Subject: Re: Why do dates in refspecs require the reflog?

From: Jeff King <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 20:26:16 -0500

On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 03:39:53PM -0600, Robert Dailey wrote:

> It also feels like there should be a
> shorthand for the `git log` usage in conjunction with `git show`... I
> could probably make an alias for it.

One thing I didn't see mentioned in this thread is that the question
"show me the commit closest to time X" does not have a single answer.
When there are branches, there may be many such answers, one for each
line of simultaneous development.

So people tend not to ask that question[1], and therefore nobody
bothered to make a convenient shorthand for it.

-Peff

[1] What do they ask instead? I find most of my older queries for
    commits are satisfied following parent links from well-known points.
    E.g., finding where topic X was merged, and then walking backwards
    using "^2" to see the tip of the original topic.

    If I am looking for information about a particular file about a year
    ago, I often turn to "-S" or git-blame (actually, "tig blame" in my
    case, which lets you walk backwards interactively).

    But of course the exact query will depend on just what it is you
    want to know. :)