Re: git log --follow doesn't follow a rename over a merge

From: James Blackburn <jamesblackburn@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 16, 2011, 13:31 UTC
Message-ID: <BANLkTik1-UvEXqzgdXwcK3x6_o8fDiwB7g@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <m362o5vrhd.fsf@localhost.localdomain>

On 16 June 2011 14:25, Jakub Narebski <jnareb@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 14 quoted lines

> James Blackburn <jamesblackburn@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I'm trying, without success, to get git log to show the history of a
>> file across a rename.  I'm using git version 1.7.5.4, and git blame
>> has no such issues tracking the source of the lines.
>
> [...]
>
>> Have I done something wrong in grafting history like this, or is this
>> just a problem with the way git log --follow tracks renames?
>
> The `--follow` option to git-log is more of a bolted-on hack rather
> than proper solution, see 750f7b6 (Finally implement "git log
> --follow", 2007-06-19), and it might not work in all cases.

Thanks for the reply Jakub.

I'm also interested in knowing what incantation I need to give to
actually get history of the file which was previously removed.  e.g. I
know the full path:
   plugins/org.eclipse.dd.dsf.debug/src/org/eclipse/dd/dsf/debug/service/IBreakpoints.java
used to exist, but without --follow, git log returns nothing.

Similarly I can't figure out how to find (without knowing in advance) which was the last commit which contained this version of IBreakpoints.java. i.e. which commit removed / renamed it?

Cheers, James