SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-rev-list' <commit>
+'git-rev-list' [ *--max-count*=number ] [ *--max-age*=timestamp ] [ *--min-age*=timestamp ] [ *--bisect* ] [ *--pretty* ] [ *--objects* ] [ *--merge-order* [ *--show-breaks* ] ] <commit> [ <commit> ...] [ ^<commit> ...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order starting at the
-given commit, taking ancestry relationship into account. This is
+given commit(s), taking ancestry relationship into account. This is
useful to produce human-readable log output.
+Commits which are stated with a preceding '^' cause listing to stop at
+that point. Their parents are implied. "git-rev-list foo bar ^baz" thus
+means "list all the commits which are included in 'foo' and 'bar', but
+not in 'baz'".
+
+If *--pretty* is specified, print the contents of the commit changesets
+in human-readable form.
+
+The *--objects* flag causes 'git-rev-list' to print the object IDs of
+any object referenced by the listed commits. 'git-rev-list --objects foo
+^bar' thus means "send me all object IDs which I need to download if
+I have the commit object 'bar', but not 'foo'".
+
+The *--bisect* flag limits output to the one commit object which is
+roughly halfway between the included and excluded commits. Thus,
+if "git-rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz" outputs 'midpoint', the output
+of "git-rev-list foo ^midpoint" and "git-rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz"
+would be of roughly the same length. Finding the change which introduces
+a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly generate and
+test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length one.
+
+If *--merge-order* is specified, the commit history is decomposed into a
+unique sequence of minimal, non-linear epochs and maximal, linear epochs.
+Non-linear epochs are then linearised by sorting them into merge order, which
+is described below.
+
+Maximal, linear epochs correspond to periods of sequential development.
+Minimal, non-linear epochs correspond to periods of divergent development
+followed by a converging merge. The theory of epochs is described in more
+detail at
+link:http://blackcubes.dyndns.org/epoch/[http://blackcubes.dyndns.org/epoch/].
+
+The merge order for a non-linear epoch is defined as a linearisation for which
+the following invariants are true:
+
+ 1. if a commit P is reachable from commit N, commit P sorts after commit N
+ in the linearised list.
+ 2. if Pi and Pj are any two parents of a merge M (with i < j), then any
+ commit N, such that N is reachable from Pj but not reachable from Pi,
+ sorts before all commits reachable from Pi.
+
+Invariant 1 states that later commits appear before earlier commits they are
+derived from.
+
+Invariant 2 states that commits unique to "later" parents in a merge, appear
+before all commits from "earlier" parents of a merge.
+
+If *--show-breaks* is specified, each item of the list is output with a
+2-character prefix consisting of one of: (|), (^), (=) followed by a space.
+
+Commits marked with (=) represent the boundaries of minimal, non-linear epochs
+and correspond either to the start of a period of divergent development or to
+the end of such a period.
+
+Commits marked with (|) are direct parents of commits immediately preceding
+the marked commit in the list.
+
+Commits marked with (^) are not parents of the immediately preceding commit.
+These "breaks" represent necessary discontinuities implied by trying to
+represent an arbtirary DAG in a linear form.
+
+*--show-breaks* is only valid if *--merge-order* is also specified.
Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
+Original *--merge-order* logic by Jon Seymour <jon.seymour@gmail.com>
+
Documentation
--------------
Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.