Re: [RFC PATCH 0/5] format-patch: automate cover letter range-diff

[Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>]

Hi Andrei,

On Thu, 26 Jul 2018, Andrei Rybak wrote:

> On 2018-05-30 10:03, Eric Sunshine wrote:
> > Dscho recently implemented a 'tbdiff' replacement as a Git builtin named
> > git-branch-diff[1] which computes differences between two versions of a
> > patch series. Such a diff can be a useful aid for reviewers when
> > inserted into a cover letter. However, doing so requires manual
> > generation (invoking git-branch-diff) and copy/pasting the result into
> > the cover letter.
> > 
> > This series fully automates the process by adding a --range-diff option
> > to git-format-patch. 
> 
> [...]
> 
> > 
> > Eric Sunshine (5):
> >   format-patch: allow additional generated content in
> >     make_cover_letter()
> >   format-patch: add --range-diff option to embed diff in cover letter
> >   format-patch: extend --range-diff to accept revision range
> >   format-patch: teach --range-diff to respect -v/--reroll-count
> >   format-patch: add --creation-weight tweak for --range-diff
> > 
> >  Documentation/git-format-patch.txt |  18 +++++
> >  builtin/log.c                      | 119 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
> >  t/t7910-branch-diff.sh             |  16 ++++
> >  3 files changed, 132 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
> 
> Would it make sense to mention new option in the cover letter section of
> Documentation/SubmittingPatches?

I would be hesitant to add it there already. Let's prove first that these
options are really as useful as we hope they are.

It might turn out that in many cases, the range-diff is just stupidly
unreadable, for example. Personally, I already miss the color coding when
looking at range-diffs sent via mails.

Ciao,
Johannes