Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Daniel Barkalow <barkalow@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > Actually, this weekend I was trying to cherry-pick the aggregated changes > > to certain files from one branch onto another, and was repeatedly confused > > by the fact that the only available diffs are backwards and there're no > > clues in the output. (That is, you can't get the difference between (---) > > the {index,working tree} and (+++) some commit, and when you've done "git > > diff messy", the resulting diff doesn't give any clues that you're > > deciding whether to add the - lines and remove the + lines.) > > I do not know if I like the end result, but here is a patch to make the > traditional a/ and b/ prefix more mnemonic. > > A lot of existing tests and documentation need to be updated, if we were > to do this, though. The first test to fail is t1200-tutorial.sh. > > Obviously not tested except for creating this patch that pretends to be a > format-patch output. You can tell that I just did this only in the work > tree now. > > -- >8 -- > diff: vary default prefix depending on what are compared > > This implements Daniel's idea to indicate what are compared by using > prefix different from the traditional a/ and b/ in the textual diff > header: > > "git diff" compares the (i)ndex and the (w)ork tree; > "git diff HEAD" compares a (c)ommit and the (w)ork tree; > "git diff --cached" compares a (c)ommit and the (i)ndex; > "git diff HEAD:f /tmp/f" compares an (o)bject and (w)ork tree. > > Because these mnemonics now have meanings, they are swapped when reverse > diff is in effect. > diff --git i/builtin-diff.c w/builtin-diff.c > index 7ffea97..ecec753 100644 > --- i/builtin-diff.c > +++ w/builtin-diff.c > @@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ static int builtin_diff_b_f(struct rev_info *revs, > if (!(S_ISREG(st.st_mode) || S_ISLNK(st.st_mode))) > die("'%s': not a regular file or symlink", path); > > + diff_set_default_prefix(&revs->diffopt, "o/", "w/"); > + > if (blob[0].mode == S_IFINVALID) > blob[0].mode = canon_mode(st.st_mode); I was thinking about reusing estended SHA1 syntax in the form of :0:a/file or ::a/file for index, a/file for working directory, and HEAD:a/file for a tree version. But your way is I think better; of course if you remember mnemonics (and they are documented, aren't they?). BTW. I wonder why in above patch, which I guess is result of running git-format-patch and should be between TWO TREES, doesn't use standard 'a/' and 'b/' (git-show should also use standard, default prefixes). -- Jakub Narebski Poland ShadeHawk on #git -- 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