Re: git commit workflow question

From: Wincent Colaiuta <win@wincent.com>
Date: Sep 15, 2007, 11:31 UTC
Message-ID: <BCFC81AB-0EDD-4C3C-B7D4-DEC60E2565C3@wincent.com>
In-Reply-To: <20070914181417.GU3099@spearce.org>

El 14/9/2007, a las 20:14, Shawn O. Pearce escribió:

Show 5 quoted lines

> I'm not sure how the Git community would react to being able to edit
> the list of files being committed from within the commit message
> buffer.  I think most Git users run at least `git diff --cached`
> before they commit to make sure they are happy with the difference.
> I know a lot of users who do that.

Yes, I generally check what's in the index before going ahead with a commit; in fact I have the following alias in my .bash_profile so that I can just type "staged" to see what'll be in the commit, along with an "unstaged" alias for the opposite:

alias staged='git diff --cached'

Having said that, it would be very useful to be able to edit the list within the commit message buffer for those occasions where you realise that stuff you have staged in the index really should be two separate commits. It would enable this very simple workflow:

   1. review changes, realize that some of the changes belong in a  
separate commit
   2. commit, omitting the unwanted changes
   3. commit again, this time with the remainder of the changes

Without the ability to edit the list within the commit message buffer your workflow becomes a bit more cumbersome:

   1. review changes, realize that some of the changes belong in a  
separate commit
   2a. explicitly pass files to commit on the commandline (cumbersome  
if number of files is large); or:
   2b. use git-commit --interactive (again can be relatively  
cumbersome); or:
   2c. explicitly unstage unwanted files, commit, then restage them  
and commit

So, yes, the proposed functionality isn't necessary by any means, but it would make some nice usability sugar. I know that in the past my experience with other SCMs that can do this has made me mistakenly believe that Git does too.

Cheers, Wincent