Git - support HEAD <> working tree changes in gutter

[TallGirlVanessa]

Issue Type: Feature Request

I'd like to see staged changes as well as unstaged changes in the gutter. Currently, VS Code only shows unstaged changes, at least when using Git.

Unstaged changes:

Staged changes:

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48881124/can-i-make-visual-studio-code-highlight-staged-changes as well as gitkraken/vscode-gitlens#396 .

VS Code version: Code 1.28.0 (431ef9d, 2018-10-04T16:40:40.180Z)
OS version: Darwin x64 16.7.0

[vscodebot]

(Experimental duplicate detection)
Thanks for submitting this issue. Please also check if it is already covered by an existing one, like:

• Git: Provide single shortcut for "Stage Changes"/"Unstage Changes" (#44592)
• [Feature Request] Add "Git: Stage/Unstage chages" to the file context menu (#53067)
• Feature Request - Git option to disable auto stage (#26185)
• Git: Support line staging (#9475)
• Unstaging ranges leaves out whitespace changes (#48268)

[joaomoreno]

When you're editing a file in git, there are three versions of it:

• HEAD
• Index
• Working tree

So, there are two possible diffs to show:

• HEAD <> Index
• Index <> Working Tree

We currently show gutter decorations for Index <> Working Tree. Since the file which is open in the editor is always Working Tree, it doesn't make any sense to show HEAD <> Index changes in the gutter, since none of those two files is Working Tree.

[TallGirlVanessa]

I get what you're saying, and recognize that this probably won't be read on a closed issue 😅 But, IntelliJ manages to make this work. So I have a hard time accepting that the feature doesn't make sense!

I see a third diff you haven't mentioned, which is HEAD <> Working Tree. That's exactly what I'm looking for, and that's what IntelliJ does too.

[joaomoreno]

Actually, because IntelliJ manages to do this, they actually end up having a confusing experience.

In this case, one of the changes is staged in the index, the other isn't. Which one is which? Also, when a change in the index intersects a change in the working tree, what do you actually show?

We can think about supporting a setting which toggles the dirty diff decorations to HEAD <> Working Tree and backwards... I wonder if there's enough need for it tho.