On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:45 AM Jeff King <peff@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 01:12:32AM +0000, Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget wrote: > > > From: Elijah Newren <newren@xxxxxxxxx> > > > > As noted in commit 89973554b52c (diffcore-rename: make diff-tree -l0 > > mean -l<large>, 2017-11-29), -l0 has had a magical special "large" > > historical value associated with it. Document this value, particularly > > since it is not large enough for some uses -- see commit 9f7e4bfa3b6d > > (diff: remove silent clamp of renameLimit, 2017-11-13). > > > > Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@xxxxxxxxx> > > --- > > Documentation/diff-options.txt | 3 +++ > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) > > > > diff --git a/Documentation/diff-options.txt b/Documentation/diff-options.txt > > index 11e08c3fd36..ba40ac66cc9 100644 > > --- a/Documentation/diff-options.txt > > +++ b/Documentation/diff-options.txt > > @@ -594,6 +594,9 @@ of a delete/create pair. > > exhaustive portion of rename/copy detection from running if > > the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified > > number. Defaults to diff.renameLimit. > > ++ > > +Note that for backward compatibility reasons, a value of 0 is treated > > +the same as if a large value was passed (currently, 32767). > > Given the confusion around what "32767" even means to users, I wonder if > we could just say: a value of 0 removes any artificial limits (but Git > still has some internal limits which real-world cases are not likely to > hit). 32767 is not an internal limit; and as such, it is absolutely an artificial limit. I had to use 48941 just a few years ago, and that value (and others larger than 32767) are fully supported. > Removing limits is after all the point of "0". I'm also not sure if it > is simply for backwards compatibility. We commonly let "0" or "-1" mean > "no limit" for convenience. It seems like something we'd want to > support. Making 0 mean unlimited could be done, and I think it'd be a one-line change, but that's not what commit 89973554b52c (diffcore-rename: make diff-tree -l0 mean -l<large>, 2017-11-29) tried to do. I'm not opposed to such a change in the meaning of "0", but I am opposed to documenting this value as unlimited unless we make it so.
