Re: How mantainers check Git diffs and patches?

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 1, 2025, 16:41 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqh5wi3779.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <aNygY8Cm7LEaBzV6@localhost>

Henrique Soares <henriquegogo@gmail.com> writes:

Show 11 quoted lines

> This is a simple question I have related to the PR diff review process.
>
> How Git maintainers use to check diffs and review the code? I mean,
> sometimes I see that there are some large PATCHES that is hard or
> probably impossible to review only using e-mail client.
>
> Do you use some syntax highlight in client e-mail; any pipeline that
> automatically download e-mails and apply to a local branch; or for each
> PR you save the e-mail file then "git apply" to review / test the diff?
>
> This isn't a technical question, I'm just curious about how you do it.

Even a very small patch that applies a change to an early part of an ultra-long function may be hard to assess depending on how far the effect of that change gets propagated through the code flow to affect the code near the bottom of the function.

Patches are medium for reliable transmission. Once you apply the patch to your tree (perhaps giving it its own topic branch, perhaps to a detached HEAD with the full intention that you will discard it after you are done inspecting the change the patch brings in), you can use any regular tools you use while developing and reviewing your own code.