[topic: making ‘git commit’ more helpful when there are no changes
registered in the index]
Hi Goswin,
Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
> in most (all but git?) RCS a plain 'commit' without any arguments
> commits all changes (to registered files).
Yes, but they are wrong. :)
> no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
[...]
> Imho in most cases where no changes
> were added people do want to commit all modified files. And if not
> then exiting the editor to abort is easy enough.
I absent-mindedly type ‘git commit’ having forgotten to update the
index with my changes fairly often. Then I add the appropriate
changes, which is almost never all of them. I don’t think this is so
unusual.
Starting out, I can see how it would be comforting to people if
‘git commit’ would default to -a behavior if they ignore the index.
That is logically a different operation, though, so it would also send
a wrong message and make it harder in the long run to get used to the
interface.
Instead, I think it would be better to focus on making the error
message more helpful. Right now there is a screen full of status
before the advice, which might make it easy to get scared before
reading it.
Here’s a very rough patch to suppress that screenful. What do you
think?
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index c5ab683..9cb5489 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ static char *prepare_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix, int
}
static int run_status(FILE *fp, const char *index_file, const char *prefix, int nowarn,
- struct wt_status *s)
+ struct wt_status *s, int simple)
{
unsigned char sha1[20];
@@ -415,6 +415,13 @@ static int run_status(FILE *fp, const char *index_file, const char *prefix, int
wt_status_collect(s);
+ if (simple) {
+ if (s->commitable)
+ die("internal error: are there changes or not?");
+ wt_status_print_nochanges(s);
+ return 0;
+ }
+
switch (status_format) {
case STATUS_FORMAT_SHORT:
wt_shortstatus_print(s, null_termination);
@@ -670,7 +677,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
saved_color_setting = s->use_color;
s->use_color = 0;
- commitable = run_status(fp, index_file, prefix, 1, s);
+ commitable = run_status(fp, index_file, prefix, 1, s, 0);
s->use_color = saved_color_setting;
} else {
unsigned char sha1[20];
@@ -692,7 +699,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
if (!commitable && !in_merge && !allow_empty &&
!(amend && is_a_merge(head_sha1))) {
- run_status(stdout, index_file, prefix, 0, s);
+ run_status(stdout, index_file, prefix, 0, s, 1);
return 0;
}
@@ -946,7 +953,7 @@ static int dry_run_commit(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
const char *index_file;
index_file = prepare_index(argc, argv, prefix, 1);
- commitable = run_status(stdout, index_file, prefix, 0, s);
+ commitable = run_status(stdout, index_file, prefix, 0, s, 0);
rollback_index_files();
return commitable ? 0 : 1;
diff --git a/wt-status.c b/wt-status.c
index 8ca59a2..b50bf71 100644
--- a/wt-status.c
+++ b/wt-status.c
@@ -589,6 +589,24 @@ static void wt_status_print_tracking(struct wt_status *s)
color_fprintf_ln(s->fp, color(WT_STATUS_HEADER, s), "#");
}
+void wt_status_print_nochanges(struct wt_status *s)
+{
+ if (s->amend)
+ fprintf(s->fp, "# No changes\n");
+ else if (s->nowarn)
+ ; /* nothing */
+ else if (s->workdir_dirty)
+ printf("no changes added to commit (use \"git add\" and/or \"git commit -a\")\n");
+ else if (s->untracked.nr)
+ printf("nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use \"git add\" to track)\n");
+ else if (s->is_initial)
+ printf("nothing to commit (create/copy files and use \"git add\" to track)\n");
+ else if (!s->show_untracked_files)
+ printf("nothing to commit (use -u to show untracked files)\n");
+ else
+ printf("nothing to commit (working directory clean)\n");
+}
+
void wt_status_print(struct wt_status *s)
{
const char *branch_color = color(WT_STATUS_HEADER, s);
@@ -629,22 +647,8 @@ void wt_status_print(struct wt_status *s)
if (s->verbose)
wt_status_print_verbose(s);
- if (!s->commitable) {
- if (s->amend)
- fprintf(s->fp, "# No changes\n");
- else if (s->nowarn)
- ; /* nothing */
- else if (s->workdir_dirty)
- printf("no changes added to commit (use \"git add\" and/or \"git commit -a\")\n");
- else if (s->untracked.nr)
- printf("nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use \"git add\" to track)\n");
- else if (s->is_initial)
- printf("nothing to commit (create/copy files and use \"git add\" to track)\n");
- else if (!s->show_untracked_files)
- printf("nothing to commit (use -u to show untracked files)\n");
- else
- printf("nothing to commit (working directory clean)\n");
- }
+ if (!s->commitable)
+ wt_status_print_nochanges(s);
}
static void wt_shortstatus_unmerged(int null_termination, struct string_list_item *it,
diff --git a/wt-status.h b/wt-status.h
index 9120673..f249955 100644
--- a/wt-status.h
+++ b/wt-status.h
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ void wt_status_prepare(struct wt_status *s);
void wt_status_print(struct wt_status *s);
void wt_status_collect(struct wt_status *s);
+void wt_status_print_nochanges(struct wt_status *s);
+
void wt_shortstatus_print(struct wt_status *s, int null_termination);
void wt_porcelain_print(struct wt_status *s, int null_termination);
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