oldrev

Oldrev is a non-standard label used in software development to refer to an older revision of a project, typically a commit or tag. It is not a built-in Git command or keyword; rather, it appears in scripts, documentation, and patch workflows as a placeholder representing the base revision from which changes are derived.

In patch series workflows, oldrev is often assigned to the revision against which a patch was created. Tools or scripts use oldrev to compute diffs between the base revision and the target revision, enabling patch application, testing, or review.

In code review and diff generation, oldrev may be passed as a parameter to diff utilities to show what changed since the base revision. It can appear in command lines, log messages, or configuration files as a stand-in for the previous commit.

In release and build pipelines, oldrev can denote the previous release's commit or tag used to produce incremental updates or changelogs, helping to describe changes since the last release.

Because oldrev is not standardized, its exact meaning and usage vary between projects. Some documents use variants such as old_rev or oldRevision, and the concept may be expressed with different variable names in scripts.

Understanding a project’s documentation is necessary to determine the intended meaning of oldrev in that context.