Getting Git to follow renamed and edited files

Git doesn't actually track renames in the repository, it uses a diff heuristic to determine if you renamed a file to another. That is to say, if you git mv a file and then replace the contents completely, it is not considered a rename, and you do not need to use git mv for it to detect renames.

For example:

% mv d.txt e.txt% git rm d.txtrm 'd.txt'% git add e.txt% git commit -m"rename without git mv"[master f70ae76] rename without git mv 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) rename d.txt => e.txt (100%)% git diff --summary --find-renames HEAD~1 HEAD rename d.txt => e.txt (100%)

Similarly, git mv doesn't mean that the file will be renamed, it will still use the diff algorithm:

% git mv e.txt f.txt% echo "Completely replacing f.txt" > f.txt% git add f.txt% git commit -m"git mv doesn't help here"[master 068d19c] git mv doesn't help here 2 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 14 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 e.txt create mode 100644 f.txt% git diff --summary --find-renames HEAD~1 HEAD delete mode 100644 e.txt create mode 100644 f.txt

By default, git will check for renames whenever a file has been removed between commits -- there's no need to tell it manually. If you do actually move a file (with git mv, rather than manually removing it and adding it again) it ignores the hint. For performance reasons, the heuristics don't run all the time -- if you move a file out of the way then add an new one with the original name, the move may not be detected.

Note that logically, git only stores the tree as it existed in each revision: it doesn't store any tracking information about changes made between revisions.

If you want to see what's detected, you can use the -M (--find-renames) switch to git diff to show renames. This switch also turns on the heuristics, which is useful if you've got a commit that doesn't trigger them.

This heuristic-based approach is a good reason (if you needed another one) to keep commits small and self-contained, as that makes git's job easier.

git diff was not picking up that I'd renamed files and altered their contents. My scenario was I had files A, B, C, and inserted a new B, so old B was now C, and old C was now D. git diff was telling me B and C were now completely different!

The solution I used was tedious and manual, but did get the job done.

1. Renamed the files back, as best I could. I.e. B to Bnew, C to B, D to C.
2. Did the diff, to check no mistakes.
3. Committed that.
4. Used git mv to name the files back to their new names. B to C, C to D.
5. Committed that.
6. Did the other renames, and committed them as new files. I.e. Bnew to B.