git-graph takes several refs, and shows the smallest (complete) picture which
involves those refs.
Put the script somewhere in your path
curl 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cdosborn/git-graph/master/git-graph' \
-o /usr/local/bin/git-graph
chmod u+x /usr/local/bin/git-graph
Source the bash completion in your startup files, so refs are auto-completed. Note: requires existing git bash completion.
. <(git-graph --bash-completion)
Print the shared history of git refs
git graph <ref> <ref> ... # Pass several refs to graph
git graph ... -- <path> # Filter commits which affected <path
git graph --single-parent ... # Pass options know to git log
git graph --echo ... # Just print the underlying git command
git graph --bash-completion # Print bash completion code
git graph --help # Print this message
When inspecting a feature branch it's useful to visualize the history, you might run:
git log --oneline --graph master feature
However, this will show the entire history leading back to the first commit.
You might try and hide the shared history by excluding any shared ancestors via their merge base.
git log --oneline --graph $(git merge-base master feature)^! master feature
This doesn't always paint the complete picture.
Consider the following scenario:
A <- B <- C <- D
/ / feature
... <- E <- F <- G
master
G is the merge base in this case (or the first common ancestor). By excluding its ancestors via ^!, git log will graph:
C <- D
/ feature
G
master
However, this cleaves off the history including B and A. git-graph searches for E which is the common ancestor of all paths from master and feature.
A <- B <- C <- D
/ / feature
E <- F <- G
master
This is some gnarly bash