Re: [PATCH v4 1/2] revision.c: implement --reverse=before for walks

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Apr 27, 2026, 06:45 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq8qa852b5.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <4864ac46dd8ef4b704c29efc96c45f4e1412373b.1777249165.git.mroik@delayed.space>

Mirko Faina <mroik@delayed.space> writes:

Show 5 quoted lines

> In a revision walk `--reverse` can only be applied after any commit
> limiting option. This makes getting a limited amount of commits from the
> tail impossible. E.g.
>
>     git log --reverse --max-count=3

Can we rephrase "from the tail" somehow to reduce ambiguity?

Normally we generate a list of commits from newer to older, and you are saying that it is not possible to take the oldest three commits and show them from older to newer (i.e., in reverse). But that, to some readers, is showing commits from the beginning end, not from the tail end.

Perhaps "... limited number of oldest commits impossible"?

> Teach `get_revision()` to accpet an argument `(after|before)` from the
> CLI, and apply the reversal before or after the commit limiting options
> based on this argument.

I think "after" and "before" comes from "Do other things (including count limiting) and then apply reverse after all that" and would be very much understandable to those who know how the machinery works, but should mere mortals need to know the machinery only to use "git log"?

To put it another way, do you tnink experienced Git users who haven't seen the actual implementation of revision traversal can immediately answer this question:

    Now we have --reverse=after and --reverse=before to let you take
    a limited history from both ends when used with --max-count.
    Which between after and before do you think corresponds to the
    traditional --reverse that allowed you to only see the newest
    part of the history?

I doubt that the population to answer correctly would not exceed a half by large margin (if it is 50% then it means nobody understood the difference correctly and they just flipped a coin).

I wonder --reverse=oldest and --reverse=newest is easier to teach and explain? I dunno.