git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH/RFC] More friendly message when locking the index fails.

From
Matthieu Moy <matthieu.moy@imag.fr>
Date
Feb 4, 2009, 09:58 UTC
Message-ID
<1233741505-24020-1-git-send-email-Matthieu.Moy@imag.fr>
In-Reply-To
<vpqljsma99t.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>

Just saying that index.lock exists doesn't tell the user _what_ to do to fix the problem. We should give an indication that it's normally safe to delete index.lock after making sure git isn't running here. ---

> I'll write a FAQ entry on the wiki with answers, and that would
> probably be a good idea to give indication to the user directly in the
> error message too, otherwise, the problem can be blocking for
> beginners.
Something along the lines of this patch maybe?
 builtin-update-index.c |   11 +++++++++--
 lockfile.c             |    9 ++++++++-
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/builtin-update-index.c b/builtin-update-index.c
index 5604977..ab8ab8f 100644
--- a/builtin-update-index.c
+++ b/builtin-update-index.c
@@ -742,8 +742,15 @@ int cmd_update_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (newfd < 0) {
 			if (refresh_flags & REFRESH_QUIET)
 				exit(128);
-			die("unable to create '%s.lock': %s",
-			    get_index_file(), strerror(lock_error));
+			if (lock_error == EEXIST) {
+				die("Unable to create '%s.lock': %s\n"
+				    "This probably means a git process crashed in this repository earlier.\n"
+				    "Make sure no other git process is running and remove the file manually.",
+				    get_index_file(), strerror(lock_error));
+			} else {
+				die("Unable to create '%s.lock': %s",
+				    get_index_file(), strerror(lock_error));
+			}
 		}
 		if (write_cache(newfd, active_cache, active_nr) ||
 		    commit_locked_index(lock_file))
diff --git a/lockfile.c b/lockfile.c
index 021c337..bb59f7e 100644
--- a/lockfile.c
+++ b/lockfile.c
@@ -159,7 +159,14 @@ int hold_lock_file_for_update(struct lock_file *lk, const char *path, int flags)
 {
 	int fd = lock_file(lk, path, flags);
 	if (fd < 0 && (flags & LOCK_DIE_ON_ERROR))
-		die("unable to create '%s.lock': %s", path, strerror(errno));
+		if (errno == EEXIST) {
+			die("Unable to create '%s.lock': %s\n"
+			    "This probably means a git process crashed in this repository earlier.\n"
+			    "Make sure no other git process is running and remove the file manually.",
+			    path, strerror(errno));
+		} else {
+			die("Unable to create '%s.lock': %s", path, strerror(errno));
+		}
 	return fd;
 }
 
-- 
1.6.1.2.322.g01114.dirty
Previous: Matthieu MoyNext: Sverre Rabbelier
Message 2 of 9 in “Recovering the index after a git crash?”
  1. Matthieu MoyFeb 4, 2009
  2. More friendly message when locking the index fails.Matthieu Moy, Feb 4, 2009
  3. Sverre RabbelierFeb 4, 2009
  4. Mikael MagnussonFeb 6, 2009
  5. More friendly message when locking the index fails.Matthieu Moy, Feb 6, 2009
  6. More friendly message when locking the index fails.Matthieu Moy, Feb 6, 2009
  7. Junio C HamanoFeb 7, 2009
  8. More friendly message when locking the index fails.Matthieu Moy, Feb 19, 2009
  9. Sverre RabbelierFeb 19, 2009

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.