Re: file rename causes history to disappear

From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Date: Sep 6, 2006, 18:34 UTC
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0609061131100.27779@g5.osdl.org>
In-Reply-To: <edmvfv$lt7$2@sea.gmane.org>

On Wed, 6 Sep 2006, Jakub Narebski wrote:

> 
> So if/when git would have --follow option to git-log and git-diff-*, it
> would be rather --follow=<filename>, rather than --follow -- <paths>?

That would probably be sensible, yes. Especially since "--follow" is fundamentally different from the "<paths>" thing in that you really should be able to only follow a single file.

(Following multiple files causes huge amounts of pain - it might be possible, but I don't think it's worth it).

> git-rev-list could then output hash with current set of <filenames>, which
> were given <filename> at the beginning, i.e.
>   <hash> -- <filename> [<filename>...]

I would argue that "--follow" would be incompatible with having other <paths> listed. But maybe there is some sensible rule for what the combination means (show the listed paths _and_ the file we're following?) I dunno.

		Linus