threads / discuss / 64228

I still use this!

Subject: I still use this!

## tl;dr

4 messages between Sep 30, 2025 and Oct 3, 2025.

replies: 3people: 3as markdown or json

Stephen Harding· Sep 30, 2025, 18:49 UTC · lore

I just encountered this:

'git whatchanged' is nominated for removal. If you still use this command, please add an extra option, '--i-still-use-this', on the command line and let us know you still use it by sending an e-mail to <git@vger.kernel.org>. Thanks. fatal: refusing to run without --i-still-use-this

I use oh-my-zsh and I rely on the git aliases. I used this today:

which gwch gwch: aliased to git whatchanged -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium

and apparently you want me to send you an email to prove that I, an actual human really do use that ...

cheers, Stephen

Kristoffer Haugsbakk· Sep 30, 2025, 19:57 UTC · re: Stephen Harding · lore

Re: I still use this!

On Tue, Sep 30, 2025, at 20:49, Stephen Harding wrote:

Show 14 quoted lines

> I just encountered this:
>
> 'git whatchanged' is nominated for removal.
> If you still use this command, please add an extra
> option, '--i-still-use-this', on the command line
> and let us know you still use it by sending an e-mail
> to <git@vger.kernel.org>.  Thanks.
> fatal: refusing to run without --i-still-use-this
>
>
> I use oh-my-zsh and I rely on the git aliases. I used this today:
>
> which gwch
> gwch: aliased to git whatchanged -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium

It's being removed because git log supplanted it over 12 years ago. Both commands use the same machinery, just with different defaults.

You should be able to replace that with git log in front instead, maybe with a --no-merges as well.

Cheers

Junio C Hamano· Sep 30, 2025, 20:02 UTC · re: Stephen Harding · lore

Re: I still use this!

Stephen Harding <stharding@gmail.com> writes:

Show 17 quoted lines

> I just encountered this:
>
> 'git whatchanged' is nominated for removal.
> If you still use this command, please add an extra
> option, '--i-still-use-this', on the command line
> and let us know you still use it by sending an e-mail
> to <git@vger.kernel.org>.  Thanks.
> fatal: refusing to run without --i-still-use-this
>
>
> I use oh-my-zsh and I rely on the git aliases. I used this today:
>
> which gwch
> gwch: aliased to git whatchanged -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium
>
> and apparently you want me to send you an email to prove that I, an
> actual human really do use that ...

It is not about proving, and sending an email will not change our plan, but it gives users an opportunity to tell us a use case where no possible workaround exists, which we haven't anticipated.

You can change your alias to

    git log --no-merges -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium

and should get output identical to what you are getting. Also, I think "--pretty=medium" is the default.

Stephen Harding· Oct 3, 2025, 16:38 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: I still use this!

Thanks for the tip!

On Tue, Sep 30, 2025 at 2:02 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 34 quoted lines

>
> Stephen Harding <stharding@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I just encountered this:
> >
> > 'git whatchanged' is nominated for removal.
> > If you still use this command, please add an extra
> > option, '--i-still-use-this', on the command line
> > and let us know you still use it by sending an e-mail
> > to <git@vger.kernel.org>.  Thanks.
> > fatal: refusing to run without --i-still-use-this
> >
> >
> > I use oh-my-zsh and I rely on the git aliases. I used this today:
> >
> > which gwch
> > gwch: aliased to git whatchanged -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium
> >
> > and apparently you want me to send you an email to prove that I, an
> > actual human really do use that ...
>
> It is not about proving, and sending an email will not change our
> plan, but it gives users an opportunity to tell us a use case where
> no possible workaround exists, which we haven't anticipated.
>
> You can change your alias to
>
>     git log --no-merges -p --abbrev-commit --pretty=medium
>
> and should get output identical to what you are getting.  Also, I
> think "--pretty=medium" is the default.
>
>
>