Re: git format-patch --range-diff bug?

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 12, 2020, 18:59 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqblg2jt95.fsf@gitster.c.googlers.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAPig+cT1zDT1iqRqO-4U8Rwq7p=MFm5Bkn990AVbxMHqp=knmg@mail.gmail.com>

Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:

> I haven't fully thought it through yet, but at this point, the best
> "fix" likely would be for `git format-patch --range-diff` to error out
> when it sees a 3-dot range. (Unless there is some other intuitive
> interpretation of a 3-dot range which escapes me.)

And possibly rename the option. Giving "--range-diff=<prev>" is not an instruction to run "git range-diff <prev>", so it is clear that the option is misnamed.

It probably should have been "--[no-]range-diff" boolean that controls if we add the range-diff from the previous, whose default may be affected by the user of the "-v$n" option, plus another option that gives where to find the "previous series", whose presence probably trigger "--range-diff" implicitly, or something like that.

And the option whose value we are having problem with is exactly that "--previous-series=<prev>" option.