Re: Git: new feature suggestion

> On Wed, 18 Jan 2017 10:40:52 +0000
> Joao Pinto <Joao.Pinto@synopsys.com> wrote:
> 
> [...]
>> I have seen a lot of Linux developers avoid this re-organization
>> operations because they would lose the renamed file history, because
>> a new log is created for the new file, even if it is a renamed
>> version of itself. I am sending you this e-mail to suggest the
>> creation of a new feature in Git: when renamed, a file or folder
>> should inherit his parent’s log and a “rename: …” would be
>> automatically created or have some kind of pointer to its “old” form
>> to make history analysis easier.
> 
> Git does not record renames because of its stance that what matters is
> code _of the whole project_ as opposed to its location in a particular
> file.
> 
> Hence with regard to renames Git "works backwards" by detecting them
> dynamically while traversing the history (such as with `git log`
> etc).  This detection uses certain heuristics which can be controlled
> with knobs pointed to by Stefan Beller.
> 
> Still, I welcome you to read the sort-of "reference" post by Linus
> Torvalds [1] in which he explains the reasoning behind this approach
> implemented in Git.  IMO, understanding the reasoning behind the idea
> is much better than just mechanically learning how to use it.
> 
> The whole thread (esp. Torvalds' replies) is worth reading, but that
> particular mail summarizes the whole thing very well.
> 
> (The reference link to it used to be [2], but Gmane is not fully
> recovered to be able to display it.)
> 
> 1. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__public-2Dinbox.org_git_Pine.LNX.4.58.0504150753440.7211-40ppc970.osdl.org_&d=DwIDaQ&c=DPL6_X_6JkXFx7AXWqB0tg&r=s2fO0hii0OGNOv9qQy_HRXy-xAJUD1NNoEcc3io_kx0&m=X0bQCOGTuZF-uq6smPwJDw4Q47qHgjWaewgTHCbhMnM&s=97U97toe9A6XOAJxbhxvWeYpzl-wPw9QvlhQfAEUTdI&e= 
> 2. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__thread.gmane.org_gmane.comp.version-2Dcontrol.git_27_focus-3D217&d=DwIDaQ&c=DPL6_X_6JkXFx7AXWqB0tg&r=s2fO0hii0OGNOv9qQy_HRXy-xAJUD1NNoEcc3io_kx0&m=X0bQCOGTuZF-uq6smPwJDw4Q47qHgjWaewgTHCbhMnM&s=agYFOBCbLeaKAB6frWWzcwHkZyrMZLW4ExgDxzQyVlI&e= 
>