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[PATCH 2/9] Do not use VISUAL editor on dumb terminals

From
Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date
Nov 11, 2009, 23:56 UTC
Message-ID
<20091111235607.GC1140@progeny.tock>
In-Reply-To
<20091111235100.GA1140@progeny.tock>

Refuse to use $VISUAL and fall back to $EDITOR if TERM is unset or set to "dumb". Traditionally, VISUAL is set to a screen editor and EDITOR to a line-based editor, which should be more useful in that situation.

vim, for example, is happy to assume a terminal supports ANSI sequences even if TERM is dumb (e.g., when running from a text editor like Acme). git already refuses to fall back to vi on a dumb terminal if GIT_EDITOR, core.editor, VISUAL, and EDITOR are unset, but without this patch, that check is suppressed by VISUAL=vi.

Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
---
Fixes broken sign-off, patch unchanged.

I am personally most interested in this for usage from a text editor, but vim does not set TERM=dumb like it probably ought to. A more realistic everyday example might be "ssh user@domain git commit".

 editor.c          |   12 ++++++------
 t/t7005-editor.sh |   10 ++++++++++
 t/t7501-commit.sh |    8 ++++----
 t/test-lib.sh     |    8 ++++----
 4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/editor.c b/editor.c
index 941c0b2..3f13751 100644
--- a/editor.c
+++ b/editor.c
@@ -4,19 +4,19 @@
 
 int launch_editor(const char *path, struct strbuf *buffer, const char *const *env)
 {
-	const char *editor, *terminal;
+	const char *editor = getenv("GIT_EDITOR");
+	const char *terminal = getenv("TERM");
+	int terminal_is_dumb = !terminal || !strcmp(terminal, "dumb");
 
-	editor = getenv("GIT_EDITOR");
 	if (!editor && editor_program)
 		editor = editor_program;
-	if (!editor)
+	if (!editor && !terminal_is_dumb)
 		editor = getenv("VISUAL");
 	if (!editor)
 		editor = getenv("EDITOR");
 
-	terminal = getenv("TERM");
-	if (!editor && (!terminal || !strcmp(terminal, "dumb")))
-		return error("Terminal is dumb but no VISUAL nor EDITOR defined.");
+	if (!editor && terminal_is_dumb)
+		return error("terminal is dumb, but EDITOR unset");
 
 	if (!editor)
 		editor = "vi";
diff --git a/t/t7005-editor.sh b/t/t7005-editor.sh
index b647957..a95fe19 100755
--- a/t/t7005-editor.sh
+++ b/t/t7005-editor.sh
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ test_expect_success 'dumb should error out when falling back on vi' '
 	fi
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'dumb should prefer EDITOR to VISUAL' '
+
+	EDITOR=./e-EDITOR.sh &&
+	VISUAL=./e-VISUAL.sh &&
+	export EDITOR VISUAL &&
+	git commit --amend &&
+	test "$(git show -s --format=%s)" = "Edited by EDITOR"
+
+'
+
 TERM=vt100
 export TERM
 for i in vi EDITOR VISUAL core_editor GIT_EDITOR
diff --git a/t/t7501-commit.sh b/t/t7501-commit.sh
index d2de576..a603f6d 100755
--- a/t/t7501-commit.sh
+++ b/t/t7501-commit.sh
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ chmod 755 editor
 
 test_expect_success \
 	"amend commit" \
-	"VISUAL=./editor git commit --amend"
+	"EDITOR=./editor git commit --amend"
 
 test_expect_success \
 	"passing -m and -F" \
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ chmod 755 editor
 test_expect_success \
 	"editing message from other commit" \
 	"echo 'hula hula' >file && \
-	 VISUAL=./editor git commit -c HEAD^ -a"
+	 EDITOR=./editor git commit -c HEAD^ -a"
 
 test_expect_success \
 	"message from stdin" \
@@ -141,10 +141,10 @@ EOF
 test_expect_success \
 	'editor not invoked if -F is given' '
 	 echo "moo" >file &&
-	 VISUAL=./editor git commit -a -F msg &&
+	 EDITOR=./editor git commit -a -F msg &&
 	 git show -s --pretty=format:"%s" | grep -q good &&
 	 echo "quack" >file &&
-	 echo "Another good message." | VISUAL=./editor git commit -a -F - &&
+	 echo "Another good message." | EDITOR=./editor git commit -a -F - &&
 	 git show -s --pretty=format:"%s" | grep -q good
 	 '
 # We could just check the head sha1, but checking each commit makes it
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index f2ca536..ec3336a 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ TZ=UTC
 TERM=dumb
 export LANG LC_ALL PAGER TERM TZ
 EDITOR=:
-VISUAL=:
+unset VISUAL
 unset GIT_EDITOR
 unset AUTHOR_DATE
 unset AUTHOR_EMAIL
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY=5
 export GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY
 export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL GIT_AUTHOR_NAME
 export GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL GIT_COMMITTER_NAME
-export EDITOR VISUAL
+export EDITOR
 GIT_TEST_CMP=${GIT_TEST_CMP:-diff -u}
 
 # Protect ourselves from common misconfiguration to export
@@ -207,8 +207,8 @@ trap 'die' EXIT
 test_set_editor () {
 	FAKE_EDITOR="$1"
 	export FAKE_EDITOR
-	VISUAL='"$FAKE_EDITOR"'
-	export VISUAL
+	EDITOR='"$FAKE_EDITOR"'
+	export EDITOR
 }
 
 test_tick () {

-- 
1.6.5.2
Previous: Jonathan NiederNext: Jonathan Nieder
Message 55 of 65 in “packaging vs default pager”
  1. Ben WaltonOct 28, 2009
  2. Junio C HamanoOct 28, 2009
  3. 0/2 Re: packaging vs default pagerJonathan Nieder, Oct 29, 2009
  4. 1/2 Provide a build time default-pager settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 29, 2009
  5. 2/2 Provide a build time default-editor settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 29, 2009
  6. David RoundyOct 29, 2009
  7. Johannes SixtOct 29, 2009
  8. Junio C HamanoOct 29, 2009
  9. Johannes SixtOct 29, 2009
  10. Junio C HamanoOct 29, 2009
  11. David RoundyOct 30, 2009
  12. Junio C HamanoOct 29, 2009
  13. 0/8 Default pager and editorJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  14. 1/8 launch_editor: Longer error message when TERM=dumbJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  15. 2/8 Handle more shell metacharacters in editor namesJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  16. 3/8 Teach git var about GIT_EDITORJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  17. Johannes SixtOct 30, 2009
  18. Jonathan NiederOct 30, 2009
  19. Junio C HamanoOct 30, 2009
  20. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  21. 4/8 Teach git var about GIT_PAGERJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  22. 5/8 add -i, send-email, svn, p4, etc: use "git var GIT_EDITOR"Jonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  23. 6/8 am -i, git-svn: use "git var GIT_PAGER"Jonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  24. 7/8 Provide a build time default-editor settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  25. Jonathan NiederOct 30, 2009
  26. 8/8 Provide a build time default-pager settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  27. Junio C HamanoOct 30, 2009
  28. 9/8 Teach git var to run the editorJonathan Nieder, Oct 30, 2009
  29. 0/8 Default pager and editorJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  30. 1/8 Handle more shell metacharacters in editor namesJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  31. 2/8 Do not use VISUAL editor on dumb terminalsJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  32. 2/8 Do not use VISUAL editor on dumb terminalsJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  33. 3/8 Teach git var about GIT_EDITORJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  34. Junio C HamanoOct 31, 2009
  35. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  36. Junio C HamanoOct 31, 2009
  37. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  38. Teach git var about GIT_EDITORJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  39. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  40. Teach git var about GIT_EDITORJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  41. Junio C HamanoNov 1, 2009
  42. Johannes SixtOct 31, 2009
  43. 4/8 Teach git var about GIT_PAGERJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  44. 5/8 add -i, send-email, svn, p4, etc: use "git var GIT_EDITOR"Jonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  45. 6/8 am -i, git-svn: use "git var GIT_PAGER"Jonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  46. 7/8 Provide a build time default-editor settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  47. Junio C HamanoOct 31, 2009
  48. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  49. Junio C HamanoOct 31, 2009
  50. Jonathan NiederOct 31, 2009
  51. Junio C HamanoNov 1, 2009
  52. 8/8 Provide a build time default-pager settingJonathan Nieder, Oct 31, 2009
  53. 0/9 Default pager and editorJonathan Nieder, Nov 11, 2009
  54. 1/9 Handle more shell metacharacters in editor namesJonathan Nieder, Nov 11, 2009
  55. 2/9 Do not use VISUAL editor on dumb terminalsJonathan Nieder, Nov 11, 2009
  56. 3/9 Suppress warnings from "git var -l"Jonathan Nieder, Nov 11, 2009
  57. 4/9 Teach git var about GIT_EDITORJonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  58. 5/9 Teach git var about GIT_PAGERJonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  59. 6/9 add -i, send-email, svn, p4, etc: use "git var GIT_EDITOR"Jonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  60. 7/9 am -i, git-svn: use "git var GIT_PAGER"Jonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  61. 8/9 Provide a build time default-editor settingJonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  62. 9/9 Provide a build time default-pager settingJonathan Nieder, Nov 12, 2009
  63. Junio C HamanoNov 15, 2009
  64. 0/2 Default Pager and Editor at build-timeBen Walton, Oct 29, 2009
  65. 1/2 Provide a build time default-pager settingBen Walton, Oct 29, 2009

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