Subject: [PATCH v2] doc: git-log: clarify --follow options

From: Tamir Duberstein <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 07 May 2026 14:13:33 -0400

The --no-follow option was added by aebbcf5797 (diff: accept --no-follow
option, 2012-09-21), but git-log(1) only documents the positive --follow
form.

Later, 076c98372e (log: add "log.follow" configuration variable,
2015-07-07) taught git log to act as if --follow were given when
log.follow is true and there is a single pathspec, with --no-follow
overriding that default. 1e9250b5aa (diff-parseopt: convert
--[no-]follow, 2019-03-05) preserved the negated form while moving the
option to parse-options.

Document --no-follow alongside --follow. While here, describe --follow
as limited to a single pathspec, rather than a single file, and mention
the override in the log.follow documentation.

Signed-off-by: Tamir Duberstein <[email-masked]>
---
Changes in v2:
- Document --follow as limited to a single pathspec, not a single file.
- Adjust the log.follow documentation to use the same wording.
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/[email-masked]
---
 Documentation/config/log.adoc | 7 ++++---
 Documentation/git-log.adoc    | 7 +++++--
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/config/log.adoc b/Documentation/config/log.adoc
index f20cc25cd7..1001672dc7 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/log.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/config/log.adoc
@@ -52,9 +52,10 @@ This is the same as the `--decorate` option of the `git log`.
 
 `log.follow`::
 	If `true`, `git log` will act as if the `--follow` option was used when
-	a single <path> is given.  This has the same limitations as `--follow`,
-	i.e. it cannot be used to follow multiple files and does not work well
-	on non-linear history.
+	a single pathspec is given.  This has the same limitations as
+	`--follow`, i.e. it cannot be used with multiple pathspecs and does not
+	work well on non-linear history.  This can be overridden by
+	`--no-follow`.
 
 `log.graphColors`::
 	A list of colors, separated by commas, that can be used to draw
diff --git a/Documentation/git-log.adoc b/Documentation/git-log.adoc
index e304739c5e..f73031fb71 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-log.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-log.adoc
@@ -28,8 +28,11 @@ OPTIONS
 -------
 
 `--follow`::
-	Continue listing the history of a file beyond renames
-	(works only for a single file).
+`--no-follow`::
+	Continue listing the history of a path beyond renames.  This
+	option works only with a single pathspec.  `--no-follow` disables
+	this behavior, including when it was enabled by the `log.follow`
+	configuration variable.
 
 `--no-decorate`::
 `--decorate[=(short|full|auto|no)]`::

---
base-commit: 94f057755b7941b321fd11fec1b2e3ca5313a4e0
change-id: 20260507-document-log-no-follow-72c33dc15017

Best regards,
--  
Tamir Duberstein <[email-masked]>