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inconsistent order of --diff-algorithm variants in man pages

From
VLVincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>
Date
Jun 8, 2026, 11:26 UTC
Message-ID
<20260608112656.GI1082778@cventin.lip.ens-lyon.fr>

In Documentation/diff-algorithm-option.adoc, which is used by the git-blame(1) and git-diff(1) man pages:

`--diff-algorithm=(patience|minimal|histogram|myers)`::
        Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:
+
--
   `default`;;
   `myers`;;
        The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.
   `minimal`;;
        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
        produced.
   `patience`;;
        Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.
   `histogram`;;
        This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
        low-occurrence common elements".
--

I think that using the same order in the --diff-algorithm line and in the description that follows would be better, i.e.

  --diff-algorithm=(myers|minimal|patience|histogram)

FYI, the text was added in 07924d4d50e5304fb53eb60aaba8aef31d4c4e5e in 2013, but without any explanation on this difference.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Pascaline project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)
Next: Junio C Hamano
Message 1 of 2 in “inconsistent order of --diff-algorithm variants in man pages”
  1. Vincent LefevreJun 8, 2026
  2. Junio C HamanoJun 8, 2026

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