}
 }
 
+static void log_show_early(struct rev_info *revs, struct commit_list *list)
+{
+       int i = revs->early_output;
+
+       sort_in_topological_order(&list, revs->lifo);
+       while (list && i) {
+               struct commit *commit = list->item;
+               log_tree_commit(revs, commit);
+               list = list->next;
+               i--;
+       }
+}
+
+static void early_output(int signal)
+{
+       show_early_output = log_show_early;
+}
+
+static void setup_early_output(struct rev_info *rev)
+{
+       struct sigaction sa;
+       struct itimerval v;
+
+       /*
+        * Set up the signal handler, minimally intrusively:
+        * we only set a single volatile integer word (not
+        * using sigatomic_t - trying to avoid unnecessary
+        * system dependencies and headers), and using
+        * SA_RESTART.
+        */
+       memset(&sa, 0, sizeof(sa));
+       sa.sa_handler = early_output;
+       sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
+       sa.sa_flags = SA_RESTART;
+       sigaction(SIGALRM, &sa, NULL);
+
+       /*
+        * If we can get the whole output in less than a
+        * tenth of a second, don't even bother doing the
+        * early-output thing..
+        *
+        * This is a one-time-only trigger.
+        */
+       memset(&v, 0, sizeof(v));
+       v.it_value.tv_sec = 0;
+       v.it_value.tv_usec = 100000;
+       setitimer(ITIMER_REAL, &v, NULL);
+}
+
+static void finish_early_output(struct rev_info *rev)
+{
+       signal(SIGALRM, SIG_IGN);
+       if (rev->shown_one) {
+               rev->shown_one = 0;
+               if (rev->commit_format != CMIT_FMT_ONELINE)
+                       putchar(rev->diffopt.line_termination);
+       }
+       printf("Final output:\n");
+}
+
 static int cmd_log_walk(struct rev_info *rev)
 {
        struct commit *commit;
 
+       if (rev->early_output)
+               setup_early_output(rev);
+
        prepare_revision_walk(rev);
+
+       if (rev->early_output)
+               finish_early_output(rev);
+
        while ((commit = get_revision(rev)) != NULL) {
                log_tree_commit(rev, commit);
                if (!rev->reflog_info) {
 
 #include "reflog-walk.h"
 #include "patch-ids.h"
 
+volatile show_early_output_fn_t show_early_output;
+
 static char *path_name(struct name_path *path, const char *name)
 {
        struct name_path *p;
                struct commit_list *entry = list;
                struct commit *commit = list->item;
                struct object *obj = &commit->object;
+               show_early_output_fn_t show;
 
                list = list->next;
                free(entry);
                if (revs->min_age != -1 && (commit->date > revs->min_age))
                        continue;
                p = &commit_list_insert(commit, p)->next;
+
+               show = show_early_output;
+               if (!show)
+                       continue;
+
+               show(revs, newlist);
+               show_early_output = NULL;
        }
        if (revs->cherry_pick)
                cherry_pick_list(newlist, revs);
                                revs->topo_order = 1;
                                continue;
                        }
+                       if (!prefixcmp(arg, "--early-output")) {
+                               int count = 100;
+                               switch (arg[14]) {
+                               case '=':
+                                       count = atoi(arg+15);
+                                       /* Fallthrough */
+                               case 0:
+                                       revs->topo_order = 1;
+                                       revs->early_output = count;
+                                       continue;
+                               }
+                       }
                        if (!strcmp(arg, "--parents")) {
                                revs->parents = 1;
                                continue;
 
        void *prune_data;
        prune_fn_t *prune_fn;
 
+       unsigned int early_output;
+
        /* Traversal flags */
        unsigned int    dense:1,
                        no_merges:1,
 #define REV_TREE_DIFFERENT     2
 
 /* revision.c */
+typedef void (*show_early_output_fn_t)(struct rev_info *, struct commit_list *);
+volatile show_early_output_fn_t show_early_output;
 
 extern void init_revisions(struct rev_info *revs, const char *prefix);
 extern int setup_revisions(int argc, const char **argv, struct rev_info *revs, const char *def);