GitLab Merge Request does not show all changed files

Question

Gitlab shows 46 changed files but only displays 17 changed files.
This occurs when comparing to source branch and 'latest version'.
Nothing occurs when clicking files in the tree view for some files (only 17 files are clickable).

Why does this occur?

To review all changes, our team has to view each commits individually. In that case, all changed files are shown for that commit.

Is this a bug?

Answer 1

This can happen for a number of reasons:

1. The file(s) that were change cannot be diffed in the UI (too large, binary, non-diffable type, etc.)
2. The file(s) are marked in the .gitattributes file on the default branch with an attribute that makes them not show up in diffs (e.g., linguist-generated)
3. The commits in the MR changed files, but other commits effectively reverted the content back to the original contents, meaning there is no diff to show
4. There is no change when compared with the target branch (for example, the commits that changed those files are already in the target branch, or the same effective change is in the target branch)