Hi, [Re-Cc'ing Linus] On Tue, 23 Jan 2007, David Kågedal wrote: > Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > On Tue, 23 Jan 2007, Johannes Schindelin wrote: > >> > >> P.S.: These patches make me dream of yet another diff format enhancement: > >> code moves! > > > > It's basically impossible. > > > > Why? You need the context. > > Yes, I think that a diff format for code moves wouldn't be useful. > What could potentially be useful is a graphical diff browser that can > e.g. show two versions side-by-side and show code moves in that. I > have a vague memory that the ClearCase merge tool did that. I don't need no steenking graphical tools. I want to read me mailing list, that's it. > But as long as the code moves are within a single file, that merge tool > could derive that move from an ordinary diff. Actually, you could even derive a code movement between files from the set of diffs. Though not code copies. But then, we don't do code copies. Seriously again, your comment got me thinking: it could actually make sense to include the information of code moves and code copies (for easier review) in the "@@ .. @@" lines (or before them, if git apply does not choke on inserting garbage lines before them). But maybe it is not that good after all: if you review code, you should inspect it (even if it was only moved), since it might have all kinds of side effects, or you might have missed some other aspect before. Ciao, Dscho