From: Phillip Wood Date: Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:39:15 GMT Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] commit: allow a partial commit when a rebase pick becomes empty Message-ID: <9950415d-ca3b-453b-9b0f-28c09a3d7f23@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Hi Elijah On 01/09/2026 23:24, Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget wrote: > From: Elijah Newren > > For years, we disallowed partial commits during merges or cherry-picks. > In commit 430b75f7209c (commit: give correct advice for empty commit > during a rebase, 2019-12-06) it was noted that the "cannot do a partial > commit during a cherry-pick" message was also printed when rebasing a > commit that became empty, and rather than drop the check in that case, > that commit opted to make the message print the actual operation that > was in progress. > > Since a commit that has become empty comes without conflicts, a new > partial commit poses no problems; remove the error in that case. I'm not quite sure what I think about this. When we stop for a commit that becomes empty, we write CHERRY_PICK_HEAD and .git/MERGE_MSG so the user can preserve the commit by running "git commit --allow-empty". That makes me think we should complain about a partial commit. It also seems inconsistent with "git cherry-pick" where we still disallow a partial commit when we stop for a commit that becomes empty. On the other hand, if the user has asked to edit the commit then allowing a partial commit would probably make sense as we know they wanted to modify it in some way. As I can't make up my mind I think its fair to say I don't have a strong opinion either way. Thanks Phillip > > Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren > --- > builtin/commit.c | 2 -- > t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh | 5 ++--- > 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) > > diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c > index 17cc27e53e..01b79185e7 100644 > --- a/builtin/commit.c > +++ b/builtin/commit.c > @@ -520,8 +520,6 @@ static const char *prepare_index(const char **argv, const char *prefix, > die(_("cannot do a partial commit during a merge.")); > else if (is_from_cherry_pick(whence)) > die(_("cannot do a partial commit during a cherry-pick.")); > - else if (is_from_rebase_now_empty(whence)) > - die(_("cannot do a partial commit during a rebase.")); > } > > if (list_paths(&partial, !current_head ? NULL : "HEAD", &pathspec)) > diff --git a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh > index ff11abb2f2..3588e16543 100755 > --- a/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh > +++ b/t/t3404-rebase-interactive.sh > @@ -1858,7 +1858,7 @@ test_expect_success 'post-commit hook is called' ' > test_cmp expect actual > ' > > -test_expect_success 'correct error message for partial commit after empty pick' ' > +test_expect_success 'partial commit is allowed when a rebase pick becomes empty' ' > test_when_finished "git rebase --abort" && > ( > set_fake_editor && > @@ -1867,8 +1867,7 @@ test_expect_success 'correct error message for partial commit after empty pick' > test_must_fail git rebase -i A D > ) && > echo x >file1 && > - test_must_fail git commit file1 2>err && > - test_grep "cannot do a partial commit during a rebase." err > + git commit file1 > ' > > test_expect_success 'correct error message for commit --amend after empty pick' '