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Re: [WIP PATCH/RFC] Use a higher range-diff --creation-factor for format-patch

From
Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
Date
Mar 15, 2019, 19:21 UTC
Message-ID
<87tvg49c5u.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<CAPig+cRMiEcXVRYrgp+B3tcDreh41-a5_k0zABe+HNce0G=Cyw@mail.gmail.com>
On Fri, Mar 15 2019, Eric Sunshine wrote:
Show 33 quoted lines
> On Fri, Mar 15, 2019 at 12:09 PM Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
> <avarab@gmail.com> wrote:
>> diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
>> @@ -261,6 +261,10 @@ material (this may change in the future).
>> +Defaults to 90, whereas the linkgit:git-range-diff[1] default is
>> +60. It's assumed that you're submitting a new patch series & that we
>> +should try harder than normal to find similarities.
>
> My understanding was that the primary use-case of git-range-diff
> itself (which existed before the --range-diff option was added to
> git-format-patch) was to generate a "range diff" for a cover letter of
> a re-rolled series. So, I'm confused about why this tweaks the default
> value of one command but not the other.
>
>> diff --git a/range-diff.h b/range-diff.h
>> @@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
>>  #define RANGE_DIFF_CREATION_FACTOR_DEFAULT 60
>> +#define RANGE_DIFF_CREATION_FACTOR_FORMAT_PATCH_DEFAULT 90
>
> The point of introducing RANGE_DIFF_CREATION_FACTOR_DEFAULT in the
> first place was to ensure that the default creation-factor didn't get
> out-of-sync between git-range-diff and git-format-patch., Thus,
> introducing this sort of inconsistency between the two would likely
> lead to confusion on the part of users. After all, --range-diff was
> added to git-format-patch merely as a convenience over having to run
> git-range-diff separately and copy/pasting its output into a cover
> letter generated by git-format-patch. If the two programs default to
> different values, then that "convenience equality" breaks down.
>
> So, I'm fairly negative on this change. However, that doesn't mean I
> would oppose tweaking the value shared between the two programs (and
> also the default used by GitGitGadget, if it specifies it manually),
> though I defer to Dscho in that regard.

I think that was the intention initially, but at least I'm now using range-diff as a general comparison tool of different non-ff-branches, e.g. the force-pushes to "pu".

I'd expect the tool in general to be used like that, whereas with format-patch it's safe to say we're dealing with a re-roll of the same thing.

Hence the hypothesis that for format-patch we can be more aggressive about finding similarities.

Previous: Eric SunshineNext: Johannes Schindelin
Message 3 of 5 in “Use a higher range-diff --creation-factor for format-patch”
  1. Use a higher range-diff --creation-factor for format-patchÆvar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Mar 15, 2019
  2. Eric SunshineMar 15, 2019
  3. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonMar 15, 2019
  4. Johannes SchindelinMar 21, 2019
  5. Junio C HamanoMar 18, 2019

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