Re: I still use git whatchanged

From: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com>
Date: Dec 7, 2025, 11:56 UTC
Message-ID: <d5336a22-087e-41ab-abb5-900a45054ef4@app.fastmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAOFvV7=DjmWhdoRK=f7ON7gRzaHSGWct25SCo8T_34XBj6XFHw@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, Dec 7, 2025, at 11:12, Lee Smith wrote:

> I use this regularly, despite learning git after git log was added.

The closest equivalent is `git log --raw --no-merges`.

> Remembering all the different options is hard so it's useful to have
> shortcuts.

The thing about this command is that the `--raw` output is pretty noisy for interactive use. Why not something “prettier” like `--stat` or `--name-only`?

Well, anyway. It’s not like any workflow or preference is wrong.

> If it's difficult to maintain I can understand why you might want to
> remove it but I recommend adjusting the message that is shown to
> suggest adding an alias instead.

Sure. You can use the command name as an alias on Git 2.51.2 and 2.52.0.

    git config set --global alias.whatchanged 'log --raw --no-merges'