Re: [PATCH] Improve the "diff --git" format documentation

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 14, 2010, 16:16 UTC
Message-ID: <20101014161636.GB16500@burratino>
In-Reply-To: <201010141439.43168.agruen@suse.de>

Andreas Gruenbacher wrote:

> I still believe that the documentation should make it very clear how it
> handles created and deleted files;

Yes - thanks for doing this.

Show 8 quoted lines

> --- a/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/diff-generate-patch.txt
> @@ -53,12 +53,22 @@ The index line includes the SHA-1 checksum before and after the change.
>  The <mode> is included if the file mode does not change; otherwise,
>  separate lines indicate the old and the new mode.
>  
> -3.  TAB, LF, double quote and backslash characters in pathnames
> +3.  It is followed by a 'unified' diff which starts with a two-line

So afterwards the section would say:

	What the -p option produces is slightly different from the traditional
	diff format.

	1.   It is preceded with a "git diff" header, that looks like
	     this:

	       diff --git a/file1 b/file2
	[...]

	2.   It is followed by one or more extended header lines:

	       old mode <mode>
	       new mode <mode>
	[...]

	3.   It is followed by a 'unified' diff which starts with a two-line
	[...]

At some point, the reader starts to wonder what "it" is. :) (2) already has this problem, since the extended header lines actually precede the traditional diff rather than following it.

How about:

	What the -p option produces is slightly different[...]

	1. It is preceded with a "git diff" header[...]
	2. Next comes one or more extended header lines[...]
	3. The from-file/to-file header that follows uses filenames
	of the form a/file1 and b/file2 (where "a/" and "b/" can be
	replaced with some other string or removed depending on
	options used):

		--- a/file1
		+++ b/file2

	This header is omitted if[...]
	4. TAB, LF, double quote, and [...]

Jonathan