[u801e]

In the instance where a file was missed and added in a later commit, then running git blame would show the sha1 referencing a commit that has a title that says something like "Added missing file". That's not going to tell me anything about why that file was added.

Instead, if you had a commit that explained what the file was for or if some of the lines in that file were added by a commit that explained the change and why it was made, then that would be useful history.

Many times, investigations start with running git blame on a file you plan to make changes to. The usefulness of commit messages associated with each line in a change and whether the diff associated with the commit shows a logical change rather than a fix for a syntax error is the difference between an investigation that leads to results versus one that leads to a dead end.

[WorldMaker]

I already mentioned `git blame --first-parent` just a few comments up! You get the sha1 referencing a commit that has a title like "Merged PR #327". You can dig down deeper than that --first-parent level if need be, but you have the power of the git graph to show/hide details if when you do/do not need them.

[u801e]

Does the --first-parent flag handle the case where the the line was change as part of a conflict resolution in the merge commit itself?