# Re: Why doesn't \`git log -m\` imply \`-p\`?

- From: Sergey Organov \<hidden\>
- Date: 2021-05-04 20:34:16 
- List: git
- Page: https://ratatoskr.run/git/2021/05/7886928
- Thread: https://ratatoskr.run/git/2021/05/7886928/t.md

```text
Felipe Contreras [ref] writes:

> Alex Henrie wrote:
>> On Wed, Apr 28, 2021 at 9:22 PM Junio C Hamano [ref] wrote:
>> > Alex Henrie [ref] writes:
>
>> > It is best to move on, writing it off as historical accident, and
>> > embrace the new --diff-merges=m option, instead of wasting time on
>> > pondering "why", because accidents do not have to have a deep reason
>> > behind them ;-)
>> 
>> If the behavior is an idiosyncratic accident of dubious utility, let's
>> replace it with something that makes sense and is useful :-) If we
>> make -m imply -p then no alias is necessary, `git log` would display
>> the log without diffs and `git log -m` would display the log with all
>> the diffs.
>
> Indeed. Mistakes in the design of the UI should not be carried on
> forever.
>
> Either all --diff-merges={m,c,cc} imply -p, or none should.

None of --diff-merges imply -p, and none should, -- that's one of the
goals of introducing --diff-merges.

OTOH, -c/--cc do imply -p, and then -m doesn't. That's the historical
inconsistency, not anything about recently implemented --diff-merges,
and the natural way to fix it is to let -m imply -p.

Thanks,

-- Sergey Organov
```