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[PATCH v3 0/6] Nominating "whatchanged" for removal

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
May 3, 2025, 00:58 UTC
Message-ID
<20250503005814.3030099-1-gitster@pobox.com>
In-Reply-To
<20250501225958.2947677-1-gitster@pobox.com>

"git whatchanged" has outlived its usefulness when "git log" with various diff-related options more than 10 years ago. It is not even shorter to type than its rough equivalent "git log --raw". It is high time to start seeing if it is still being used, declare its official deprecation, and announce its removal in the future.

This iteration is more complete than the previous two iterations:
 * The first step is to refactor the mechanism to show the message
   to ask users to contact git@vger that they still use the command,
   out of "git pack-redundant" implementation.  This message is
   shown when the "--i-still-use-this" option is not passed to a
   command that requires it.
 * The second and the third step are to remove unnecessary mentions
   of "whatchanged" from our documentation and tests.  With these,
   we have fewer places that we need to adjust when the command gets
   truly removed.
 * Then we start to require that the "--i-still-use-this" option is
   passed from the command line.  This requires adjustment for tests
   that protect the behaviour of the command, as they must now pass
   the required option just like end-users.
 * The last two steps are for a future.  In order to make sure that
   we can cleanly ditch the feature at some future date by removing
   it from the build, test, and documentation when Git is built with
   WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES.  And finally we add "whatchanged" to the
   list of features to be removed in the BreakingChanges document.
Junio C Hamano (6):
  you-still-use-that??: help deprecating commands for removal
  doc: prepare for a world without whatchanged
  tests: prepare for a world without whatchanged
  whatchanged: require --i-still-use-this
  whatchanged: remove when built with WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES
  whatschanged: list it in BreakingChanges document
 Documentation/BreakingChanges.adoc           |  9 ++++++
 Documentation/MyFirstObjectWalk.adoc         |  4 +--
 Documentation/config/format.adoc             |  6 ++++
 Documentation/config/log.adoc                | 11 +++++--
 Documentation/git-whatchanged.adoc           | 10 ++++--
 Documentation/pretty-options.adoc            |  5 +++
 Documentation/rev-list-options.adoc          |  9 ++++--
 Documentation/technical/sparse-checkout.adoc |  2 +-
 Documentation/user-manual.adoc               |  2 +-
 builtin/log.c                                | 19 +++++++++++
 builtin/pack-redundant.c                     | 10 ++----
 git-compat-util.h                            |  2 ++
 git.c                                        |  2 ++
 t/t4013-diff-various.sh                      | 27 ++++++++++++++--
 t/t4202-log.sh                               | 34 ++++++++++++++------
 t/t5323-pack-redundant.sh                    |  5 +++
 t/t9300-fast-import.sh                       | 12 +++----
 t/t9301-fast-import-notes.sh                 |  2 +-
 usage.c                                      | 12 +++++++
 19 files changed, 146 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
-- 
2.49.0-601-ga5925c3955
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 13 of 39 in “Nominating "whatchanged" for removal”
  1. 0/2 Nominating "whatchanged" for removalJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  2. 1/2 you-still-use-that??: help deprecating commands for removalJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  3. 2/2 whatchanged: require --i-still-use-thisJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  4. Junio C HamanoMay 1, 2025
  5. 0/2 Nominating "whatchanged" for removalJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  6. 1/2 you-still-use-that??: help deprecating commands for removalJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  7. 2/2 whatchanged: require --i-still-use-thisJunio C Hamano, May 1, 2025
  8. Patrick SteinhardtMay 2, 2025
  9. Junio C HamanoMay 2, 2025
  10. Patrick SteinhardtMay 5, 2025
  11. Patrick SteinhardtMay 2, 2025
  12. Junio C HamanoMay 2, 2025
  13. 0/6 Nominating "whatchanged" for removalJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  14. 1/6 you-still-use-that??: help deprecating commands for removalJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  15. Elijah NewrenMay 12, 2025
  16. 2/6 doc: prepare for a world without whatchangedJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  17. Elijah NewrenMay 12, 2025
  18. 3/6 tests: prepare for a world without whatchangedJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  19. Patrick SteinhardtMay 5, 2025
  20. Elijah NewrenMay 12, 2025
  21. 4/6 whatchanged: require --i-still-use-thisJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  22. Patrick SteinhardtMay 5, 2025
  23. Junio C HamanoMay 5, 2025
  24. 5/6 whatchanged: remove when built with WITH_BREAKING_CHANGESJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  25. Patrick SteinhardtMay 5, 2025
  26. Junio C HamanoMay 5, 2025
  27. 6/6 whatschanged: list it in BreakingChanges documentJunio C Hamano, May 3, 2025
  28. Elijah NewrenMay 12, 2025
  29. Junio C HamanoMay 12, 2025
  30. 0/6 Nominating "whatchanged" for removalJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  31. 1/6 you-still-use-that??: help deprecating commands for removalJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  32. 2/6 doc: prepare for a world without whatchangedJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  33. 3/6 tests: prepare for a world without whatchangedJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  34. 4/6 whatchanged: require --i-still-use-thisJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  35. Junio C HamanoMay 14, 2025
  36. 5/6 whatchanged: remove when built with WITH_BREAKING_CHANGESJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  37. 6/6 whatschanged: list it in BreakingChanges documentJunio C Hamano, May 12, 2025
  38. Elijah NewrenMay 12, 2025
  39. Junio C HamanoMay 12, 2025

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