Is there any way to get Git shortlog output, but sorted by most recent commit?

[eamodio]

As far as I can see git can only sort the output of shortlog alphabetically or by commit count.

[dscho]

Reading https://git-scm.com/docs/git-shortlog, I would agree.

And reading the source code at https://github.com/git/git/blob/v2.30.1/builtin/shortlog.c#L449-L451, I am certain.

Are there other ways you would want to sort the shortlog?

[dscho]

Could you show me a mock up of how you want it to look like?

[eamodio]

Thinking about this more, I think the actual sorting is less important (though nice), than including the date of the most recent commit for that author.

Currently I'm using git shortlog -sne --all --no-merges HEAD

But it would be great if the most recent commit date could be included in that output, e.g. a --date flag. And if the sorting was also added a --recent flag?

I am using that info to power the Contributors view in GitLens:

So I use shortlog to provide the set of contributor and counts, and then when you expand each contributor it shows the git log for them. But since largest number of commits isn't always a good indicator/useful for all project, it has been requested to be able to sort the contributors by recent commits.

Related, is there any way to also get shortlog to work against all branches rather than just a specified revision/range?

[dscho]

Aren't we safely outside the Windows-specific realm of Git for Windows now? 😉

I think it is safe to say that now is the time to send this as a concrete proposal to the Git mailing list (please make sure to send plain text only, even an alternate HTML part will make sure that the mail gets dropped).

[jasonwilliams]

@dscho do you have (or a link to) any proposals sent to that mailing list that may be used as an example?

[dscho]

@jasonwilliams I think https://lore.kernel.org/git/20200925070120.GA3669667@coredump.intra.peff.net/ is a very good example to follow. It presents the overall goal clearly in the cover letter, and then "tells a story" by way of 8 patches.

You will also see that there has been quite some review on the first iteration of the patch series. As a consequence, the author reworked the patches (using the interactive rebase, see also this description, targeting Git Kraken users) and sent off the second iteration of the patch series, which eventually made it into an official Git version.

If the mechanics of contributing patch series to a mailing list seem daunting, you need not worry, there is GitGitGadget to help you: just open a PR at https://github.com/git/git/ or https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/ and it will guide you through the process.

If you don't know where to start in the code, I would recommend reading the commits corresponding to above-mentioned patch series (you can see them here: gitgitgadget/git@jk/shortlog-group-by-trailer~8...jk/shortlog-group-by-trailer). That will give you an idea what parts of Git's code base need to be touched, and it will also guide you to the code that you will want to understand (and then modify).