Re: [PATCH 3/3] range-diff(docs): explain how to specify commit ranges
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From: Junio C Hamano <hidden>
Date: 2021-01-22 18:41:16
Johannes Schindelin [off-list ref] writes:
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+- `<rev1>...<rev2>`. This resembles the symmetric ranges mentioned in + the `SPECIFYING RANGES` section of linkgit:gitrevisions[7], and is + equivalent to `<base>..<rev1> <base>..<rev2>` where `<base>` is the + merge base as obtained via `git merge-base <rev1> <rev2>`.
The above paragraph says A...B is turned into $(git merge-base A B)..A and $(git merge-base A B)..B, but I wonder if we should be rewriting it into A..B and B..A instead; that would make it unnecessary to explain what should happen when there are more than one merge bases.
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Does this merely resemble? Isn't it exactly what a symmetric range is?No, it is not exactly what a symmetric range is because `range-diff` treats both arms of the symmetric range independently, as two distinct non-symmetric ranges.
This however is an end-user documentation, isn't it? The fact that range-diff internally translates A...B into something else is an implementation detail of achieving something, and from the end-users' point of view, isn't it "take A...B from the end-user, and show the difference between the left and right branches of the symmetric range" that range-diff achieves to do? So it processes exactly the same two sets of commits as what is given by "--left-right A...B", no?