}
 
 int show_combined_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
-                      int dense, const char *header, int show_empty)
+                      int dense, const char *header)
 {
        unsigned long size, cnt, lno;
        char *result, *cp, *ep;
 }
 
 int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1,
-                            const char *header,
-                            int show_empty_merge, int dense)
+                            const char *header, int dense)
 {
        struct commit *commit = lookup_commit(sha1);
        struct diff_options diffopts;
                if (p->len)
                        num_paths++;
        }
-       if (num_paths || show_empty_merge) {
+       if (num_paths) {
                for (p = paths; p; p = p->next) {
                        if (!p->len)
                                continue;
-                       if (show_combined_diff(p, num_parent, dense, header,
-                                              show_empty_merge))
+                       if (show_combined_diff(p, num_parent, dense, header))
                                header = NULL;
                }
        }
 
                        if (combine_merges && num_compare_stages == 2) {
                                show_combined_diff(&combine.p, 2,
                                                   dense_combined_merges,
-                                                  NULL, 0);
+                                                  NULL);
                                free(combine.p.path);
                                continue;
                        }
 
 static int no_commit_id = 0;
 static int verbose_header = 0;
 static int ignore_merges = 1;
-static int show_empty_combined = 0;
 static int combine_merges = 0;
 static int dense_combined_merges = 0;
 static int read_stdin = 0;
                else if (combine_merges) {
                        header = generate_header(sha1, sha1, commit);
                        return diff_tree_combined_merge(sha1, header,
-                                                       show_empty_combined,
                                                        dense_combined_merges);
                }
        }
 
        if (combine_merges) {
                diff_options.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH;
-               show_empty_combined = !ignore_merges;
                ignore_merges = 0;
        }
 
 
 };
 
 int show_combined_diff(struct combine_diff_path *elem, int num_parent,
-                      int dense, const char *header, int show_empty);
+                      int dense, const char *header);
 
-extern int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1, const char *, int, int);
+extern int diff_tree_combined_merge(const unsigned char *sha1, const char *, int);
 
 extern void diff_addremove(struct diff_options *,
                           int addremove,