Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] graph: implement git-log(1) --untangle

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:27:43 -0800

Toon Claes <[email-masked]> writes:

> I would argue the problem here are not the merge commits, but it's the
> way this is displayed.

I am curious, as anybody else who has read this message up to this
point, how your --untangle option improves the same section of the
history you drew above (which I did not include).

> There are still some bugs in this implementation. And a bunch of memory
> leaks. Also am I not sold on the name `--untangle`. It sounds catchy,
> but it's name isn't very meaningful for most users. I've been thinking
> about `--ignore-merge-base` or `disconnect-merge-base`, but I'm open to
> better suggestions. That's why I'm submitting this as a RFC. Before I
> continue work on this, I'm curious if the project is open to such
> contribution? And if so, which direction it should go?

In any case, I am very happy to see another person who is not afraid
of our C codebase to have looked at this part of the system (I have
a long-standing pet peeve, unrelated to this issue, in this area).

>  struct column {
> +	/*
> +	 * When only_first_merge_base is set this column might be ignoring it's
> +         * merge-base, store it here.
> +	 */
> +	struct commit_list *ignored_merge_bases;
>  	/*
>  	 * The parent commit of this column.
>  	 */