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From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To: Tamir Duberstein <tamird@gmail.com>
Cc: git@vger.kernel.org, "Jean-Noël Avila" <jn.avila@free.fr>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] doc: clarify --follow and log.follow for git log
Date: Mon, 11 May 2026 09:13:04 +0900	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <xmqqv7cux0q7.fsf@gitster.g> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAJ-ks9mPzCr3obAw5cE071GNjzy_ZLzF4mQdnUbQY5H4WPw3sA@mail.gmail.com> (Tamir Duberstein's message of "Sun, 10 May 2026 20:07:43 -0400")

Tamir Duberstein <tamird@gmail.com> writes:

> I observed this "undefined" behavior, which is why I started working
> on this patch. I think it is not reasonable to deal with undefined
> behavior by pretending it doesn't exist. The documentation should
> acknowledge and explain what happens when this option is used for all
> ways that it can be used.

No, you are misguided.

Undefined behaviour can change without notice, and users should be
strongly discouraged from using it.  Describing what the current
implementation happens to do moves us exactly in the opposite
direction.

`--follow` is a checkbox feature. You can use it "only with a single
filename on a linear history" or all bets are off otherwise.

That is what we should describe if we want to be honest.

  reply	other threads:[~2026-05-11  0:13 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 14+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-05-07 14:14 [PATCH] doc: git-log: document --no-follow Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-07 18:13 ` [PATCH v2] doc: git-log: clarify --follow options Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-10 21:31   ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-10 22:30     ` Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-10 23:48       ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-10 23:51         ` Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-10 22:31   ` [PATCH v3] doc: clarify --follow and log.follow for git log Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-10 23:53     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-11  0:07       ` Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-11  0:13         ` Junio C Hamano [this message]
2026-05-11  0:32           ` Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-11  0:46             ` Junio C Hamano
2026-05-11  1:28               ` Tamir Duberstein
2026-05-11  2:06                 ` Junio C Hamano

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