Dridi Boukelmoune <dridi.boukelmoune@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > For end users making use of a custom exec path many commands will simply > fail. Adding git's exec path to the PATH also allows overriding git-sh-* > scripts, not just adding commands. One can then patch a script without > tainting their system installation of git for example. I think the first sentence is where you went wrong. It seems that you think this ought to work: rm -fr $HOME/random-stuff mkdir $HOME/random-stuff echo "echo happy" >$HOME/random-stuff/git-happy chmod +x $HOME/random-stuff/git-happy GIT_EXEC_PATH=$HOME/random-stuff export GIT_EXEC_PATH # then... git happy But that is not the right/officially sanctioned/kosher way to add custom git commands (adding your directory that has git-happy in it to $PATH is). GIT_EXEC_PATH is for the git-cmd binaries and scripts we ship; it always is used to find non built-in commands, and even for built-in commands, the command found via alias look-up is invoked that way. By insisting on overriding GIT_EXEC_PATH and not populating with the stuff we ship, you'd need a workaround like your patch just to make the scripts "work" again. I have a feeling that even with your patch you wouldn't be able to make non built-in commands, unless you copy them (or write a thin wrapper that exec's the real thing). So, instead of the two GIT_EXEC_PATH steps in the above example, you can do PATH=$HOME/random-stuff:$PATH and you'll see "git happy" to work, I would think, without breaking other things.