[PATCH v6 1/9] gitattributes: document how external diff drivers relate to diff features

From: Michael Montalbo <[email protected]>

The "Defining an external diff driver" section explains how to
configure diff.<driver>.command but not how the driver relates to the
rest of Git's diff machinery.  In particular, the command only
replaces the textual patch: word diff, function context, color, and
the like cannot apply to its output, while the summary formats, blame,
and git log -L do not run it at all and keep using the builtin diff.

Spell this out so the scope of an external diff driver is clear.

Signed-off-by: Michael Montalbo <[email protected]>
---
 Documentation/gitattributes.adoc | 10 ++++++++++
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.adoc b/Documentation/gitattributes.adoc
index bd76167a45..2c4fbfd7f1 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitattributes.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.adoc
@@ -784,6 +784,16 @@ with the above configuration, i.e. `j-c-diff`, with 7
 parameters, just like `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` program is called.
 See linkgit:git[1] for details.
 
+An external diff driver replaces the patch Git would otherwise
+produce for the path: Git runs the command and shows its output in
+place of its own.  Output features that post-process Git's diff do
+not apply to it; word diff, function context (`-W`), `--color-moved`,
+and coloring all act on Git's builtin diff, not the driver's output.
+The driver is consulted only when Git generates a textual patch.  The
+summary formats (`--stat`, `--numstat`, `--shortstat`, and
+`--dirstat`), `git blame`, and `git log -L` do not run it and
+continue to use Git's builtin diff.
+
 If the program is able to ignore certain changes (similar to
 `git diff --ignore-space-change`), then also set the option
 `trustExitCode` to true.  It is then expected to return exit code 1 if
-- 
gitgitgadget