'git log -- <path>' does not "show commits that affect the specified
paths" in a literal sense unless --full-history is given (for example,
a file that only existed on a side branch will turn up no commits at
all!).
Point the user to the "History Simplification" section to avoid
surprises.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Rast <redacted>
---
Sparked by an IRC discussion minutes ago, where I got the paragraph
quoted back to me verbatim to "prove" it shows *all* commits affecting
a file.
Documentation/git-log.txt | 10 ++++++----
1 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-log.txt b/Documentation/git-log.txt
index 6c93466..437f06e 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-log.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-log.txt
@@ -69,10 +69,12 @@ produced by --stat etc.
its size is not included.
[\--] <path>...::
- Show only commits that affect any of the specified paths. To
- prevent confusion with options and branch names, paths may need
- to be prefixed with "\-- " to separate them from options or
- refnames.
+ Show only commits that affect any of the specified paths.
+ See "History Simplification" below for a precise definition of
+ the filtering applied.
++
+To prevent confusion with options and branch names, paths may need to
+be prefixed with "\-- " to separate them from options or refnames.
include::rev-list-options.txt[]
--
1.7.7.rc0.370.gdcae57