Re: [PATCH] t4202 (log): add failing test for log with subtree

Ramkumar Ramachandra [off-list ref] writes:

Junio C Hamano wrote:

quoted

[...]
 (3) When (1) notices that the path being followed did not exist in
     any of the parents (be it a merge or a non-merge) and finds a
     different path with a similar looking content, it _switches_
     the pathspec to it, but the single pathspec it uses is a global
     state and affects traversals of other ancestry paths at the
     same time.  Because of this, "--follow" will not work correctly
     in a history that contains merges.  It often _appears_ to work
     only by accident.

This explanation is all very nice, but isn't it completely tangential
to the issue at hand?

I think you are talking mostly about (2), but the primary purpose of
my message was not about your specific issue.

It was to give a larger picture to people who may be inclined to
tackle, and may be capable of tackling, the real issues in the
"--follow" codepath.  Anybody who wants to update it needs to be
aware of all three.