Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 9:36 AM, Linus Torvalds > <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> This seems to be a git bug. >> >> That commit aed06b9 can also be described as >> >> v3.13-rc7~9^2~14^2~42 >> >> so describing it as 'v4.6-rc1~9^2~792' is clearly not closer in any way. > > Hmm. I think I see what's up. The git distance function has a special > hack for preferring first-parent traversal, introduced long long ago > with commit ac076c29ae8d ("name-rev: Fix non-shortest description"). > > Changing that > > #define MERGE_TRAVERSAL_WEIGHT 65535 > > to be a smaller value makes git find the shorter path. > > I do not know what the correct fix is, though. I think avoiding side branches to describe with the weight is a right thing to do, i.e. if you have this history: X---o---o---o---o---v4.6 \ / o-----------o you do not want to explain X as "v4.6~^2~2", and instead you want it as "v4.6~5", even though the former is 4 hops while the latter is 5 hops (which is longer). But when comparing a name based on v4.6 (which I think the algorithm with the weight heuristics would choose v4.6~5) and another name based on v3.13, I suspect that we compare them with number of hops with the weight heuristics, and that is what gives us a wrong result, isn't it? I think it should instead compare the number of true hops. v3.13-rc7~9^2~14^2~42 = 9 + 1 + 14 + 1 + 42 = 67 hops from v3.13 v4.6-rc1~9^2~792 = 9 + 1 + 792 = 802 hops from v4.6-rc1 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html