Re: Why doesn't `git log -m` imply `-p`?

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 6, 2021, 00:27 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqim3w3dvx.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <87tunh9tye.fsf@osv.gnss.ru>

Sergey Organov <sorganov@gmail.com> writes:

> No, I don't mean it. The idea is to let -m be alias for
> "--diff-merges=on -p",...

Ahhhh, that makes a whole lot of difference.  Thanks.

> If, on the other hand, it's just me who fundamentally misunderstands the
> design, then I need to be corrected fast, before I make significant
> damage.

No, it was I who was confused, as I somehow incorrectly thoguht that your plan was to make "-m" identical to "--diff-merges=on".

But if your plan is to make

    "git log -m"    (no other option)
    "git log -m -p"

behave identically to "git log --diff-merges=on -p", and similarly make

    "git log -m --stat"
    "git log -m --raw"

behave identically to "git log --diff-merges=on --stat/--raw", I think that such a design makes quite a lot of sense.

It will still keep the purity of "--diff-merges=<choice>" (that is, it only is about if/how a merge is expressed in some form of diff), while solving the longstanding usability issue of "-m" that led to Alex's "when a user says -m, diff output is expected", that came quite early in this thread.