Subject: Re: [PATCH 6/6] diff-merges: let -m imply -p

From: Jonathan Nieder <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2021 14:44:50 -0700

Hi,

Elijah Newren wrote:

> Interesting.  I have a strong preference for --diff-merges=remerge
> (yeah, I know it's not upstream, but it's been ready to submit for
> months, but just backed up behind the other ort changes.  Sorry, I
> can't push those through any faster).  I've had others using it for
> about 9 months now.

I agree.  The --diff-merges=remerge behavior has also been the default
in Gerrit since time immemorial, and when I first started using Gerrit
it was one of my favorite things about it.

That is because it shows the human content of the merge: it shows
exactly what changes were made after the automated part was done.

I don't have a strong opinion about what the default for -m should be.

> I think --cc is a lot better than -m for helping you find what users
> changed when they did the merge, but I agree the format is somewhat
> difficult for many users to understand.

My experience in training new users has been that --cc is quite
counterintuitive for them.  Like you're hinting, I suspect it's
fundamentally just meant to be a fast approximation to
--diff-merges=remerge.

Thanks,
Jonathan