fix download-llvm logic for subtree sync branches

src/build_helper/src/git.rs

@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ pub fn get_closest_merge_commit(
  // cd \"/checkout\" && \"git\" \"merge-base\" \"origin/master\" \"HEAD\"\nexpected success, got: exit status: 1\n"
  // ```
  // Investigate and resolve this issue instead of skipping it like this.
+ // NOTE (2025-03): this is probably caused by CI using a sparse checkout.
  (channel == "nightly" || !CiEnv::is_rust_lang_managed_ci_job())
  {
  git_upstream_merge_base(config, git_dir).unwrap()
@@ -150,11 +151,18 @@ pub fn get_closest_merge_commit(
  }
  };
 
+ // Now that rust-lang/rust is the only repo using bors, we can search the entire
+ // history for a bors commit, not just "first parents". This is crucial to make
+ // this logic work when the user has currently checked out a subtree sync branch.
+ // At the same time, we use this logic in CI where only a tiny part of the history
+ // is even checked out, making this kind of history search very fragile. It turns
+ // out that by adding `--diff-merges=first-parent`, we get a usable reply
+ // even for sparse checkouts: it will just return the most recent bors commit.
  git.args([
  "rev-list",
  &format!("--author={}", config.git_merge_commit_email),
  "-n1",
- "--first-parent",
+ "--diff-merges=first-parent",
  &merge_base,
  ]);