git diff --raw shows wrong results about git HOT 7 CLOSED

I was able to reproduces this on multiple Windows systems (Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 7) and multiple versions of msysgit (1.7.4, 1.8.0, 1.8.3)

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This is intended. The --raw option is meant to be used in scripts or other programs, and the developers of said scripts or programs are expected to know that --raw does not update the index.

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@dscho, I can't find any reference in the Git man pages that --raw does not update the index, and as @wiggin15 showed we don't see the same behaviour on Linux. why is that?

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+1. AFAIK --raw only controls formatting of the data and should not have other side effects as opposed to just "git diff". I also couldn't find a mention of this in the docs. Any specific pointers?

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@grzn Here you are: https://github.com/msysgit/git/blob/master/Documentation/gitcore-tutorial.txt#L149 (since --raw is distinctly not for human consumption, you only use it when developing scripts for use with Git, and the gitcore-tutorial is a must read in that case).

@vmalloc exactly. You hit the nail on the head. --raw is not supposed to update the index. But you missed that it looks at the index. So if the index is not up-to-date, you get other results than one might expect naively.

So: the verdict stands: pilot error, easily fixed by studying the gitcore-tutorial.

In any case, not a Windows-specific problem, therefore an issue better reported (and getting pretty much the same explanation I crafted) on the Git mailing list: [email protected]

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@dscho:

• This is a Windows-specific problem, as I mentioned... I can not reproduce it on any Unix machine... Can you please explain this?
• In your answer to vmalloc, you tried to explain why git diff --raw does not update the index, but you did not explain why this is any different from the "regular" git diff. According to your explanation, git diff should also return the same result - but it does not (perhaps you missed that part of the problem?).
• I can't find any mention of "--raw" in the documentation you linked. The paragraph states that the index must be updated after changing files, but the documentation does not imply anywhere that "git diff" has the side effect of updating the index, while "git diff --raw" does not.

(by the way, of course we do use this command in automated scripts, which subsequently fail when trying to call git commit with "nothing to commit").

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@wiggin15 I'm running "git version 1.8.4.msysgit.0.dirty", and I cannot reproduce the behavior you describe... "git diff --raw" still doesn't output anything after I touch the source. That is, as long as I disable core.autocrlf... without it'll warn about LF being replaced by CRLF.

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