Re: [PATCH v3] git-contacts: allow inputting patch via stdin

From: Brigham Campbell <me@brighamcampbell.com>
Date: Sep 25, 2026, 01:51 UTC
Message-ID: <DLO0S0UUB0EM.1NLQFJUPOMGY0@brighamcampbell.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqtsnf477e.fsf@gitster.g>

On Wed Sep 23, 2026 at 10:13 PM MDT, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> Brigham Campbell <me@brighamcampbell.com> writes:
>
>> $ git contacts - <patch
>> $ git contacts patch1 - patch3 <patch2
>
> The second one is an example that we could tell the command to read
> these three files in patch1 and then patch2 and then patch3.

Does the order in which arguments are processed matter? If it's a matter of producing predictable output, I just checked out `master` and I see that running git-contacts twice produces the same email addresses, but in different orders for the same two input patches:

	$ git format-patch HEAD~2
	0001-Git-2.56-rc2.patch
	0002-Revert-Merge-branch-en-no-amend-during-conflicts.patch
	$ ./contrib/contacts/git-contacts *.patch
	Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
	Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
	Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
	$ ./contrib/contacts/git-contacts *.patch
	Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
	Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
	Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

What's more, git-contacts already disregards the order of argv. It will always scan file contents first and then git rev-lists second, even if the user passes the rev-list first like follows:

	git contacts HEAD~2.. foo.patch

I would argue that this is not by mistake. The user should have no expectation as to the order in which arguments are processed. If the commit message implies that the arguments are processed one after another, regardless of whether it's a file, a rev-list, or stdin, then the commit message should be changed.

Do I misunderstand?

-- 
Brigham Campbell
https://brighamcampbell.com