This approach sometimes works for formatting but the issue with ad-hoc approaches is finding ways of enforcing on new commits. This is especially so with a larg

This approach sometimes works for formatting but the issue with ad-hoc approaches is finding ways of enforcing on new commits. This is especially so with a large developer base. Once you move on from just banal issues like whitespace and move your way up to actual structural concepts in the code, ad-hoc starts completely falling apart (at least in my experience.) I once encountered someone who did a giant re-formatting of code by rewriting past commits. Pretty disruptive for a day but did manage to keep history in-tact. Also, a little (or a lot?) dangerous...