Tweak 'Renames in Git Explained'

main
Gaël Depreeuw 4 years ago
parent 8059391cd1
commit 669b433a13
Signed by: Mithror
GPG Key ID: 8AB218ABA4867F78
  1. 33
      content/post/renames-in-git-explained.md

@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ $ git hash-object -w foo.txt
257cc5642cb1a054f08cc83f2d943e56fd3ebe99
```
You will now find an object in the store at:
You will now find an object in the store:
```bash
$ find .git/objects -type f
@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ $ git hash-object -w bar.txt
257cc5642cb1a054f08cc83f2d943e56fd3ebe99
```
That's right, nothing changed, this makes sense as we're only adding the content
That's right, nothing changed! This makes sense as we're only adding the content
to the object store! So how does Git remember the file names?
## Filenames are part of tree objects
@ -75,9 +75,11 @@ worktree, you will have a tree object. A tree object's content looks like:
```code
<mode> <type> <hash> <name>
...
<mode> <type> <hash> <name>
```
You can create this one for yourself by doing:
You can create a tree object yourself by doing:
```bash
$ git update-index --add --cacheinfo 100644 \
@ -101,8 +103,8 @@ pointing too as well as some meta data.
## Renaming
Armed with the knowledge about trees and blobs, it should be fairly easy to
understand what happens if you rename a file. To make not make it easier to
understand, consider a simple example: we just rename a file at the top level.
understand what happens if you rename a file. To make it easier to understand,
consider a simple example: we just rename a file at the top level.
> Note: more complex examples are just more time consuming to explain, but
> not to understand. The same principles apply.
@ -111,8 +113,9 @@ In case of such a rename, when you commit this rename, your repository will
be impacted as follows:
- The blob representing the file remains unchanged.
- The top level tree object changes as it now has a different file name.
- The commit object will point to the new tree. (It's parent will point to the
- The top level tree object changes as well because the filename associated with
the blob is different.
- The commit object will point to the new tree. (Its parent will point to the
old tree.)
Nowhere is there any special mention of a rename occuring. Remember, we're just
@ -124,12 +127,14 @@ However, that does not mean you lose your history when you rename a file.
### How to see history of a renamed file
Git might not store information on renames in it repository but it does come
packed with an algorithm that detects file renames. For every add/delete pair
added to the index, it determines how alike the paired files are. If they are
at least 50% alike, it considered the pair to have been a rename. If there
are multiple possibilities it takes the highest percentage one. If multipe files
have the same percentage, it picks one depending on the implementation.
Git might not store information on renames in the repository but it does come
packed with an algorithm that detects file renames. The way it works is that for
every add/delete pair added to the index, it tries to determine a rename
candidate for every deleted file. It does this by comparing how similar the
paired files are. If they are at least 50% similar, it considered the pair to
have been a rename. If there are multiple rename candidates for one file, it
takes the one with the highest similarity percentage. If multipe files have the
same percentage, it picks one depending on the implementation.
> **Note**: I believe, but am not sure, it basicaly takes the first
> alphabeticaly match in the last case.
@ -146,7 +151,7 @@ You can also turn off rename detection by doing `--no-renames`
### Rename best practice
Because of the treshold and the cheapness of commits, it is recommended that
when you rename a file/directory. You commit those renames first, before you
when you rename a file/directory, you commit those renames first, before you
continue working on the renamed file. This basically makes it so you can use
a treshold of 100% all the time.

Loading…
Cancel
Save