git-follow(1)

git-follow follows lifetime changes of a pathspec in Git, providing a simplified log and diff.

.. contents:: :local:

Installation

You can install git-follow via Homebrew or manually.

Homebrew ^^^^^^^^

.. code-block:: sh

brew tap nickolasburr/pfa brew install git-follow

Manual ^^^^^^

.. code-block:: sh

git clone https://github.com/nickolasburr/git-follow.git cd git-follow make make install

By default, files are installed to /usr/local. You can install elsewhere by passing PREFIX to make install.

.. code-block:: sh

make install PREFIX="$HOME/.usr/local"

Configuration

git-config(1) settings can be used to customize the behavior of git-follow.

.. raw:: html

Configuration	Description	Settings	Default
follow.diff.mode	Diff mode to use with git-diff(1), git-log(1), git-show(1), etc. See --word-diff of git-log(1).	inline sxs colorsxs	inline
follow.log.format	Log format to use with git-log(1). See --format of git-log(1) for syntax.	-	-
follow.pager.disable	Disable pager used with git-diff(1), git-log(1), git-show(1), etc. See --no-pager of git(1).	true false	false

Options

Options can be specified to provide more refined information. If no options are given, all applicable commits will be shown.

.. raw:: html

<blockquote>
    <table frame="void" rules="none">
        <tbody valign="top">
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-b, --branch <var>BRANCH</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits for <var>BRANCH</var></span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-f, --first</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show first commit where Git initiated tracking of pathspec.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-F, --func <var>FUNCNAME</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits for function <var>FUNCNAME</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#git-log--Lltfuncnamegtltfilegt"><var>-L</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-l, --last <var>COUNT</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show last <var>COUNT</var> commits for pathspec.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>Omit <var>COUNT</var> defaults to last commit.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-L, --lines <var>X[,Y]</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits for lines <var>X</var> through <var>Y</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>Omit <var>Y</var> defaults to <var>EOF</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-M, --no-merges</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits which have a maximum of one parent.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#git-log---no-merges"><var>--no-merges</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-N, --no-patch</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Suppress diff output.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#git-log---no-patch"><var>--no-patch</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-O, --no-renames</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Disable rename detection.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#git-log---no-renames"><var>--no-renames</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-p, --pager</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Force pager when invoking git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>Overrides <var>follow.pager.disable</var> config value.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-P, --pickaxe <var>STRING</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits which change the frequency of <var>STRING</var> in revision history.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#Documentation/git-log.txt--Sltstringgt"><var>-S</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-r, --range <var>X[,Y]</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits in range <var>X</var> through <var>Y</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>Omit <var>Y</var> defaults to <var>HEAD</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-R, --reverse</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits in reverse chronological order.</span>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                        <span>See <a href="https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#git-log---walk-reflogs"><var>--walk-reflogs</var></a> of git-log(1).</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-t, --tag <var>TAG</var></span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show commits specific to tag <var>TAG</var>.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-T, --total</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show total number of commits for pathspec.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-h, --help, --usage</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show usage information.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <kbd>
                        <span>-V, --version</span>
                    </kbd>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <div>
                        <span>Show current version number.</span>
                    </div>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
</blockquote>

Notes

Like standard Git builtins, git-follow supports an optional pathspec delimiter -- to help disambiguate options, option arguments, and refs from pathspecs.

Examples

Display commits on branch topic which affected blame.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --branch topic -- blame.c

Display first commit where Git initiated tracking of branch.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --first -- branch.c

Display last 5 commits which affected column.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --last 5 -- column.c

Display last commit where lines 5-<EOF> were affected in diff.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --last --lines 5 -- diff.c

Display last 3 commits where lines 10-15 were affected in bisect.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --last 3 --lines 10,15 -- bisect.c

Display commits where function funcname was affected in archive.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --func funcname -- archive.c

Display commits in range from aa03428 to b354ef9 which affected worktree.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --range aa03428,b354ef9 -- worktree.c

Display commits in range from tag v1.5.3 to tag v1.5.4 which affected apply.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --range v1.5.3,v1.5.4 -- apply.c

Display commits up to tag v1.5.3 which affected graph.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --tag v1.5.3 -- graph.c

Display total number of commits which affected rebase.c

.. code-block:: sh

git follow --total -- rebase.c

See Also

• git(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git>_
• gitrevisions(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/gitrevisions>_
• git-branch(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-branch>_
• git-check-ref-format(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-check-ref-format>_
• git-config(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config>_
• git-diff(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff>_
• git-log(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log>_
• git-remote(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote>_
• git-tag(1) <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-tag>_