[PATCH v2 0/3] format-patch: introduce option to suppress commit hashes

git format-patch is often used to create patches that are then stored in
version control or displayed with diff.  Having the commit hash in the
"From " line usually just creates diff noise in these cases, so this
series introduces --zero-commit to set that to all zeros.

Changes from v1:
* Rename the option --zero-commit.
* Improve the tests to look for a 40-hex hash value in "From " header.

brian m. carlson (3):
  Introduce a null_oid constant.
  format-patch: add an option to suppress commit hash
  format-patch: check that header line has expected format

 Documentation/git-format-patch.txt |  4 ++++
 builtin/log.c                      |  5 +++++
 cache.h                            |  1 +
 log-tree.c                         |  3 ++-
 revision.h                         |  1 +
 sha1_file.c                        |  1 +
 t/t4014-format-patch.sh            | 12 ++++++++++++
 7 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

null_oid is the struct object_id equivalent to null_sha1.

Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <redacted>
---
 cache.h     | 1 +
 sha1_file.c | 1 +
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 5ab6cb50..c63fcc11 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h

@@ -831,6 +831,7 @@ extern const char *find_unique_abbrev(const unsigned char *sha1, int len);
 extern int find_unique_abbrev_r(char *hex, const unsigned char *sha1, int len);
 
 extern const unsigned char null_sha1[GIT_SHA1_RAWSZ];
+extern const struct object_id null_oid;
 
 static inline int hashcmp(const unsigned char *sha1, const unsigned char *sha2)
 {

diff --git a/sha1_file.c b/sha1_file.c
index 27ce7b70..a54deb05 100644
--- a/sha1_file.c
+++ b/sha1_file.c

@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 static inline uintmax_t sz_fmt(size_t s) { return s; }
 
 const unsigned char null_sha1[20];
+const struct object_id null_oid;
 
 /*
  * This is meant to hold a *small* number of objects that you would

The format of the "From " header line is very specific to allow
utilities to detect Git-style patches.  Add a test that the patches
created are in the expected format.

Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <redacted>
---
 t/t4014-format-patch.sh | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
index b740e3da..362bc228 100755
--- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh

@@ -1437,4 +1437,10 @@ test_expect_success 'format-patch --zero-commit' '
 	test $cnt = 3
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'From line has expected format' '
+	git format-patch --stdout v2..v1 >patch2 &&
+	cnt=$(egrep "^From [0-9a-f]{40} Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001" patch2 | wc -l) &&
+	test $cnt = 3
+'
+
 test_done

Oftentimes, patches created by git format-patch will be stored in
version control or compared with diff.  In these cases, two otherwise
identical patches can have different commit hashes, leading to diff
noise.  Teach git format-patch a --zero-commit option that instead
produces an all-zero hash to avoid this diff noise.

Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <redacted>
---
 Documentation/git-format-patch.txt | 4 ++++
 builtin/log.c                      | 5 +++++
 log-tree.c                         | 3 ++-
 revision.h                         | 1 +
 t/t4014-format-patch.sh            | 6 ++++++
 5 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
index 40356491..e3cdaeb9 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt

@@ -256,6 +256,10 @@ you can use `--suffix=-patch` to get `0001-description-of-my-change-patch`.
 	using this option cannot be applied properly, but they are
 	still useful for code review.
 
+--zero-commit::
+  Output an all-zero hash in each patch's From header instead
+  of the hash of the commit.
+
 --root::
 	Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it
 	is just a single commit (that would normally be treated as a

diff --git a/builtin/log.c b/builtin/log.c
index 069bd3a9..e00cea75 100644
--- a/builtin/log.c
+++ b/builtin/log.c

@@ -1196,6 +1196,7 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int cover_letter = -1;
 	int boundary_count = 0;
 	int no_binary_diff = 0;
+	int zero_commit = 0;
 	struct commit *origin = NULL;
 	const char *in_reply_to = NULL;
 	struct patch_ids ids;

@@ -1236,6 +1237,8 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			    PARSE_OPT_NOARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG, keep_callback },
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "no-binary", &no_binary_diff,
 			 N_("don't output binary diffs")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "zero-commit", &zero_commit,
+			 N_("output all-zero hash in From header")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "ignore-if-in-upstream", &ignore_if_in_upstream,
 			 N_("don't include a patch matching a commit upstream")),
 		{ OPTION_SET_INT, 'p', "no-stat", &use_patch_format, NULL,

@@ -1380,6 +1383,8 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	/* Always generate a patch */
 	rev.diffopt.output_format |= DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH;
 
+	rev.zero_commit = zero_commit;
+
 	if (!DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev.diffopt, TEXT) && !no_binary_diff)
 		DIFF_OPT_SET(&rev.diffopt, BINARY);
 

diff --git a/log-tree.c b/log-tree.c
index 35e78017..f70a30e1 100644
--- a/log-tree.c
+++ b/log-tree.c

@@ -342,7 +342,8 @@ void log_write_email_headers(struct rev_info *opt, struct commit *commit,
 {
 	const char *subject = NULL;
 	const char *extra_headers = opt->extra_headers;
-	const char *name = oid_to_hex(&commit->object.oid);
+	const char *name = oid_to_hex(opt->zero_commit ?
+				      &null_oid : &commit->object.oid);
 
 	*need_8bit_cte_p = 0; /* unknown */
 	if (opt->total > 0) {

diff --git a/revision.h b/revision.h
index 5bc96868..23857c0e 100644
--- a/revision.h
+++ b/revision.h

@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ struct rev_info {
 			pretty_given:1,
 			abbrev_commit:1,
 			abbrev_commit_given:1,
+			zero_commit:1,
 			use_terminator:1,
 			missing_newline:1,
 			date_mode_explicit:1,

diff --git a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
index 890db117..b740e3da 100755
--- a/t/t4014-format-patch.sh
+++ b/t/t4014-format-patch.sh

@@ -1431,4 +1431,10 @@ test_expect_success 'cover letter auto user override' '
 	test_line_count = 2 list
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'format-patch --zero-commit' '
+	git format-patch --zero-commit --stdout v2..v1 >patch2 &&
+	cnt=$(egrep "^From 0{40} Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001" patch2 | wc -l) &&
+	test $cnt = 3
+'
+
 test_done

On 13.12.15 18:27, brian m. carlson wrote:

For these kind of things:
test_line_count() is your friend

On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 05:27:15PM +0000, brian m. carlson wrote:

git format-patch is often used to create patches that are then stored in
version control or displayed with diff.  Having the commit hash in the
"From " line usually just creates diff noise in these cases, so this
series introduces --zero-commit to set that to all zeros.

Changes from v1:
* Rename the option --zero-commit.
* Improve the tests to look for a 40-hex hash value in "From " header.

brian m. carlson (3):
  Introduce a null_oid constant.
  format-patch: add an option to suppress commit hash
  format-patch: check that header line has expected format

The intent here makes sense to me, and with the exception of the
test_line_count thing that Torsten mentioned, the code looks good.

I briefly wondered if the option should simply be "--diffable" or
something like that, and trigger this new behavior as well as implying
--no-signature. Along with any other relevant options (if any; I don't
recall if --stat-width is terminal-dependent for format-patch, for
example).

But that is probably overkill. People can flip those switches
individually if they want to (and even if somebody did want
"--diffable", it may make sense to build it on top, so they can flip the
zero-commit thing individually if they want).

-Peff

On Mon, Dec 14, 2015 at 04:32:39PM -0500, Jeff King wrote:

The intent here makes sense to me, and with the exception of the
test_line_count thing that Torsten mentioned, the code looks good.

I briefly wondered if the option should simply be "--diffable" or
something like that, and trigger this new behavior as well as implying
--no-signature. Along with any other relevant options (if any; I don't
recall if --stat-width is terminal-dependent for format-patch, for
example).

But that is probably overkill. People can flip those switches
individually if they want to (and even if somebody did want
"--diffable", it may make sense to build it on top, so they can flip the
zero-commit thing individually if they want).

That does sound like a potentially worthwhile thing to build on top at
some point.

I'll reroll with the other suggested changes and a slight tweak to make
the tests less dependent on the history in both cases.
-- 
brian m. carlson / brian with sandals: Houston, Texas, US
+1 832 623 2791 | https://www.crustytoothpaste.net/~bmc | My opinion only
OpenPGP: RSA v4 4096b: 88AC E9B2 9196 305B A994 7552 F1BA 225C 0223 B187