From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 19:19:53 GMT
Subject: Re: Splitting files merge with branches
Message-ID: <xmqq8ux2ac6e.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <CALZVapmJDEWyUcgdJ0C0V0bKpSyukHZ=ei9GgVh-Z0yfb8x8tQ@mail.gmail.com>

Javier Domingo <javierdo1@gmail.com> writes:

> I have been using git for now 4 years, and one feature I miss a lot,
> that would increase the usability of git in many cases, would be
> having it detect "inter-file" movements, so that if I, in a single
> commit just part one file into many, git can track that change.
>
> I suppose this is quite difficult, as would mean having extra features
> in diffs, and I don't know how could it be implemented,...

Sounds like $gmane/217 to me.

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/27/focus=217

Some of the pieces that are needed to immplement the "drilling down"
Linus envisioned in the message are already there, e.g. you can ask
"log -S<block of text> -1" to find the last commit that touched the
block of text in question.  Once you find that commit, you can
inspect "git show -m -p <that-commit>" and find "Ahh, that block of
text that appeared in the new tree came from five copies of similar
blocks of text in the old tree".  Nobody wrote that last piece of
the logic yet, though.