The "-q" option given to "git diff-files" is a remnant of the
"show-diff" command, the precursor of today's "git diff-files" (back
then, we didn't even have "git" potty. The user literally typed
"show-diff", not "git show-diff").
ca2a0798 ([PATCH] Add "-q" option to show-diff.c, 2005-04-15) added
that option. Back then, we did not have pathspec matching, and we
iterated over command line arguments, and required all of them exist
as filesystem entities. "-q" was a way to defeat that "you name a
file, it must exist in the working tree" safety, and also at the
same time not give output for such a file that was removed from the
working tree.
These days, the command line parsing infrastructure has changed
vastly since "show-diff" days, and the former "safety" is enforced
by the generalized revision parser ("is it a path or is it a rev?")
code and the "--" delimiter on the command line is the way to defeat
it. The latter is done by giving a filtering specification that
lack D to the "--diff-filter", e.g. "--diff-filter=ACMRTUB".
This is however a bit cumbersome to type. This miniseries updates
the diff-filter mechanism to let you say --diff-filter=d (lowercase)
to express that you are interested in the changes in general, but
not the changes in the 'D' class (i.e. deletion).
The last step tweaks the command line parser of "git diff-files"
(and "git diff" without any object on the command line, which goes
to the same codepath) and "git diff --no-index" to notice "-q", warn
and then turn it into "--diff-filter=d". We should remove the
entire thing at a major version bump, like Git 2.0.
This is still a bit rough, without any documentation updates nor
tests.
Junio C Hamano (6):
diff: pass the whole diff_options to diffcore_apply_filter()
diff: factor out match_filter()
diff: preparse --diff-filter string argument
diff: reject unknown change class given to --diff-filter
diff: allow lowercase letter to specify what change class to exclude
diff: deprecate -q option to diff-files
diff-lib.c | 8 ++--
diff-no-index.c | 7 +++-
diff.c | 125 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
diff.h | 7 +++-
4 files changed, 118 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)
--
1.8.3.3-962-gf04df43
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