File history for renamed files, with '--follow' equivalent to show the complete history #28253
Description
Feature Description
Consider the scenario where a given file has 1+ change in its commit history, then the file is renamed using git mv or so, and then the file receives another change.
In the command line git, you can get the log changes before renaming the file using --follow.
When viewing the same history in the Web UI, the history of that file ends where the file was last renamed. Giving the false impression of history lost.
A simple button/check to activate the --follow option would be much appreciated. In fact, I'd say this should be enabled by default.
To see it, given a file that was renamed, check its history in the web UI and then compare it with the following:
As Gitea does:
git log FILEAs Gitea should do:
git log --follow FILEScreenshots
No response
Metadata
Metadata
Assignees
Type
Projects
Milestone
Relationships
Participants
Activity
Abyss777 commentedon Dec 4, 2023
Hello
Looks like it was removed intentionally 58a4407
Could it be made switchable? Somewhere in config. Not every installations have large repos, but having full history is rather convenient.
cswartzvi commentedon Dec 21, 2023
I would like to add that viewing the git blame in the Web UI will show you commits from before the rename. This might induce a head scratching moment because some of the commits in the blame may not be visible in the Web UI history.
Mosch0512 commentedon Feb 8, 2024
I think this should be triggerable via the history view of a file.
Where you could trigger it manually or remember it for that specific file and future renames.
this than triggers the
--followChi-Iroh commentedon Jun 5, 2025
Nice idea, I'd like that too.
EDIT: I'm working on it, but I haven't opened a PR for now