Documentation / technical / api-history-graph.txton commit Add history graph API (c12172d)
   1history graph API
   2=================
   3
   4The graph API is used to draw a text-based representation of the commit
   5history.  The API generates the graph in a line-by-line fashion.
   6
   7Functions
   8---------
   9
  10Core functions:
  11
  12* `graph_init()` creates a new `struct git_graph`
  13
  14* `graph_release()` destroys a `struct git_graph`, and frees the memory
  15  associated with it.
  16
  17* `graph_update()` moves the graph to a new commit.
  18
  19* `graph_next_line()` outputs the next line of the graph into a strbuf.  It
  20  does not add a terminating newline.
  21
  22* `graph_padding_line()` outputs a line of vertical padding in the graph.  It
  23  is similar to `graph_next_line()`, but is guaranteed to never print the line
  24  containing the current commit.  Where `graph_next_line()` would print the
  25  commit line next, `graph_padding_line()` prints a line that simply extends
  26  all branch lines downwards one row, leaving their positions unchanged.
  27
  28* `graph_is_commit_finished()` determines if the graph has output all lines
  29  necessary for the current commit.  If `graph_update()` is called before all
  30  lines for the current commit have been printed, the next call to
  31  `graph_next_line()` will output an ellipsis, to indicate that a portion of
  32  the graph was omitted.
  33
  34The following utility functions are wrappers around `graph_next_line()` and
  35`graph_is_commit_finished()`.  They always print the output to stdout.
  36They can all be called with a NULL graph argument, in which case no graph
  37output will be printed.
  38
  39* `graph_show_commit()` calls `graph_next_line()` until it returns non-zero.
  40  This prints all graph lines up to, and including, the line containing this
  41  commit.  Output is printed to stdout.  The last line printed does not contain
  42  a terminating newline.  This should not be called if the commit line has
  43  already been printed, or it will loop forever.
  44
  45* `graph_show_oneline()` calls `graph_next_line()` and prints the result to
  46  stdout.  The line printed does not contain a terminating newline.
  47
  48* `graph_show_padding()` calls `graph_padding_line()` and prints the result to
  49  stdout.  The line printed does not contain a terminating newline.
  50
  51* `graph_show_remainder()` calls `graph_next_line()` until
  52  `graph_is_commit_finished()` returns non-zero.  Output is printed to stdout.
  53  The last line printed does not contain a terminating newline.  Returns 1 if
  54  output was printed, and 0 if no output was necessary.
  55
  56* `graph_show_strbuf()` prints the specified strbuf to stdout, prefixing all
  57  lines but the first with a graph line.  The caller is responsible for
  58  ensuring graph output for the first line has already been printed to stdout.
  59  (This can be done with `graph_show_commit()` or `graph_show_oneline()`.)  If
  60  a NULL graph is supplied, the strbuf is printed as-is.
  61
  62* `graph_show_commit_msg()` is similar to `graph_show_strbuf()`, but it also
  63  prints the remainder of the graph, if more lines are needed after the strbuf
  64  ends.  It is better than directly calling `graph_show_strbuf()` followed by
  65  `graph_show_remainder()` since it properly handles buffers that do not end in
  66  a terminating newline.  The output printed by `graph_show_commit_msg()` will
  67  end in a newline if and only if the strbuf ends in a newline.
  68
  69Data structure
  70--------------
  71`struct git_graph` is an opaque data type used to store the current graph
  72state.
  73
  74Calling sequence
  75----------------
  76
  77* Create a `struct git_graph` by calling `graph_init()`.
  78
  79* Use the revision walking API to walk through a group of contiguous commits.
  80
  81* For each commit traversed, call `graph_update()` to move the graph to the
  82  next commit.  Once `graph_update()` has been called, call `graph_next_line()`
  83  repeatedly, until `graph_is_commit_finished()` returns non-zero.  Each call
  84  to `graph_next_line()` will output a single line of the graph.  The resulting
  85  lines will not contain any newlines.  `graph_next_line()` returns 1 if the
  86  resulting line contains the current commit, or 0 if this is merely a line
  87  needed to adjust the graph before or after the current commit.  This return
  88  value can be used to determine where to print the commit summary information
  89  alongside the graph output.
  90
  91Limitations
  92-----------
  93
  94* `graph_update()` must be called with commits in topological order.  It should
  95  not be called on a commit if it has already been invoked with an ancestor of
  96  that commit, or the graph output will be incorrect.
  97
  98* `graph_update()` must be called on a contiguous group of commits.  If
  99  `graph_update()` is called on a particular commit, it should later be called
 100  on all parents of that commit.  Parents must not be skipped, or the graph
 101  output will appear incorrect.
 102+
 103`graph_update()` may be used on a pruned set of commits only if the parent list
 104has been rewritten so as to include only ancestors from the pruned set.
 105
 106* The graph API does not currently support reverse commit ordering.  In
 107  order to implement reverse ordering, the graphing API needs an
 108  (efficient) mechanism to find the children of a commit.
 109
 110Sample usage
 111------------
 112
 113------------
 114struct commit *commit;
 115struct git_graph *graph = graph_init();
 116
 117while ((commit = get_revision(opts)) != NULL) {
 118        graph_update(graph, commit);
 119        while (!graph_is_commit_finished(graph))
 120        {
 121                struct strbuf sb;
 122                int is_commit_line;
 123
 124                strbuf_init(&sb, 0);
 125                is_commit_line = graph_next_line(graph, &sb);
 126                fputs(sb.buf, stdout);
 127
 128                if (is_commit_line)
 129                        log_tree_commit(opts, commit);
 130                else
 131                        putchar(opts->diffopt.line_termination);
 132        }
 133}
 134
 135graph_release(graph);
 136------------
 137
 138Sample output
 139-------------
 140
 141The following is an example of the output from the graph API.  This output does
 142not include any commit summary information--callers are responsible for
 143outputting that information, if desired.
 144
 145------------
 146*
 147*
 148M
 149|\
 150* |
 151| | *
 152| \ \
 153|  \ \
 154M-. \ \
 155|\ \ \ \
 156| | * | |
 157| | | | | *
 158| | | | | *
 159| | | | | M
 160| | | | | |\
 161| | | | | | *
 162| * | | | | |
 163| | | | | M  \
 164| | | | | |\  |
 165| | | | * | | |
 166| | | | * | | |
 167* | | | | | | |
 168| |/ / / / / /
 169|/| / / / / /
 170* | | | | | |
 171|/ / / / / /
 172* | | | | |
 173| | | | | *
 174| | | | |/
 175| | | | *
 176------------