Johannes Sixt <j6t@xxxxxxxx> writes:
> Am 04.05.2011 19:56, schrieb Mikhail T.:
>> I need to add a new thing to our project. The thing will be similar to
>> what already exists. I'd like to "derive" the new files from the
>> existing ones -- without altering them and by preserving the
>> change-history.
>
> You cannot. Git does not have such a thing as "copy-with-preserved-history".
Well, if you come from the mindset that a "file" has an identity (hence
there is a distinction between "This file used to be called A and at one
point was renamed to B which is the name we see today" and "Some time ago
somebody created a file B with the same contents as A and then removed A
at the same time"), "copy" would not make much sense. What identity does
a new file B gets when you create it by copying from A?
The same identity, or a different one? What happens when you later
refactor the redundant part from these two files to create a common third
file C? What identity does C have?
> You just cp the file and git add it. But you will not be able to follow
> a history of the file.
Correct. You cannot follow a history of _the file_, as there is no such
thing.
You can still follow the history of contents, though. If you did a
refactor like the one in the above example, "blame -L <range>" would
follow the contents just fine. The command is a 80% satisfactory
implementation of Linus's grand vision expressed in one of the most
important message in the git mailing list archive:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/27/focus=217
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