Re: git log -p unexpected behaviour - security risk?

On Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 2:42 PM, Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

Jonathan Nieder [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

The thing is, I'm not convinced this is a bad default.  "Shows no diff
at all for merges" is easy for a person to understand.  It is much
easier to understand its limitations than -c and --cc.

Making "log -p -m" a default before -c/--cc was introduced would
have been the stupidest thing to do, as it would make the command
mostly useless.  Nobody would want to see repetitious output from a
merge that he would eventually get when the traversal drills down to
individual commits on the merged side branch.

When I added -c/--cc, I contemplated making -p imply --cc, but
decided against it primarily because it is a change in traditional
behaviour, and it is easy for users to say --cc instead of -p from
the command line.

FWIW, security aside, I would've like to have seen that.  I find it
confusing that merge commits that introduce code don't have a diff
shown when using -p.  And I find it hard to remember --cc.  BTW,
what's the mnemonic for it?  -p => patch, --cc => ?

On the other hand, "show" was a newer command and it was easy to
turn its default to --cc without having to worry too much about
existing users.

quoted

For that
reason, it is a much *better* default for security than --cc or -c
(even though I believe one of the latter would be a better default for
convenience).

Yes.  I do not fundamentally oppose to the idea of "log -p" to imply
"log --cc" when "-m" is not given ("log -p -m" is specifically
declining the combined diff simplification).  It may be a usability
improvement.

Would you consider such a patch?

-John