diff-format.txt: Combined diff format documentation supplement

Update example combined diff format to the current version
$ git diff-tree -p -c fec9ebf16c
and provide complete first chunk in example.

Document combined diff format headers: how "diff header" look like,
which of "extended diff headers" are used with combined diff and how
they look like, differences in two-line from-file/to-file header from
non-combined diff format, chunk header format.

It should be noted that combined diff format was designed for quick
_content_ inspection and renames would work correctly to pick which
blobs from each tree to compare but otherwise not reflected in the
output (the pathnames are not shown).

[jc: with minimum copyediting]

Signed-off-by: Jakub Narebski <jnareb@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
This commit is contained in:
Jakub Narebski 2006-10-26 05:44:49 +02:00 committed by Junio C Hamano
parent d9c04ba3dd
commit 0074aba1c0

View File

@ -156,31 +156,91 @@ to produce 'combined diff', which looks like this:
------------
diff --combined describe.c
@@@ +98,7 @@@
return (a_date > b_date) ? -1 : (a_date == b_date) ? 0 : 1;
index fabadb8,cc95eb0..4866510
--- a/describe.c
+++ b/describe.c
@@@ -98,20 -98,12 +98,20 @@@
return (a_date > b_date) ? -1 : (a_date == b_date) ? 0 : 1;
}
- static void describe(char *arg)
-static void describe(struct commit *cmit, int last_one)
++static void describe(char *arg, int last_one)
{
+ unsigned char sha1[20];
+ struct commit *cmit;
+ unsigned char sha1[20];
+ struct commit *cmit;
struct commit_list *list;
static int initialized = 0;
struct commit_name *n;
+ if (get_sha1(arg, sha1) < 0)
+ usage(describe_usage);
+ cmit = lookup_commit_reference(sha1);
+ if (!cmit)
+ usage(describe_usage);
+
if (!initialized) {
initialized = 1;
for_each_ref(get_name);
------------
1. It is preceded with a "git diff" header, that looks like
this (when '-c' option is used):
diff --combined file
+
or like this (when '--cc' option is used):
diff --c file
2. It is followed by one or more extended header lines
(this example shows a merge with two parents):
index <hash>,<hash>..<hash>
mode <mode>,<mode>..<mode>
new file mode <mode>
deleted file mode <mode>,<mode>
+
The `mode <mode>,<mode>..<mode>` line appears only if at least one of
the <mode> is diferent from the rest. Extended headers with
information about detected contents movement (renames and
copying detection) are designed to work with diff of two
<tree-ish> and are not used by combined diff format.
3. It is followed by two-line from-file/to-file header
--- a/file
+++ b/file
+
Contrary to two-line header for traditional 'unified' diff
format, and similar to filenames in ordinary "diff header",
/dev/null is not used for creation or deletion.
4. Chunk header format is modified to prevent people from
accidentally feeding it to `patch -p1`. Combined diff format
was created for review of merge commit changes, and was not
meant for apply. The change is similar to the change in the
extended 'index' header:
@@@ <from-file-range> <from-file-range> <to-file-range> @@@
+
There are (number of parents + 1) `@` characters in the chunk
header for combined diff format.
Unlike the traditional 'unified' diff format, which shows two
files A and B with a single column that has `-` (minus --
appears in A but removed in B), `+` (plus -- missing in A but
added to B), or ` ` (space -- unchanged) prefix, this format
added to B), or `" "` (space -- unchanged) prefix, this format
compares two or more files file1, file2,... with one file X, and
shows how X differs from each of fileN. One column for each of
fileN is prepended to the output line to note how X's line is
different from it.
A `-` character in the column N means that the line appears in
fileN but it does not appear in the last file. A `+` character
fileN but it does not appear in the result. A `+` character
in the column N means that the line appears in the last file,
and fileN does not have that line.
and fileN does not have that line (in other words, the line was
added, from the point of view of that parent).
In the above example output, the function signature was changed
from both files (hence two `-` removals from both file1 and