log: improve --follow following renames for non-linear history
Have a repo with a subtree merge, do a 'git log --follow prefix/test.c',
the output only contains history in the outer repo, not commits that
were merged via a subtree merge.
What happens is that 'git log --follow' stores the followed path only in
opt->diffopt.pathspec, so in case the commit history is non-linear, and
multiple parents have renames to the followed path, then the end result
isn't really defined: the first commit that happens to be visited in one
of the parents update opt->diffopt.pathspec, and from that point, only
that updated path is visited.
Fix the problem by introducing a commit -> path map
(follow_pathspec_slab) that stores what will be a path to follow when
visiting that parent. At the top of log_tree_commit(), if the slab has
an entry for this commit, we replace opt->diffopt.pathspec with a path
from this entry, so the correct path is followed, even if an unrelated
sub-tree changed the path to be followed to something else. After
log_tree_diff() runs, we record each parent's path in the slab. As a
result, the walk order doesn't matter, which was exactly the source of
problems previously.
This helps with subtree merges (rename happens inside the merge commit),
but also fixes the general case when the rename happens in the history
of parents, not in the merge commit itself.
Signed-off-by: Miklos Vajna <vmiklos@collabora.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Miklos Vajna committedJun 22, 2026 at 08:23 UTC304812ed33dec7ea7e68928feab38199d796ea25
7 files changed+254-2
Documentation/config/log.adoc
+1-2
index f20cc25cd7..757a7be196 100644--- a/Documentation/config/log.adoc+++ b/Documentation/config/log.adoc@@ -53,8 +53,7 @@ This is the same as the `--decorate` option of the `git log`. `log.follow`:: If `true`, `git log` will act as if the `--follow` option was used when a single <path> is given. This has the same limitations as `--follow`,- i.e. it cannot be used to follow multiple files and does not work well- on non-linear history.+ i.e. it cannot be used to follow multiple files. `log.graphColors`:: A list of colors, separated by commas, that can be used to draw
log-tree.c
+116
index 88b3019293..83a3c4bf9b 100644--- a/log-tree.c+++ b/log-tree.c@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ #include "git-compat-util.h" #include "commit-reach.h"+#include "commit-slab.h" #include "config.h" #include "diff.h" #include "diffcore.h"@@ -1089,6 +1090,96 @@ static int do_remerge_diff(struct rev_info *opt, return !opt->loginfo; }+/* Per-commit path storage for --follow across merges */+define_commit_slab(follow_pathspec_slab, char *);++static const char *pathspec_single_path(const struct pathspec *ps)+{+ if (ps->nr != 1)+ return NULL;+ return ps->items[0].match;+}++static void set_pathspec_to_single_path(struct pathspec *ps, const char *path)+{+ const char *paths[2] = { path, NULL };++ clear_pathspec(ps);+ parse_pathspec(ps,+ PATHSPEC_ALL_MAGIC & ~PATHSPEC_LITERAL,+ PATHSPEC_LITERAL_PATH, "", paths);+}++static void remember_follow_pathspec(struct rev_info *opt,+ struct commit *c, const char *path)+{+ char **slot;++ if (!path)+ return;+ if (!opt->follow_pathspec_slab) {+ opt->follow_pathspec_slab = xmalloc(sizeof(*opt->follow_pathspec_slab));+ init_follow_pathspec_slab(opt->follow_pathspec_slab);+ }+ slot = follow_pathspec_slab_at(opt->follow_pathspec_slab, c);+ if (*slot && !strcmp(*slot, path))+ return;+ free(*slot);+ *slot = xstrdup(path);+}++static const char *recall_follow_pathspec(struct rev_info *opt,+ struct commit *c)+{+ char **slot;++ if (!opt->follow_pathspec_slab)+ return NULL;+ slot = follow_pathspec_slab_peek(opt->follow_pathspec_slab, c);+ return slot ? *slot : NULL;+}++static void free_follow_pathspec_slot(char **slot)+{+ FREE_AND_NULL(*slot);+}++void release_follow_pathspec_slab(struct rev_info *opt)+{+ if (!opt->follow_pathspec_slab)+ return;+ deep_clear_follow_pathspec_slab(opt->follow_pathspec_slab,+ free_follow_pathspec_slot);+ FREE_AND_NULL(opt->follow_pathspec_slab);+}++/* Compute a path to follow in parent, if there is one */+static void propagate_follow_pathspec_to_parent(struct rev_info *opt,+ struct commit *commit,+ struct commit *parent)+{+ struct diff_options diff_opts;+ const char *path;++ parse_commit_or_die(parent);+ repo_diff_setup(opt->diffopt.repo, &diff_opts);+ copy_pathspec(&diff_opts.pathspec, &opt->diffopt.pathspec);+ diff_opts.flags.recursive = 1;+ diff_opts.flags.follow_renames = 1;+ diff_opts.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_NO_OUTPUT;+ diff_setup_done(&diff_opts);+ diff_tree_oid(get_commit_tree_oid(parent),+ get_commit_tree_oid(commit),+ "", &diff_opts);++ path = pathspec_single_path(&diff_opts.pathspec);+ if (path)+ remember_follow_pathspec(opt, parent, path);++ diff_queue_clear(&diff_queued_diff);+ diff_free(&diff_opts);+}+ /* * Show the diff of a commit. *@@ -1185,6 +1276,16 @@ int log_tree_commit(struct rev_info *opt, struct commit *commit) opt->loginfo = &log; opt->diffopt.no_free = 1;+ /* Any recorded path for this commit? If so, restore it */+ if (opt->diffopt.flags.follow_renames) {+ const char *stored = recall_follow_pathspec(opt, commit);+ if (stored) {+ const char *current = pathspec_single_path(&opt->diffopt.pathspec);+ if (!current || strcmp(current, stored))+ set_pathspec_to_single_path(&opt->diffopt.pathspec, stored);+ }+ }+ if (opt->track_linear && !opt->linear && !opt->reverse_output_stage) fprintf(opt->diffopt.file, "\n%s\n", opt->break_bar); shown = log_tree_diff(opt, commit, &log);@@ -1197,6 +1298,21 @@ int log_tree_commit(struct rev_info *opt, struct commit *commit) fprintf(opt->diffopt.file, "\n%s\n", opt->break_bar); if (shown) show_diff_of_diff(opt);++ /* Record what path each parent of this commit should use */+ if (opt->diffopt.flags.follow_renames) {+ struct commit_list *parents = get_saved_parents(opt, commit);+ if (parents && parents->next) {+ struct commit_list *p;+ for (p = parents; p; p = p->next)+ propagate_follow_pathspec_to_parent(opt, commit,+ p->item);+ } else if (parents) {+ remember_follow_pathspec(opt, parents->item,+ pathspec_single_path(&opt->diffopt.pathspec));+ }+ }+ opt->loginfo = NULL; maybe_flush_or_die(opt->diffopt.file, "stdout"); opt->diffopt.no_free = no_free;