diff --git a/Documentation/git-name-rev.txt b/Documentation/git-name-rev.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e37b0b8f979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/git-name-rev.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+git-name-rev(1)
+===============
+
+NAME
+----
+git-name-rev - Find symbolic names for given revs.
+
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+'git-name-rev' [--tags] ( --all | --stdin | <commitish>... )
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+Finds symbolic names suitable for human digestion for revisions given in any
+format parsable by git-rev-parse.
+
+
+OPTIONS
+-------
+
+--tags::
+ Do not use branch names, but only tags to name the commits
+
+--all::
+ List all commits reachable from all refs
+
+--stdin::
+ Read from stdin, append "(<rev_name>)" to all sha1's of name'able
+ commits, and pass to stdout
+
+EXAMPLE
+-------
+
+Given a commit, find out where it is relative to the local refs. Say somebody
+wrote you about that phantastic commit 33db5f4d9027a10e477ccf054b2c1ab94f74c85a.
+Of course, you look into the commit, but that only tells you what happened, but
+not the context.
+
+Enter git-name-rev:
+
+------------
+% git name-rev 33db5f4d9027a10e477ccf054b2c1ab94f74c85a
+------------
+
+Now you are wiser, because you know that it happened 940 revisions before v0.99.
+
+Another nice thing you can do is:
+
+------------
+% git log | git name-rev --stdin
+------------
+
+
+Author
+------
+Written by Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>
+
+Documentation
+--------------
+Documentation by Johannes Schindelin.
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 701067d4351..e76e6c4a3e1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ PROGRAMS = \
git-unpack-objects$X git-update-index$X git-update-server-info$X \
git-upload-pack$X git-verify-pack$X git-write-tree$X \
git-update-ref$X git-symbolic-ref$X git-check-ref-format$X \
- $(SIMPLE_PROGRAMS)
+ git-name-rev$X $(SIMPLE_PROGRAMS)
# Backward compatibility -- to be removed after 1.0
PROGRAMS += git-ssh-pull$X git-ssh-push$X
diff --git a/name-rev.c b/name-rev.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..21fecdf542a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/name-rev.c
@@ -0,0 +1,246 @@
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include "cache.h"
+#include "commit.h"
+#include "tag.h"
+#include "refs.h"
+
+static const char name_rev_usage[] =
+ "git-name-rev [--tags] ( --all | --stdin | commitish [commitish...] )\n";
+
+typedef struct rev_name {
+ const char *tip_name;
+ int merge_traversals;
+ int generation;
+} rev_name;
+
+static long cutoff = LONG_MAX;
+
+static void name_rev(struct commit *commit,
+ const char *tip_name, int merge_traversals, int generation,
+ int deref)
+{
+ struct rev_name *name = (struct rev_name *)commit->object.util;
+ struct commit_list *parents;
+ int parent_number = 0;
+
+ if (!commit->object.parsed)
+ parse_commit(commit);
+
+ if (commit->date < cutoff)
+ return;
+
+ if (deref) {
+ char *new_name = xmalloc(strlen(tip_name)+3);
+ strcpy(new_name, tip_name);
+ strcat(new_name, "^0");
+ tip_name = new_name;
+
+ if (generation)
+ die("generation: %d, but deref?", generation);
+ }
+
+ if (name == NULL) {
+ name = xmalloc(sizeof(rev_name));
+ commit->object.util = name;
+ goto copy_data;
+ } else if (name->merge_traversals > merge_traversals ||
+ (name->merge_traversals == merge_traversals &&
+ name->generation > generation)) {
+copy_data:
+ name->tip_name = tip_name;
+ name->merge_traversals = merge_traversals;
+ name->generation = generation;
+ } else
+ return;
+
+ for (parents = commit->parents;
+ parents;
+ parents = parents->next, parent_number++) {
+ if (parent_number > 0) {
+ char *new_name = xmalloc(strlen(tip_name)+8);
+
+ if (generation > 0)
+ sprintf(new_name, "%s~%d^%d", tip_name,
+ generation, parent_number);
+ else
+ sprintf(new_name, "%s^%d", tip_name, parent_number);
+
+ name_rev(parents->item, new_name,
+ merge_traversals + 1 , 0, 0);
+ } else {
+ name_rev(parents->item, tip_name, merge_traversals,
+ generation + 1, 0);
+ }
+ }
+}
+
+static int tags_only = 0;
+
+static int name_ref(const char *path, const unsigned char *sha1)
+{
+ struct object *o = parse_object(sha1);
+ int deref = 0;
+
+ if (tags_only && strncmp(path, "refs/tags/", 10))
+ return 0;
+
+ while (o && o->type == tag_type) {
+ struct tag *t = (struct tag *) o;
+ if (!t->tagged)
+ break; /* broken repository */
+ o = parse_object(t->tagged->sha1);
+ deref = 1;
+ }
+ if (o && o->type == commit_type) {
+ struct commit *commit = (struct commit *)o;
+ const char *p;
+
+ while ((p = strchr(path, '/')))
+ path = p+1;
+
+ name_rev(commit, strdup(path), 0, 0, deref);
+ }
+ return 0;
+}
+
+/* returns a static buffer */
+static const char* get_rev_name(struct object *o)
+{
+ static char buffer[1024];
+ struct rev_name *n = (struct rev_name *)o->util;
+ if (!n)
+ return "undefined";
+
+ if (!n->generation)
+ return n->tip_name;
+
+ snprintf(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%s~%d", n->tip_name, n->generation);
+
+ return buffer;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+ struct object_list *revs = NULL;
+ struct object_list **walker = &revs;
+ int as_is = 0, all = 0, transform_stdin = 0;
+
+ setup_git_directory();
+
+ if (argc < 2)
+ usage(name_rev_usage);
+
+ for (--argc, ++argv; argc; --argc, ++argv) {
+ unsigned char sha1[20];
+ struct object *o;
+ struct commit *commit;
+
+ if (!as_is && (*argv)[0] == '-') {
+ if (!strcmp(*argv, "--")) {
+ as_is = 1;
+ continue;
+ } else if (!strcmp(*argv, "--tags")) {
+ tags_only = 1;
+ continue;
+ } else if (!strcmp(*argv, "--all")) {
+ if (argc > 1)
+ die("Specify either a list, or --all, not both!");
+ all = 1;
+ cutoff = 0;
+ continue;
+ } else if (!strcmp(*argv, "--stdin")) {
+ if (argc > 1)
+ die("Specify either a list, or --stdin, not both!");
+ transform_stdin = 1;
+ cutoff = 0;
+ continue;
+ }
+ usage(name_rev_usage);
+ }
+
+ if (get_sha1(*argv, sha1)) {
+ fprintf(stderr, "Could not get sha1 for %s. Skipping.\n",
+ *argv);
+ continue;
+ }
+
+ o = deref_tag(parse_object(sha1));
+ if (!o || o->type != commit_type) {
+ fprintf(stderr, "Could not get commit for %s. Skipping.\n",
+ *argv);
+ continue;
+ }
+
+ commit = (struct commit *)o;
+
+ if (cutoff > commit->date)
+ cutoff = commit->date;
+
+ object_list_append((struct object *)commit, walker);
+ (*walker)->name = *argv;
+ walker = &((*walker)->next);
+ }
+
+ for_each_ref(name_ref);
+
+ if (transform_stdin) {
+ char buffer[2048];
+ char *p, *p_start;
+
+ while (!feof(stdin)) {
+ int forty = 0;
+ p = fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), stdin);
+ if (!p)
+ break;
+
+ for (p_start = p; *p; p++) {
+#define ishex(x) (isdigit((x)) || ((x) >= 'a' && (x) <= 'f'))
+ if (!ishex(*p))
+ forty = 0;
+ else if (++forty == 40 &&
+ !ishex(*(p+1))) {
+ unsigned char sha1[40];
+ const char *name = "undefined";
+ char c = *(p+1);
+
+ forty = 0;
+
+ *(p+1) = 0;
+ if (!get_sha1(p - 39, sha1)) {
+ struct object *o =
+ lookup_object(sha1);
+ if (o)
+ name = get_rev_name(o);
+ }
+ *(p+1) = c;
+
+ if (!strcmp(name, "undefined"))
+ continue;
+
+ fwrite(p_start, p - p_start, 1, stdout);
+ fputc('(', stdout);
+ fputs(name, stdout);
+ fputc(')', stdout);
+ p_start = p + 1;
+ }
+ }
+
+ /* flush */
+ if (p_start != p)
+ fwrite(p_start, p - p_start, 1, stdout);
+ }
+ } else if (all) {
+ extern struct object **objs;
+ extern int nr_objs;
+ int i;
+
+ for (i = 0; i < nr_objs; i++)
+ printf("%s %s\n", sha1_to_hex(objs[i]->sha1),
+ get_rev_name(objs[i]));
+ } else
+ for ( ; revs; revs = revs->next)
+ printf("%s %s\n", revs->name, get_rev_name(revs->item));
+
+ return 0;
+}
+