Feature Proposal: Adding Command for Configuration Diff Between Commits

Hi Git Community,

I wanted to propose a new feature for Git that I believe would be beneficial for repository maintainers and developers alike. What do you think of adding a command like git config diff commit1 commit2 to show the configuration differences between two commits?

This command could display differences in repository configurations (such as .git/config or submodule configuration) across two specific commits. I see this being particularly useful in scenarios like:

When a submodule is added or updated between two commits, helping to easily track and compare the submodule's configuration changes. Identifying configuration changes (e.g., repository settings) made between different commits without having to manually examine each commit’s changes. Comparing various configuration-related changes in large repositories.

For example, when managing repositories with submodules, this feature could quickly highlight differences in submodule references, paths, or URLs, saving time and providing better traceability.

I believe adding such functionality would enhance Git's usability in managing complex repository structures and configurations.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts on this proposal.

Best regards, Prince Roshan princekrroshan01@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 04:29:44PM +0530, Prince Roshan wrote:

Submodule configuration is already diff-able since the state of submodules is stored in .gitmodules (as you note in your reply to this email further down in this thread).

But just computing the diff between two commits and focusing on the .gitmodules file alone doesn't necessarily have all of the information you're looking for, either. For example, Git's own .gitmodules file has the following contents:

    $ cat .gitmodules
    [submodule "sha1collisiondetection"]
      path = sha1collisiondetection
      url = https://github.com/cr-marcstevens/sha1collisiondetection.git
      branch = master

Here we're using submodule.<url>.branch to specify the branch that we want to check out. So it's impossible to reconstruct the exact SHA-1 we checked out, since it depends on the state of the remote repository as well as our own .gitmodules file.

On the configuration front, there isn't really a perfect answer either, because Git configuration is not tracked within the repository. You could consider a workflow where you store the configuration within the repository and then automatically "install" that configuration when updating the working copy.

But that is not without risk, since Git executes arbitrary code based on certain configuration options (e.g., more esoteric options like core.sshCommand and core.alternateRefsCommand, as well as more common ones like core.editor). So you would have to be careful about when you install arbitrary configuration, who it is coming from, whether you trust that person, etc.

Thanks, Taylor