Re: [PATCH v2] Do not show "diff --git" metainfo with --no-prefix

Linus Torvalds [off-list ref] writes:

We do not want to make it particularly easy for people to create 
mind-bogglingly stupid diff output. 

Although the discussion was triggered by that Tortoise thing,
the RFC patch was not about helping that.  That's a new feature
asked long after we went into rc freeze, and I am not interested
in discussing such a feature, especially when I am sick.

The only objective was to make sure that a patch that is not
kosher in git-apply's eyes is not marked with "diff --git";
otherwise, its output will confuse git-apply.  As --no-prefix
will be a new feature in 1.5.4, we would be shipping with a
known-to-be-bad new feature that is --no-prefix, unless we do
something about it.  Fixing that breakage was the sole
motivation behind my patch.

I think a reasonable short-term solution might be to disable any
git specific stuff (renames, rewrites, etc) when --no-prefix and
its friends are used, along with the patch you are commenting on
to remove " --git" from the header.  That would at least make
sure that the --no-prefix feature is safe.