On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 3:39 AM, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > The kernel, these days, is at roughly 5 million objects, and while the > seven hex digits are still often enough for uniqueness (and git will > always add digits *until* it is unique), it's long been at the point > where I tell people to do > > git config --global core.abbrev 12 > > because even though git will extend the seven hex digits until the > object name is unique, that only reflects the *current* situation in > the repository. With 5 million objects and a very healthy growth rate, > a 7-8 hex digit number that is unique today is not necessarily unique > a month or two from now, and then it gets annoying when a commit > message has a short git ID that is no longer unique when you go back > and try to figure out what went wrong in that commit. AEvar sent a patch recently (https://public-inbox.org/git/20160921114428.28664-3-avarab@xxxxxxxxx/) to have gitweb link to "git describe"'d commits in log messages, and this makes me wonder if it woudn't be better for the kernel to also use the output of a command like `git describe --verylong` or `git describe --long=12` instead of a regular git ID in commit messages.