From: Linus Torvalds Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 01:03:09 GMT Subject: Re: [PATCH] diff-raw format update take #2. Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <7v64x91mfb.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net> On Mon, 23 May 2005, Junio C Hamano wrote: > > Embedded spaces in path is _always_ safe. For raw-diff yes, but since you'd normally end up using that name in the diff, it won't be safe any more. Imagine a name like "this is a file", and think about how the diff ends up looking: diff --git a/this is a file b/this is a file and realize that that can't be parsed sanely by anybody who uses the diff. And here '-z' doesn't help us, because we're basically screwed by the diff format (not our own decision). So CVS uses "Index: " to help this somewhat, and we can get it right for renames and copies (because we then output the name in a way that is at least space and tab-safe, if not newline-safe). But basically, anything that uses patches as a medium for passing information around should _really_ avoid using spaces or tabs in filenames, and that's quite independent of git ;/ Linus