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git log --name-only improvement: show old file name in rename

From
EAEd Avis <ed.avis@qmaw.com>
Date
Jun 11, 2020, 11:19 UTC
Message-ID
<BL0PR11MB3460BEB60550854661B5178B9D800@BL0PR11MB3460.namprd11.prod.outlook.com>
The git-log manual page says
       --name-only
           Show only names of changed files.

But when a file has been renamed, only the new name is printed, not the old.  I think it would be more useful and more correct to print both names.

For example
% git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/eda/test/.git/
% touch a
% git add a
% git commit -mx
[master (root-commit) ca81aa7] x
 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 a
% git mv a b
% git commit -my
[master 7b3925c] y
 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 rename a => b (100%)
% git log --name-only -n 1
commit 7b3925c1ece26d08d79cf9f06bfcb0b38fea611f (HEAD -> master)
Author: Ed Avis <eda@waniasset.com>
Date:   2020-06-11 11:59:34 +0100
    y
b

I would expect that last log message to show the old filename a as well as the new filename b.  If you give --no-renames then both filenames are shown, of course, but I think it should be possible to detect the rename and print out both old and new names.  There is --name-status which will print more info including renames, but again I believe --name-only should also show both.  Thank you for considering this improvement request.

% git --version git version 2.26.0

-- 
Ed Avis <ed.avis@qmaw.com>
Next: Junio C Hamano
Message 1 of 9 in “git log --name-only improvement: show old file name in rename”
  1. Ed AvisJun 11, 2020
  2. Junio C HamanoJun 11, 2020
  3. Philip OakleyJun 12, 2020
  4. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2020
  5. Ed AvisJun 15, 2020
  6. Nathan FaulknerMay 16, 2024
  7. Re*: git log --name-only improvement: show old file name in renameJunio C Hamano, May 17, 2024
  8. Nathan FaulknerMay 18, 2024
  9. Junio C HamanoMay 18, 2024

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