viewlog
=======

viewlog is a command line tool to browse historical versions of files
stored using git, and open it in
`less <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_(Unix)>`__ (or any editor of
your choice).

::

    $ viewlog ~/git/rmed/sh/rmed
     Pick your git commit id (choose 'exit' or ctrl-c to quit)
     File: /Users/rouble/git/rmed/sh/rmed

     => 20000e5e59270e99bc134b9acade8c722cc410de - 4 days ago, Rajnikant blessed the code thusly: rewrote from scratch.
        8c0d5009b69afeca06333b8efd3a4690b92f64f5 - 4 days ago, Chuck Norris blessed the code thusly: obliterated all bugs.
        f8b2265944f10a4de3de3113bdb654b22c4fb65f - 4 days ago, Bernie Sanders blessed the code thusly: raised taxes.
        ae45df5ea466778a62da394370854ed49833696a - 4 days ago, Jackie Chan blessed the code thusly: karate chopped bugs.
        eafce9c6d5e742c59da35daeaffdd681a9ba8d14 - 4 days ago, The Hulk blessed the code thusly: smashed bugs.
        0f2d343409a843b14861d385fd000440eb1360ca - 4 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: did I mention, more features?
        5e61aa5dce263bdfd6adf0a3bca34d9ab66fbf08 - 4 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: more features.
        e1a61f877c085dd79b863c0664007fc2c9880bda - 5 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: more features.
        8b10be72399c66a51462e7c8cd801b726ea6bab9 - 5 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: more features.
        f1711513272d8e1dda0db73f1f491c7a575c2f91 - 6 days ago, r0uble blessed the code thusly: more features.
        next page
        exit

Install
-------

If you have pip, one line install:

::

    $ pip install viewlog

or

::

    $ git clone https://github.com/roubles/viewlog
    $ cd viewlog
    $ python setup.py install

Note that viewlog is dependent on the pypi package 'pick'. If it doesn't
automatically get installed, you need to:

::

    $ pip install pick

Obligatory animated gif: |alt tag|

Hat tip
-------

Hat tip to Wong2 for the `pick <https://github.com/wong2/pick>`__
library that was used for the curses picker implementation.

Motivation
----------

I know there are lots of git gui's out there. But I like terminals.
Maybe I am oldschool. I was getting by with this bash function for a
while:

::

    vimgitshow() { git show "$1" | vim - "+set filetype=${1##*.}"; }

... but then I decided to slap some code together to browse the history
and use any editor to open the files.

Usage
-----

::

    usage: viewlog [-h] [-e EDITOR] [-s SKIP] [-l LIMIT] [-f LOGFORMAT]
                   [-b BRANCH] [-n] [-a AFTER] [-u BEFORE] [-g GREP]
                   [-o LOGOPTIONS] [-k]
                   filename

    terminal git log browser

    positional arguments:
      filename              Path to filename

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help            show this help message and exit
      -e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR
                            Editor to use
      -s SKIP, --skip SKIP  Starting commit offset
      -l LIMIT, --limit LIMIT
                            Total commits to show
      -f LOGFORMAT, --logformat LOGFORMAT
                            Pretty format for git commit
      -b BRANCH, --branch BRANCH
                            Branch to use
      -n, --nomerges        Do not include commits from merged branches (Default:
                            false)
      -a AFTER, --after AFTER
                            Commits after/since date
      -u BEFORE, --before BEFORE
                            Commits before/until date
      -g GREP, --grep GREP  Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
                            matches the specified pattern (regular expression)
      -o LOGOPTIONS, --logoptions LOGOPTIONS
                            Extra options to pass directly to git log. (Escape the
                            -- using \-\-)
      -k, --keeptemp        Keep any created temp files (Default: false)

Custom editor
-------------

The default editor is less (remember, less is more), but that can be
changed.

::

    $ viewlog <filename> --editor [vi|vim|mvim|gvim|less|more|emacs|<your editor here>]

As of version 1.1.4, the operating system emacs is supported.

You can also open binary files. For instance on a mac to open an
animated gif, I do:

::

    $ viewlog viewlog.gif --editor "open -a Safari"

Custom log line
---------------

You can change the log line to whatever you want as long as the first
parameter is still the commit id (%H or %h):

::

    $ viewlog README.md --logformat "%h - %ad, %an: %s"
     => b2f88c8 - Sun Jan 24 15:21:57 2016 -0500, roubles: emacs ftw!
        d443a7c - Sun Jan 24 15:19:59 2016 -0500, roubles: vim ftw!
        cb47e52 - Sun Jan 24 15:17:26 2016 -0500, roubles: Will it blend?
        750b153 - Sun Jan 24 15:16:06 2016 -0500, roubles: All your base are belong to us.
        1e283cf - Sun Jan 24 00:58:41 2016 -0500, roubles: Update README.md
        8bba27e - Sun Jan 24 00:57:52 2016 -0500, roubles: Update README.md
        5be85d5 - Sun Jan 24 00:55:28 2016 -0500, roubles: Update README.md
        cbf5d8e - Sun Jan 24 00:48:13 2016 -0500, roubles: Update README.md
        edaceb1 - Sun Jan 24 00:45:01 2016 -0500, roubles: Update README.md
        918166c - Sun Jan 24 00:34:54 2016 -0500, rouble: initial commit
        next page
        exit

Searching
---------

You can grep for commits that contain a specific pattern in the log
message

::

    Match any commits with "[M|m]ore" in the log message
    $ viewlog rmed --grep "[M|m]ore"
     Pick your git commit id (choose 'exit' or ctrl-c to quit)
     File: /Users/rouble/git/rmed/sh/rmed

     => e1a61f877c085dd79b863c0664007fc2c9880bda - 5 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: more features
        8b10be72399c66a51462e7c8cd801b726ea6bab9 - 5 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: More features.
        f1711513272d8e1dda0db73f1f491c7a575c2f91 - 6 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: More features
        exit

Advanced Searching
------------------

You can grep for multiple patterns and match all patterns by using the
--logoptions feature

::

    Only match commits with the leter "[M|m]" AND the letter "n" in the log message
    $ viewlog rmed --grep "[M|m]" --logoptions="\-\-grep=n \-\-all-match"
     Pick your git commit id (choose 'exit' or ctrl-c to quit)
     File: /Users/rouble/git/rmed/sh/rmed

     => 680930c9aa5f176bfa9961d0d142e41f67a74dad - 6 days ago, rouble blessed the code thusly: Add footer and some documentation.
        exit

.. |alt tag| image:: https://raw.github.com/roubles/viewlog/master/doc/viewlog.gif
