Re: [PATCH] Documentation: 'cherry' does not cope well with merges from upstream

Excerpts from Jonathan Nieder's message of Thu Jul 01 14:09:19 -0700 2010:

Example:

 o---o---F---X'---G---U [upstream]
          \        \
           X----Y---M---T [topic]

Suppose the author of the ‘topic’ branch starts from upstream
commit F and makes a few changes.  One is applied upstream, and
additionally there is some other useful upstream change, so he
performs a merge to include the upstream updates into topic.
The expected output from ‘cherry’ is:

 + T
 + Y
 - X

Consider the author of a different branch, also called ‘topic’, but
this one starts from commit G.  Some infrastructure from an existing 
branch is needed, so first she merges that.  Then she adds her own
commit.  The expected output from ‘cherry’ is:

 + T
 + Y
 + X

since none of the new commits have been applied upstream since
the fork point.

‘cherry’ cannot distinguish between these two cases

Thanks for the awesome explanation!  (I looked at the code but would not
have pulled this understanding.)  I would still say the first output is
the more reasonable: it's more likely (in my estimate) the wanted
result, and in the case where it's not it's at least easily
comprehended.  

Anyway, the doc patch helps, and I would love git cherry --full.

Andrew