Re: Feature request: Reduce amount of diff in patch

[Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>]

On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 8:09 AM, KES <kes-kes@yandex.ru> wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I get often patches which can be minimized:
>
> @@ -60,11 +64,8 @@ sub _get_filter {
>          address    =>  { -like => \[ '?',  "%$search%" ] },
>          company    =>  { -like => \[ '?',  "%$search%" ] },
>          country_code =>  { '=' => \[ 'UPPER(?)' => $search ] },
> -    ]);
>
> -    $users =  $users->search( $filter, {
> -        prefetch => { Packages => { Ips => { Subnet => { Server => 'Locality' }}}},
> -    });
> +    ]);
>
>
>      return $users;
>
> This patch can be minimized to:
>
> @@ -60,11 +64,8 @@ sub _get_filter {
>          address    =>  { -like => \[ '?',  "%$search%" ] },
>          company    =>  { -like => \[ '?',  "%$search%" ] },
>          country_code =>  { '=' => \[ 'UPPER(?)' => $search ] },
>      ]);
>
> -    $users =  $users->search( $filter, {
> -        prefetch => { Packages => { Ips => { Subnet => { Server => 'Locality' }}}},
> -    });
>
>
>      return $users;
>
> May you please fix the git to generate minimized patches?

You can use a different diff algorithm.

       --diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}
           Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:

           default, myers
               The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the
               default.

           minimal
               Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
               produced.

           patience
               Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.

           histogram
               This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
               low-occurrence common elements".

           For instance, if you configured diff.algorithm variable to a
           non-default value and want to use the default one, then you have to
           use --diff-algorithm=default option.

Soon we'll have another diff algorithm "anchor" that tries to
keep a given line out of the +/- but rather move other lines around
the line to give equal results.