Re: git merge <tag>: Spawning an editor can't be disabled

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Feb 9, 2012, 18:11 UTC
Message-ID: <7vzkcrx4f2.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20120209160803.GA5742@burratino>

Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> writes:

Show 10 quoted lines

>> as of 1.7.9 merging in a tag unconditionally spawns an editor. I tried
>> turning this of with --no-edit but to no avail. This is a behaviour
>> change that breaks tools like git-buildpackage. I wonder if this should
>> be turned off by default?
>
> Thanks.  I can confirm this: ever since commit fab47d05 (merge: force
> edit and no-ff mode when merging a tag object, 2011-11-07), running
> "git checkout github/maint-1.5.6 && git merge --no-edit v1.7.2"
> launches an editor window despite the caller's request.  And I agree
> that it is counter-intuitive.

Thanks; it is unquestionably a bug that "git merge --no-edit v1.7.2" spawns an editor.

The real question is what should happen.

If the editor is not spawned, there is no way for the user to review the result of signature verification before deciding to accept the merge. "git merge --no-edit v1.7.2" could error out saying "you cannot create this merge without reviewing". Or it could behave as if it was asked to "git merge --no-edit v1.7.2^0", dropping the signature verification and recording part altogether.