Re: [PATCH 2/3] revision: add "--ignore-merges" option to counteract "-m"

[Jeff King <peff@peff.net>]

On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 02:22:07PM -0400, Jeff King wrote:

> After thinking on it more, I flipped it to:
> 
>   -m::
>   --diff-merges::
>      [existing text...]
> 
> and then I don't think we need to have another block for
> --no-diff-merges.
> 
> I'll likewise add a statement that "-m" is implied by "--first-parent"
> and can be counteracted with the "--no" form, which I think should spell
> out all the implications of the series.

Hmm, I take that back. I tried adding this:

diff --git a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
index 0785a0cfe9..41c859e63f 100644
--- a/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
@@ -1154,7 +1154,9 @@ options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 	and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 	the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 	in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
-	brought _into_ the then-current branch.
+	brought _into_ the then-current branch. Note that
+	`--first-parent` implies `-m` if no combined-diff option is
+	enabled; you can use `--no-diff-merges` to override that.
 
 -r::
 	Show recursive diffs.

but then I'm left wondering: why would you ever want to override it? I
added the option as an escape hatch in case anybody really needed the
old behavior. But I have trouble imagining a scenario where that is the
case, and I wonder if it is even worth advertising.

-Peff