Issue 452: Option to include diffstat output in mails
Status:  Released
Owner: ----
Closed:  Mar 2012

Blocking:
issue 499
Reported by di...@google.com, Feb 17, 2010
Hi

It would be nice to have an option that makes Gerrit include diffstat output 
in the mails sent to reviewers/cc of the patchset that mail is about.
Feb 21, 2010
#1 sop@google.com
(No comment was entered for this change.)
Status: Accepted
Aug 21, 2010
#2 sop@google.com
Change I3bbf1da2058ed51e363cff045d3e196323bce333 adds
a simple status line at the end of the file listing.

For example:
  ---
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/GerritCss.java
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/ChangeConstants.java
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/ChangeConstants.properties
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/ChangeMessages.java
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/ChangeMessages.properties
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/ChangeMessages_en.properties
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/changes/PatchTable.java
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/gerrit.css
  M gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/ui/NavigationTable.java
  M gerrit-reviewdb/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/reviewdb/Patch.java
  M gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/patch/PatchList.java
  M gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/patch/PatchListEntry.java
  M gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/patch/PatchListKey.java
  13 files changed, 170 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

Status: Fixed
Labels: Milestone-2.1.5
Aug 21, 2010
#3 tsuna...@gmail.com
Cool, is it possible to also get per-file stats, like what the normal `diffstat' command does (or git diff --stat, FWIW)?
Aug 23, 2010
#4 sop@google.com
Patches to improve the output are welcome.  :-)
 
Seriously, we have the insertions and deletions count per file already
in memory.  Its just a matter of formatting that out to a String in a
way that won't look like total cr*p in a web UI like GMail.  Sadly
GMail's formatting system usually ruins any sort of ASCII tabular
layout, and any sort of per-file stats is going to require that.
Unfortunately a large number of my more vocal users use Gmail as their
primary email system, so I'm trying to optimize the noise that hits in
my inbox by *not* using a tabular display here.
 
Unfortunately this is hard to do as a user-preference (because sure,
some users use better user agents).  We create a single copy of the
email message and then use SMTP's RCPT TO feature to deliver that to
all interested parties.  Changing the code to do different layouts and
sending those to different groups of people would be a lot of code to
change.  But it might be worth it, if people cared enough to code it
themselves.
 
FWIW, even with `git diff --stat` output inside of a format-patch
email on the Git mailing list, I only look at the number of files it
touches and the final status line.  That helps me to prioritize the
review of a patch.  Individual file diff stats are really just noise
at that early stage.

But, we do now have individual file status displayed on the web UI 
once you open the change.  So you can still get more detail if you
really need it.

Aug 23, 2010
#5 di...@google.com
Thanks for adding this. My users too would have wanted the output of diffstat/diff --stat but I understand the problems explained above (tho I think the users who do want diffstat in mails are also using sane MUAs since they are active on LKML where from they basically got the habit of having diffstat in mails). The current solution seems like a reasonable compromise but would still be very nice if diffstat was somehow available :)
Mar 27, 2012
#6 sop@google.com
(No comment was entered for this change.)
Status: Released