How to get plugins changelog

[LokiNaBoki]

When you update your plugins there is a floating window with all commits since last update for every plugin. When you run PackerSync with headless nvim there isn't any window. My question is can I somehow get this "changelog" either by calling some Packer function or somehow redirecting it to a file?

[wbthomason]

This would be an interesting feature to add, but isn't something packer currently supports - the changelogs are ephemeral and only displayed when you're running non-headless packer. You can, of course, view the git log of the relevant plugins manually yourself, but this is not built into packer currently. If you'd like to add a feature like this, I'd be happy to help guide a PR.

[wbthomason]

@gegoune there is a way to view the diff if you're not in headless mode; I believe @LokiNaBoki's question is only pertaining to headless operation?

[gegoune]

Oh, is there? How exactly? Do you mean pressing d with cursor on commit in Packer's window? I think @LokiNaBoki's question and my suggestion/FR are covering different scenario:

Do one of the following:

• headlessly run PackerSync, close nvim
• run PackerSync or PackerUpdate, close Packer's window

Once window/nvim is closed there is no way to see what its content was.

Now, imagine there is PackerDiff, or PackerShowLastUpdateStatus (ugly, only to demonstrate its exact meaning), which user can run in any of above situations and recall last Packer's window.

I needed it number of times when few plugins got updated and I was changing my configuration by reading change log, I have reconfigured one plugin and cycled my nvim to apply that configuration only to realise there were more plugins updated but I had no easy way of figuring out what they were (and what changes were) (except for checking git log for dozens of plugins).

[wbthomason]

Right - does PlugDiff work after you close Vim from an update? If so, maybe we can easily add such a feature.

[gegoune]

I really can't remember, I am sorry. It's been such a long time since I used it.

[wbthomason]

No worries! I don't have the bandwidth to prioritize this feature right now, but I'll try to look into what plug does at some future point.