Re: [TOY PATCH]: rebase: Add --show-files option

Hi,

On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 5:42 PM, Nazri Ramliy [off-list ref] wrote:

Hi,

When working on a "new feature branch" that touches a lot of files I
tend to make commits that affect only single files, and for very small
changes. Since at this stage I'm experimentating a lot - trying out
ideas, etc. - the commits tend to grow a lot (could be 50-70
individual commits, each modifying one or two files), and I don't
think much about the commit message beside making a one-liner that
explains only the gist.

Most of the times I include the filename in the commit message to help
me identify which commits should be squashed together later.

Only when the feature seems to be functional that I git rebase the
commits in order to shape the history into its final, proper form.

When rebasing these upwards of 40+ commits, it is helpful if the
rebase instruction sheet shows me the actual files that the commits
affect so I made this patch (sorry I couldn't attach it inline since
gmail eats all the tabs) that adds the "--show-files" option to
git-rebase to achieve something to this effect:

pick 996fa59 Remove autoconf submodule
     # :100644 100644 cfc8a25... 28ddb02... M   .gitmodules
     # :160000 000000 0263a9f... 0000000... D   autoconf
... more pick lines
pick 4c5070f Remove automake submodule
     # :100644 100644 28ddb02... f907328... M   .gitmodules
     # :160000 000000 9042530... 0000000... D   automake

Having the list of files shown below each commit, indented to reduce
cluttering the "pick" instruction, really does help in deciding the
reorder and squash candidates.

Sounds neat. I do similar things and do sometimes lose track of which
files are being touched by multiple "fix compile error" commits. I
haven't actually looked at your patch because gmail can't display it
in-line but it's a feature I'd use.

The files list came from this:

  git show --raw $sha1|awk '/^:/ {print " '"${comment_char}"'\t"$0}'

Thoughts?

nazri