[torvalds@g5 git]$ git-describe parent +v1.0.4-g2414721b+
From: Junio C Hamano git-describe -
+ Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
+ git-describe [--all] [--tags] [--abbrev=<n>] <committish>… The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a
+commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows
+the tag. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with abbreviated
+object name of the commit.
+ The object name of the comittish.
+
+ Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref
+ found in .git/refs/.
+
+ Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag
+ found in .git/refs/tags.
+
+ Instead of using the default 8 hexadecimal digits as the
+ abbreviated object name, use <n> digits.
+ With something like git.git current tree, I get: i.e. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1.0.4,
+but since it has a few commits on top of that, it has added the
+git hash of the thing to the end: "-g" + 8-char shorthand for
+the commit 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6. Doing a "git-describe" on a tag-name will just show the tag name: With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so
+the output shows the reference path as well: Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, but somewhat
+butchered by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. Part of the git(7) suite
+git-describe(1) Manual Page
+
+NAME
+SYNOPSIS
+DESCRIPTION
+OPTIONS
+
+
+EXAMPLES
+[torvalds@g5 git]$ git-describe parent
+v1.0.4-g2414721b
+[torvalds@g5 git]$ git-describe v1.0.4
+v1.0.4
+[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2
+tags/v1.0.0-g975b
+[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all HEAD^
+heads/lt/describe-g975b
+Author
+Documentation
+GIT
+
+ Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit. +
+