted by git-log(1) a
long while ago. Both commands use the same machinery, just with
different defaults.

You can replace it with `git log` in this way:

• Given: `git whatchanged <opts>`
• Replace with: `git log <opts> --no-merges --raw`

Additionally for the sake of readability, you might have more
use for `--stat` or `--name-only` rather than `--raw` if you are only
reading the output (not feeding the output to another program).

I still use git whatchanged

[Lee Smith]

I use this regularly, despite learning git after git log was added.
Remembering all the different options is hard so it's useful to have shortcuts.

If it's difficult to maintain I can understand why you might want to
remove it but I recommend adjusting the message that is shown to
suggest adding an alias instead.

Re: I still use git whatchanged

[Kristoffer Haugsbakk]

On Sun, Dec 7, 2025, at 11:12, Lee Smith wrote:
> I use this regularly, despite learning git after git log was added.

The closest equivalent is `git log --raw --no-merges`.

> Remembering all the different options is hard so it's useful to have
> shortcuts.

The thing about this command is that the `--raw` output is pretty noisy
for interactive use. Why not something “prettier” like `--stat` or
`--name-only`?

Well, anyway. It’s not like any workflow or preference is wrong.

> If it's difficult to maintain I can understand why you might want to
> remove it but I recommend adjusting the message that is shown to
> suggest adding an alias instead.

Sure. You can use the command name as an alias on Git 2.51.2 and 2.52.0.

    git config set --global alias.whatchanged 'log --raw --no-merges'