# Allow git bisect in reverse mode?

2 messages from 2018-09-11 to 2018-09-11. Participants: Brad Davis, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/49318

## Brad Davis, 2018-09-11 19:52

Subject: Allow git bisect in reverse mode?
Message-ID: <CAMK-fcye+nNyB9pFrp1nQwQC1+sQWMt_4yq2f7svJUiB=ZnnJA@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAMK-fcye%2BnNyB9pFrp1nQwQC1%2BsQWMt_4yq2f7svJUiB%3DZnnJA%40mail.gmail.com

```
I'm currently trying to determine when an issue was fixed in a long
list of commits.  I attempted to do this by running `git bisect` and
marking the commit where I knew it was broken as bad, and the tip as
good, but I got back an error message saying that good revs weren't
ancestors of bad ones.

I'm currently working around this by mentally reversing the meanings
of good and bad, but it feels unnatural and error prone to have to say
`good` when I encounter the failure and `bad` when i don't.

Couldn't git simply do the same thing and internally reverse the
meaning of good and bad if the bad revision is an ancestor of the
good?

```

## Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, 2018-09-11 19:55

Subject: Re: Allow git bisect in reverse mode?
Message-ID: <CACBZZX7EijsVZcwb1BkZdYEzKJbyRWGJNBKXXNRt_i47R0o08w@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CACBZZX7EijsVZcwb1BkZdYEzKJbyRWGJNBKXXNRt_i47R0o08w%40mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <CAMK-fcye+nNyB9pFrp1nQwQC1+sQWMt_4yq2f7svJUiB=ZnnJA@mail.gmail.com>

```
On Tue, Sep 11, 2018 at 9:54 PM Brad Davis <bdavis@saintandreas.org> wrote:
> I'm currently trying to determine when an issue was fixed in a long
> list of commits.  I attempted to do this by running `git bisect` and
> marking the commit where I knew it was broken as bad, and the tip as
> good, but I got back an error message saying that good revs weren't
> ancestors of bad ones.
>
> I'm currently working around this by mentally reversing the meanings
> of good and bad, but it feels unnatural and error prone to have to say
> `good` when I encounter the failure and `bad` when i don't.
>
> Couldn't git simply do the same thing and internally reverse the
> meaning of good and bad if the bad revision is an ancestor of the
> good?

This feature already exists. See --term-{old,good}=* in the
"git-bisect" manpage.

```
