Peruse a git branch from a commit to the HEAD in chronological order (oldest to newest). Now with support for navigating across merges.

git-peruse

#!/bin/bash
#
# Peruse a git branch from a commit to the HEAD in chronological order (oldest
# to newest). This uses `git rev-list` to find the child commits; read up on
# the default mode.
#
# v0.2 Added support for folks who merge :)
#

delete_tag() {
  git tag -d $1
}

move_to() {
  verify
  grep_arg='-A'
  if [[ $1 == 'prev' ]]; then
    grep_arg='-B'
  fi
  current=`git rev-parse peruse`
  move_to=`git rev-list peruse-start^..HEAD --reverse | grep $grep_arg 1 $current | grep -v $current`
  if [[ -z $move_to ]]; then
    no_more
  fi
  sanity_check_1=`git rev-list peruse-start..HEAD | grep $move_to`
  sanity_check_2=`git rev-parse peruse-start`
  if [[ -z $sanity_check_1 && $sanity_check_2 != $move_to ]]; then
    no_more
  fi
  tag 'peruse' $move_to
  show
}

no_more() {
  echo "git peruse: nothing more to peruse"
  exit 0
}

show() {
  git show peruse
}

tag() {
  git tag -f $1 $2
}

verify() {
  if [[ -z  `git rev-parse --quiet --verify peruse-start` || -z  `git rev-parse --quiet --verify peruse` ]]; then
    echo "git peruse: no peruse found, try 'git peruse start <commit-ish>'"
    exit 1
  fi
}

if [[ $# = 2 && $1 == 'start' ]]; then
  tag peruse-start $2
  tag peruse $2
  show
elif [[ $# = 1 && $1 == 'prev' ]]; then
  move_to 'prev'
elif [[ $# = 1 && $1 == 'next' ]]; then
  move_to 'next'
elif [[ $# = 1 && $1 == 'stop' ]]; then
  verify
  delete_tag peruse-start
  delete_tag peruse
elif [[ $# = 0 ]]; then 
  verify
  show
else
  echo "usage: git peruse [start <commit-ish> | next | prev | stop]"
fi

Done! And added support for navigating through merges.