Re: [PATCH v2 0/3] commit: refuse to amend during conflict resolution
- From
- Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
- Date
- Aug 27, 2026, 15:19 UTC
- Message-ID
- <6a04525c-d9e7-415a-845f-f11ed1c0f0d5@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <pull.2389.v2.git.git.1787792534.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Hi Elijah
On 27/08/2026 02:02, Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget wrote:
Show 17 quoted lines
> Both git commit --amend and a partial commit (git commit <paths>) are > foot-guns while the user is in the middle of an operation that resolves > conflicts on top of HEAD: recording a conflict resolution is about capturing > the state of the whole tree as a new commit, not about rewriting HEAD or > committing a subset of paths. > > Historically we only rejected these during a merge or a cherry-pick or when > resolving an empty pick during a rebase. The same hazard exists for am, > revert, and rebase conflict stops, none of which were covered. This series > extends the refusal to all of them. > > The three patches: > > 1. reword the two pre-existing "empty commit" rebase messages, which were > misleadingly generic > 2. refuse git commit --amend during these additional operations > 3. refuse partial commits during the same operations.
Thanks for working on this, it is a useful improvement to our UI. I've left a couple of comments but this all looks pretty sound to me.
Thanks
Phillip
Show 225 quoted lines
> Elijah Newren (3):
> commit: reword the empty-commit rebase errors
> commit: refuse to amend during conflict resolution
> commit: refuse partial commits during conflict resolution
>
> builtin/commit.c | 51 +++++++++----
> sequencer.c | 65 +++++++++++++++++
> sequencer.h | 24 ++++++
> t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh | 125 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
> t/t3507-cherry-pick-conflict.sh | 22 ++++++
> t/t4151-am-abort.sh | 22 ++++++
> 6 files changed, 293 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
>
>
> base-commit: 2c3adbb2c475981e340c79fdc5e7f4f9b5d9054e
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-2389%2Fnewren%2Frefuse-amend-during-conflicts-v2
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-2389/newren/refuse-amend-during-conflicts-v2
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/2389
>
> Range-diff vs v1:
>
> -: ---------- > 1: 65c48ed3cb commit: reword the empty-commit rebase errors
> 1: a3d6b059c6 ! 2: 4a1461e527 commit: refuse to amend during conflict resolution
> @@ Commit message
> Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
>
> ## builtin/commit.c ##
> -@@
> - #include "path.h"
> - #include "preload-index.h"
> - #include "read-cache.h"
> -+#include "refs.h"
> - #include "repository.h"
> - #include "string-list.h"
> - #include "rerere.h"
> @@ builtin/commit.c: static int parse_and_validate_options(int argc, const char *argv[],
> - else if (whence == FROM_REBASE_PICK)
> - die(_("You are in the middle of a rebase -- cannot amend."));
> + use_editor = 0;
> +
> + /* Sanity check options */
> +- if (amend && !current_head)
> +- die(_("You have nothing to amend."));
> +- if (amend && whence != FROM_COMMIT) {
> +- if (whence == FROM_MERGE)
> ++ if (amend) {
> ++ if (!current_head)
> ++ die(_("You have nothing to amend."));
> ++ /*
> ++ * Refuse to amend in the middle of any operation that is
> ++ * meant to record its result as a new commit on top of HEAD
> ++ * rather than by rewriting HEAD.
> ++ */
> ++ switch (sequencer_ongoing_operation(s->repo, whence)) {
> ++ case ONGOING_NONE:
> ++ break;
> ++ case ONGOING_MERGE:
> + die(_("You are in the middle of a merge -- cannot amend."));
> +- else if (is_from_cherry_pick(whence))
> ++ case ONGOING_CHERRY_PICK:
> + die(_("You are in the middle of a cherry-pick -- cannot amend."));
> +- else if (whence == FROM_REBASE_PICK)
> ++ case ONGOING_REBASE_EMPTY:
> + die(_("You are resolving a commit that became empty -- cannot amend."));
> ++ case ONGOING_REVERT:
> ++ die(_("You are in the middle of a revert -- cannot amend."));
> ++ case ONGOING_AM:
> ++ die(_("You are in the middle of an am session -- cannot amend."));
> ++ case ONGOING_REBASE_CONFLICT:
> ++ die(_("You are resolving conflicts during a rebase -- cannot amend."));
> ++ }
> }
> -+ if (amend && whence == FROM_COMMIT) {
> -+ char *applying, *apply_dir, *stopped_sha, *amend_marker;
> -+ int in_am, conflicted_stop;
> + if (fixup_message && squash_message)
> + die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--squash", "--fixup");
> +
> + ## sequencer.c ##
> +@@ sequencer.c: int sequencer_determine_whence(struct repository *r, enum commit_whence *whence)
> + return 0;
> + }
> +
> ++enum ongoing_operation sequencer_ongoing_operation(struct repository *r,
> ++ enum commit_whence whence)
> ++{
> ++ char *path;
> ++ int found;
> +
> -+ /* Check middle of revert */
> -+ if (refs_ref_exists(get_main_ref_store(the_repository),
> -+ "REVERT_HEAD"))
> -+ die(_("You are in the middle of a revert -- cannot amend."));
> ++ /*
> ++ * The merge, cherry-pick, and (empty) rebase-pick stops are already
> ++ * distinguished by 'whence'.
> ++ */
> ++ switch (whence) {
> ++ case FROM_MERGE:
> ++ return ONGOING_MERGE;
> ++ case FROM_CHERRY_PICK_SINGLE:
> ++ case FROM_CHERRY_PICK_MULTI:
> ++ return ONGOING_CHERRY_PICK;
> ++ case FROM_REBASE_PICK:
> ++ return ONGOING_REBASE_EMPTY;
> ++ case FROM_COMMIT:
> ++ break;
> ++ }
> +
> -+ /* Check middle of `am` */
> -+ applying = repo_git_path(the_repository,
> -+ "rebase-apply/applying");
> -+ in_am = file_exists(applying);
> ++ /*
> ++ * 'whence' is FROM_COMMIT, but we may still be in the middle of an
> ++ * operation that records its result on top of HEAD; detect those
> ++ * from their on-disk state.
> ++ */
> +
> -+ free(applying);
> -+ if (in_am)
> -+ die(_("You are in the middle of an am session -- cannot amend."));
> ++ /* In the middle of a revert? */
> ++ if (refs_ref_exists(get_main_ref_store(r), "REVERT_HEAD"))
> ++ return ONGOING_REVERT;
> +
> -+ /* Check middle of rebase specifically stopped for conflicts */
> -+ apply_dir = repo_git_path(the_repository,
> -+ "rebase-apply");
> -+ stopped_sha = repo_git_path(the_repository,
> -+ "rebase-merge/stopped-sha");
> -+ amend_marker = repo_git_path(the_repository,
> -+ "rebase-merge/amend");
> -+ /*
> -+ * The apply backend only ever stops for conflicts; the
> -+ * merge backend writes stopped-sha but omits `amend`,
> -+ * which it writes only at a clean edit/reword stop.
> -+ */
> -+ conflicted_stop =
> -+ file_exists(apply_dir) ||
> -+ (file_exists(stopped_sha) && !file_exists(amend_marker));
> ++ /* In the middle of an `am`? */
> ++ path = repo_git_path(r, "rebase-apply/applying");
> ++ found = file_exists(path);
> ++ free(path);
> ++ if (found)
> ++ return ONGOING_AM;
> ++
> ++ /*
> ++ * In the middle of a rebase that stopped for conflict resolution?
> ++ * The apply backend only ever stops for conflicts, so the presence
> ++ * of its state directory is enough. The merge backend writes
> ++ * stopped-sha whenever it hands control back to the user, but omits
> ++ * `amend` unless it stopped with HEAD already pointing at the commit
> ++ * to be amended (a clean edit/reword stop); its absence therefore
> ++ * marks a conflicted stop.
> ++ */
> ++ path = repo_git_path(r, "rebase-apply");
> ++ found = file_exists(path);
> ++ free(path);
> ++ if (!found) {
> ++ char *stopped_sha = repo_git_path(r, "rebase-merge/stopped-sha");
> ++ char *amend_marker = repo_git_path(r, "rebase-merge/amend");
> +
> -+ free(apply_dir);
> ++ found = file_exists(stopped_sha) && !file_exists(amend_marker);
> + free(stopped_sha);
> + free(amend_marker);
> -+ if (conflicted_stop)
> -+ die(_("You are resolving conflicts during a rebase -- cannot amend."));
> + }
> - if (fixup_message && squash_message)
> - die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--squash", "--fixup");
> - die_for_incompatible_opt4(!!use_message, "-C",
> ++ if (found)
> ++ return ONGOING_REBASE_CONFLICT;
> ++
> ++ return ONGOING_NONE;
> ++}
> ++
> + int sequencer_get_update_refs_state(const char *wt_dir,
> + struct string_list *refs)
> + {
> +
> + ## sequencer.h ##
> +@@ sequencer.h: int sequencer_get_last_command(struct repository* r,
> + enum replay_action *action);
> + int sequencer_determine_whence(struct repository *r, enum commit_whence *whence);
> +
> ++/*
> ++ * An in-progress operation that records its result (often a conflict
> ++ * resolution) as a new commit on top of HEAD, during which amending
> ++ * HEAD via "git commit --amend" is almost always a mistake.
> ++ */
> ++enum ongoing_operation {
> ++ ONGOING_NONE = 0,
> ++ ONGOING_MERGE,
> ++ ONGOING_CHERRY_PICK,
> ++ ONGOING_REBASE_EMPTY,
> ++ ONGOING_REVERT,
> ++ ONGOING_AM,
> ++ ONGOING_REBASE_CONFLICT
> ++};
> ++
> ++/*
> ++ * Return which in-progress operation, if any, is underway; see enum
> ++ * ongoing_operation. 'whence' is the origin already computed for the
> ++ * pending commit.
> ++ */
> ++enum ongoing_operation sequencer_ongoing_operation(struct repository *r,
> ++ enum commit_whence whence);
> ++
> + /**
> + * Append the set of ref-OID pairs that are currently stored for the 'git
> + * rebase --update-refs' feature if such a rebase is currently happening.
>
> ## t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh ##
> @@ t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh: test_expect_success 'correct error message for commit --amend after empty pick'
> - test_grep "middle of a rebase -- cannot amend." err
> + test_grep "resolving a commit that became empty -- cannot amend." err
> '
>
> +test_expect_success 'commit --amend is refused at a rebase conflict stop' '
> -: ---------- > 3: e0be8cdf63 commit: refuse partial commits during conflict resolution
>