[Python-Dev] hg diff

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

"Martin v. Löwis" writes:
 > Am 07.03.2011 02:24, schrieb Stephen J. Turnbull:
 > > "Martin v. Löwis" writes:
 > >   >  It seems that the dev guide recommends to use the --git option in hg
 > >   >  diff. I'm working on the Rietveld integration, and found that this
 > >   >  option makes things worse: the regular diff includes the base revision
 > >   >  of the patch; hg diff --git doesn't.
 > >
 > > Does the regular diff work acceptably for the kinds of changes that
 > > diff --git was designed to be an improvement for?
 > 
 > I don't know. What are the kinds of changes that diff --git was designed 
 > for?

I don't know exactly how much of git diffcore has been implemented in
hg diff --git.  However, git's diff handles renames and copies
correctly and pleasantly, including swapping file names (ie, renaming
a to b and b to a simultaneously), and can change file modes.

That kind of change is rather unpleasant to deal with in a traditional
diff format.  Eg, renames are represented as deleting all the lines
from one file and re-adding them as a new file.