Re: Linux v2.6.18-rc1

Linus Torvalds
2006-07-06T16:22:43Z

On Thu, 6 Jul 2006, Matt Keenan wrote:
>
> > Git users should generally just select the part they are interested in, and
> > do something like
> >
> > git log v2.6.17.. -- drivers/usb/ | git shortlog | less -S
> >
> > to get a better and more focused view of what has changed.
> >
> [snip snip]
>
> Is it possible to get a URL to a shortlog on a web git somewhere? Has this
> information been posted before and I have missed it?

The most recent version of "gitweb" can actually do this kind of thing for
you on the web, but the version currently installed on kernel.org only
does it per-file, not per directory, making it less useful.

I suspect it will get upgraded one of these days, and when it does, you
can generate the above kind of listing without even having git installed
by going to

http://www.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git

and then selecting the "tree" view (it defaults to "summary" - see the top
line that says "summary"/"shortlog"/"log"/"commit"/"commitdiff"/"tree",
and select "tree" from there). Then you can walk down the tree, and when
you find the file (or, eventually, directory) you are interested in, click
on "history".

So even without git, you can get a lot of this kind of information.
However, with just the web interface, you do lose a lot of browsing
capability, like browsing multiple files/directories at the same time, and
doing things like limiting the output since just a particular version.

So you could just get git on your own, and read the docs, and play with
it. The place to start is probably the git homepage:

http://git.or.cz/

(also look up the Wiki there - click on "Wiki" in the header to see some
Wiki resources that probably get updated a bit more often than the home
page itself).

Linus