Merge branch 'maint'

[git.git] / Documentation / git-diff-tree.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
index 68feb081721a139f478f13aa7b533121432b18bd..5d48664e624f59e0df16121ed67d84939f6d2a31 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff-tree.txt
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Compares the content and mode of the blobs found via two tree objects.
 If there is only one <tree-ish> given, the commit is compared with its parents
 (see --stdin below).
 
-Note that `git-diff-tree` can use the tree encapsulated in a commit object.
+Note that 'git-diff-tree' can use the tree encapsulated in a commit object.
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
@@ -49,34 +49,43 @@ include::diff-options.txt[]
 --stdin::
        When '--stdin' is specified, the command does not take
        <tree-ish> arguments from the command line.  Instead, it
-       reads either one <commit> or a pair of <tree-ish>
-       separated with a single space from its standard input.
+       reads lines containing either two <tree>, one <commit>, or a
+       list of <commit> from its standard input.  (Use a single space
+       as separator.)
 +
-When a single commit is given on one line of such input, it compares
-the commit with its parents.  The following flags further affects its
-behavior.  This does not apply to the case where two <tree-ish>
-separated with a single space are given.
+When two trees are given, it compares the first tree with the second.
+When a single commit is given, it compares the commit with its
+parents.  The remaining commits, when given, are used as if they are
+parents of the first commit.
++
+When comparing two trees, the ID of both trees (separated by a space
+and terminated by a newline) is printed before the difference.  When
+comparing commits, the ID of the first (or only) commit, followed by a
+newline, is printed.
++
+The following flags further affects the behavior when comparing
+commits (but not trees).
 
 -m::
-       By default, `git-diff-tree --stdin` does not show
+       By default, 'git-diff-tree --stdin' does not show
        differences for merge commits.  With this flag, it shows
        differences to that commit from all of its parents. See
        also '-c'.
 
 -s::
-       By default, `git-diff-tree --stdin` shows differences,
+       By default, 'git-diff-tree --stdin' shows differences,
        either in machine-readable form (without '-p') or in patch
        form (with '-p').  This output can be suppressed.  It is
        only useful with '-v' flag.
 
 -v::
-       This flag causes `git-diff-tree --stdin` to also show
+       This flag causes 'git-diff-tree --stdin' to also show
        the commit message before the differences.
 
 include::pretty-options.txt[]
 
 --no-commit-id::
-       `git-diff-tree` outputs a line with the commit ID when
+       'git-diff-tree' outputs a line with the commit ID when
        applicable.  This flag suppressed the commit ID output.
 
 -c::
@@ -93,11 +102,11 @@ include::pretty-options.txt[]
        This flag changes the way a merge commit patch is displayed,
        in a similar way to the '-c' option. It implies the '-c'
        and '-p' options and further compresses the patch output
-       by omitting hunks that show differences from only one
-       parent, or show the same change from all but one parent
-       for an Octopus merge.  When this optimization makes all
-       hunks disappear, the commit itself and the commit log
-       message is not shown, just like in any other "empty diff" case.
+       by omitting uninteresting hunks whose the contents in the parents
+       have only two variants and the merge result picks one of them
+       without modification.  When all hunks are uninteresting, the commit
+       itself and the commit log message is not shown, just like in any other
+       "empty diff" case.
 
 --always::
        Show the commit itself and the commit log message even