# [Question]: Does "git log" involve some stochastic operations? 3 messages from 2022-08-13 to 2022-08-13. Participants: Wang, Lei, Chris Torek. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/58299 ## Wang, Lei, 2022-08-13 02:06 Subject: [Question]: Does "git log" involve some stochastic operations? Message-ID: <20d7c54f-7438-1124-7a9e-fdc902a4cc18@intel.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20d7c54f-7438-1124-7a9e-fdc902a4cc18%40intel.com ``` Hi, I have a question about the internal of "git log". Each time when I execute the following command: > git log --numstat --since="2022-06-01" --until="2022-06-21" --no-merges --format=%n%n%s%n%H%n%cs%n%an\<%ae The number of the commits in the output is slightly different. I didn't do any sync operation in the repo, so the only reason I can found is that maybe git log involves some stochastic operations, so each time the output will be a little changed. Is my assumption right? -- BR, Lei ``` ## Chris Torek, 2022-08-13 02:35 Subject: Re: [Question]: Does "git log" involve some stochastic operations? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPx1GveLZm0NH7hBqRSKHJMXttT8Wwnqm3ebjUEpbEXNwh%2B61w%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <20d7c54f-7438-1124-7a9e-fdc902a4cc18@intel.com> ``` On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 7:11 PM Wang, Lei wrote: > > git log --numstat --since="2022-06-01" --until="2022-06-21" > --no-merges --format=%n%n%s%n%H%n%cs%n%an\<%ae > > The number of the commits in the output is slightly different. I didn't > do any sync operation in the repo, so the only reason I can found is > that maybe git log involves some stochastic operations, so each time the > output will be a little changed. Is my assumption right? The `--since` and `--until` date values use the *current time* if you do not specify an exact time. For instance, "yesterday" means "precisely 24 hours ago" (86400 seconds ago), and "--since 2022-06-01" means "since 1 June 2022 at whatever time of day it is right now". If you want commits with timestamps that are since *midnight* on that day, include the midnight part in the date. (This is probably a UX bug, of sorts: to mean "at now-oclock on a given date" we should probably have a syntax like "2022-06-21:(now)" and when a specific date is given, the default should be midnight for "since" and 23:59:59 for "until", or 23:59:60 if that's a leap-second date. But changing this is probably not in the cards.) Chris ``` ## Wang, Lei, 2022-08-13 10:15 Subject: Re: [Question]: Does "git log" involve some stochastic operations? Message-ID: <27fe218d-886d-2c26-e436-104acd2b9bf6@intel.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/27fe218d-886d-2c26-e436-104acd2b9bf6%40intel.com In-Reply-To: ``` Wonderful! That make sense that each time I do the calculation, the result will be slightly different. BR, Lei On 8/13/2022 10:35 AM, Chris Torek wrote: > On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 7:11 PM Wang, Lei wrote: >> > git log --numstat --since="2022-06-01" --until="2022-06-21" >> --no-merges --format=%n%n%s%n%H%n%cs%n%an\<%ae >> >> The number of the commits in the output is slightly different. I didn't >> do any sync operation in the repo, so the only reason I can found is >> that maybe git log involves some stochastic operations, so each time the >> output will be a little changed. Is my assumption right? > The `--since` and `--until` date values use the *current time* if you do > not specify an exact time. For instance, "yesterday" means "precisely > 24 hours ago" (86400 seconds ago), and "--since 2022-06-01" means > "since 1 June 2022 at whatever time of day it is right now". If you want > commits with timestamps that are since *midnight* on that day, include > the midnight part in the date. > > (This is probably a UX bug, of sorts: to mean "at now-oclock on a given > date" we should probably have a syntax like "2022-06-21:(now)" and > when a specific date is given, the default should be midnight for "since" > and 23:59:59 for "until", or 23:59:60 if that's a leap-second date. But > changing this is probably not in the cards.) > > Chris ```