How does a git branch relate to other branches in my repo?

Question

I'd like to view the context of commits around a git branch: any nearby ancestors or descendants in my repo. This is easy with gitk if the branch is recent and appears at the top. It's tedious if the branch is old.

Answer 1

try to use

gitk --all

Answer 2

Ancestors are easy. Descendants, not so much. If you want to guarantee that all descendants are visible in gitk, use the --all option, as second suggested. (You can also go to view > new view and check the "all refs" or "all (local) branches" boxes, if you've already started gitk.)

If you started gitk with the --all option, it'll display everything but still come up scrolled to your current branch. If that's not the one you want, hit F2 or go to File > List references and find the appropriate branch in the list - clicking on it will center the view there.

Answer 3

In addition to the very nice and visual gitk --all (which is my preference) you can also use git show-branch. This will show you which commits are unique to which branches. The output is a bit cryptic, but there's a nice tutorial on the command.

Answer 4

git log --graph --format=oneline branch~10..branch 
                                 branch~10..master 
                                 branch~10..everyOtherBranch ...

Then, scroll to the very end of the file ("G" in less). 10 is a magic number to push the history back far enough to see context, make it large enough to see the common ancestor.

But listing every branch is tedious. Using --all is OK if you memorize the SHA for one of the commits on the branch, and then search for it. But that's not great either.