git mv (was Re: [git pull] ACPI & Suspend patches for 2.6.29-rc0)

[Len Brown <lenb@kernel.org>]

> As usual, git is actually smarter and get things more correct than people 
> realize. What you found "surprising" is actually a "profound truth". 
> 
> Git is like a great indian mystic. It sees past the veil of the trivial, 
> to find the true connections in life.
> 
> Or at least in source code.

Thanks for confirming that the unexpected diff
is a fature of git rather than a bug.

Since I had used "git mv", I had expected everything
to show up as a move.  However, I understand that
comparing file contents over that move and other code moves
told a different 'big picture' story.

I guess using 'git mv' gave me the false expectation
that git actually tracks moves like other SCMs
and it would show up that way in the diff -- though
now that I think about it, I like the comparison
of the two endpoints that git did even better.

I guess you can make an argument either way about
how to handle moves.  One problem that both have to
deal with is that a history on the old (now missing)
file location doesn't work, and that by default
the history on the new location stops unless 
log --follow is used.  gitk doesn't use --follow
by default, and when it is added, the history
looks pretty strange.

thanks,
-Len Brown
Intel Open Source Technology Center