Re: [Census] So who uses git?

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Feb 1, 2006, 21:59 UTC
Message-ID: <7v8xsu91vf.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0602011307250.21884@g5.osdl.org>

Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> writes:

Show 7 quoted lines

>>  - "git commit" means: update index with all local changes and
>>    then commit the tree described in index (current "-a"
>>    behaviour).
>
> No. Please no. "git commit" should continue to do what it does now. 
> Otherwise you can't do the two-stage thing in any sane way.
> Requiring "--incremental"/"--also" is very confusing.

I myself did not like it but...

> If somebody doesn't know about the index, he normally will never have 
> index changes _anyway_, except for the "git add" case. In which case "git 
> commit" does the right thing for him: it will either commit the added 
> files, or it will say "nothing to commit".

... the original complaint was that "git commit" without explicit paths does not quack like "cvs/svn commit" -- commit all my changes in the working tree.

And actually the one you are responding to was my cunning move to pull this exact reaction from you: "No commit without parameter should not imply -a". I prefer the "minor twist" version in the same messge myself.

To recap:

 - "git commit fileA..." means: update index at listed paths
   (add/remove if necessary) and then commit the tree described
   in index (the same as the current behaviour with explicit
   paths).

 - "git commit -a" means: update index with all local changes and
   then commit the tree described in index (the same as the
   current behaviour).

 - "git commit" means: write out the current index and commit
   (the same as the current behaviour).

 - "git commit --only fileA..." means: create a temporary index
   from the current HEAD commit (or empty index if there is
   none), update it at listed paths (add/remove if necessary)
   and commit the resulting tree.  Also update the real index at
   the listed paths (add/remove if necessary).  In the original
   index file, the paths listed must be either empty or match
   exactly the HEAD commit -- otherwise we error out (Linus'
   suggestion).

 - In all cases, revert the index to the state before the
   command is run if we end up not making the commit (e.g. index
   unmerged, empty log message, pre-commit hook refusal).  With
   this, "git diff-files fileA" would show the differences as it
   showed beforean aborted "git commit -a" or "git commit fileA"
   and removes one common gripe.