Can Eclipse's Refactor > Move be integrated with Git?

Question

One of the great things about using an IDE for Java is the automated refactorings you get. The problem I'm having is that after using Refactor > Move to move a class into a different package (which moves the file itself in the filesystem), git status shows that the file in the old location has been deleted, and the one in the new location has been added.

The workaround I've found is clunky:

mv src/com/example/newpackage/Foo.java src/com/example/oldpackage/Foo.java
git mv src/com/example/oldpackage/Foo.java src/com/example/newpackage/Foo.java

Is there any way (when using the Git plugin for Eclipse) to have the refactoring do a git mv instead of a naive filesystem move?

Answer 1

That's the way how Git works with renames/moves (delete old file and add new file). It then detects the contents of the file, and recognizes a rename based on an algorithm. So even it shows you delete and add, if you commit and then do a "git log --follow movedfilename", it should show you the whole history, even the history before the rename.