It *is* a confusing thing to look at a diff of diffs. All too easy is it to mix up whether the -/+ markers refer to the "inner" or the "outer" diff, i.e. whether a `+` indicates that a line was added by either the old or the new diff (or both), or whether the new diff does something different than the old diff. To make things easier to process for normal developers, we introduced the dual color mode which colors the lines according to the commit diff, i.e. lines that are added by a commit (whether old, new, or both) are colored in green. In non-dual color mode, the lines would be colored according to the outer diff: if the old commit added a line, it would be colored red (because that line addition is only present in the first commit range that was specified on the command-line, i.e. the "old" commit, but not in the second commit range, i.e. the "new" commit). However, this dual color mode is still not making things clear enough, as we are looking at two levels of diffs, and we still only pick a color according to *one* of them (the outer diff marker is colored differently, of course, but in particular with deep indentation, it is easy to lose track of that outer diff marker's background color). Therefore, let's add another dimension to the mix. Still use green/red/normal according to the commit diffs, but now also dim the lines that were only in the old commit, and use bold face for the lines that are only in the new commit. That way, it is much easier not to lose track of, say, when we are looking at a line that was added in the previous iteration of a patch series but the new iteration adds a slightly different version: the obsolete change will be dimmed, the current version of the patch will be bold. At least this developer has a much easier time reading the range-diffs that way. Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.
Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.
Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.
Many Git online resources are accessible from https://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.
See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see
Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and
Documentation/git-.txt for documentation of each command.
If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be
read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the
documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.
CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt
(man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is
installed).
The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission). To subscribe to the list, send an email with just "subscribe git" in the body to majordomo@vger.kernel.org. The mailing list archives are available at https://public-inbox.org/git/, http://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.
Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to the Git Security mailing list git-security@googlegroups.com.
The maintainer frequently sends the "What's cooking" reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.
The name "git" was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as "the stupid content tracker" and the name as (depending on your mood):
- random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of "get" may or may not be relevant.
- stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
- "global information tracker": you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
- "goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t": when it breaks