[PATCH -V2] cat: added --follow flag (issue3253)

[Kevin Bullock]

On 2 Aug 2013, at 5:01 AM, Iulian Stana wrote:

> # HG changeset patch
> # User Iulian Stana <julian.stana at gmail.com>
> # Date 1373125686 -10800
> #      Sat Jul 06 18:48:06 2013 +0300
> # Node ID c958bf44ad0aa12d9d1495d1453bbbd5ebb6c8d0
> # Parent  a58251c0568fc5e86089a803ca75f75cc8c01678
> cat: added --follow flag (issue3253)
> 
> Adding -f (follow) option to the cat command. Adding the possibility to 'cat' a
> file that was renamed.
> If you choose -f option you must specify a file from the parent revision.

That seems like confusing behavior, which I'm guessing is what Matt meant when he said, "We don't have a strategy for fixing this, the naive just-follow-copies won't work," and closed the bug as WONTFIX.

Furthermore, I'm not convinced this is really necessary -- do you have an actual use case that isn't served by the combination of `hg log -f FILE` and `hg cat -r REV FILE`?

pacem in terris / мир / शान्ति / ‎‫سَلاَم‬ / 平和
Kevin R. Bullock