From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 23:39:16 GMT
Subject: Re: [BUG] Highly inconsistent diff UI
Message-ID: <7vzjwmyycb.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20130425232145.GM29963@google.com>

Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> writes:

> Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote:
>
>> I thought ^@ was invented for scripting, but can't imagine a usecase for ^!.
>
> I use "git diff $commit^!" from time to time to get the diff between a
> merge and its first parent.
>
> For comparison, I haven't found ^@ or "git log $commit^!" useful.  The
> commit introducing the former says
>
> | I needed it to do the multi-tree diff on Len's infamous 12-way
> | Octopus; typing "diff --cc funmerge funmerge^1 funmerge^2 funmerge^3
> | ..." was too painful.
>
> which is spelled as "git show --cc funmerge" these days.

The more important part of the message comes before that part ;-)

    This might be just my shiny new toy that is not very useful in
    practice.  I needed it to do the multi-tree diff on Len's ...

So I was right --- from the very beginning, this was "let's add a
random cruft on a whim without thinking things through" as I said.

It is not satisfactory to be right in saying that "I am sure this
was a stupid mistake" X-<.