RE: [bug?] git diff --cached in a non-git directory

From: rsbecker@nexbridge.com <rsbecker@nexbridge.com>
Date: Sep 9, 2024, 15:37 UTC
Message-ID: <05b501db02ce$3bd49e30$b37dda90$@nexbridge.com>
In-Reply-To: <2886189B-4BB5-4230-B7AF-94F97A13D72F@timm.sh>

On September 9, 2024 10:26 AM, Okke Timm wrote:

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>What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue) I
>changed into a non-git directory.
>Then I called git with 'git diff --cached', which produced this error:
>
>error: unknown option `cached'
>usage: git diff --no-index [<options>] <path> <path> [...]
>
>What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior) A helfpul error message.
>
>What happened instead? (Actual behavior) An unhelpful error message saying

that

>cached is an unknown option.
>
>What's different between what you expected and what actually happened?
>Me being confused why git suddenly forgot that `git diff --cached` is an

allowed

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>option.
>
>Anything else you want to add:
>Please fix and thank you for this great tool!
>
>Please review the rest of the bug report below.
>You can delete any lines you don't wish to share.
>
>
>[System Info]
>git version:
>git version 2.46.0
>cpu: arm64
>no commit associated with this build
>sizeof-long: 8
>sizeof-size_t: 8
>shell-path: /bin/sh
>feature: fsmonitor--daemon
>libcurl: 8.4.0
>zlib: 1.2.12
>uname: Darwin 23.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 23.6.0: Mon Jul 29 21:14:21 PDT
>2024; root:xnu-10063.141.2~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8103 arm64 compiler info:
>clang: 15.0.0 (clang-1500.3.9.4) libc info: no libc information available

$SHELL

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>(typically, interactive shell): /opt/homebrew/bin/bash
>
>
>[Enabled Hooks]
>not run from a git repository - no hooks to show

Because you are not in a git repository clone, the --cached option has no meaning. It refers to the staging area only, so when not in a clone, git does not consider --cached as supported because there is no connection between an external directory and an internal. If you want to perform a diff from cached vs. external, run the git diff from inside the clone referencing the internal and external file after --.