Re: [RFC] Indicate that Git waits for user input via editor

> Lars Schneider <larsxschneider@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> However, if you configure an editor that runs outside your terminal window then
>> you might run into the following problem:
>> Git opens the editor but the editor is the background or on another screen and
>> consequently you don't see the editor. You only see the Git command line
>> interface which appears to hang.
>>
>> I wonder if would make sense to print "Opening editor for user input..." or
>> something to the screen to make the user aware of the action. Does this sound
>> sensible to you? Am I missing an existing solution to this problem?
>
> My knee-jerk reaction was: for such a user who has EDITOR set to a
> program that pops under, wouldn't any program, not just Git, that
> uses the editor to open a file for editing/viewing look broken?
> Would we care if we are called "broken" by such a clueless user who
> cannot tell a (non-)broken caller of an editor and a broken editor?
>
> But that is true only when the user does realize/expect that the
> program s/he is running _will_ open an editor at the point of the
> workflow.  If s/he types "git merge" or "git rebase -i @{u}", for
> example, it is true that the world would be a better place if s/he
> knows that would ask a file to be edited with an editor, but it is
> unrealisic to expect that everybody knows how to operate these
> commands.  Everybody is a newbie at least once.
>
> I wonder if we can do something like
>
>         git_spawn_editor()
>         {
>                 const char *EL = "\033[K"; /* Erase in Line */
>
>                 /* notice the lack of terminating LF */
>                 fprintf(stderr, "Launching your editor...");

>                 fflush(stderr);
>
>                 if (!run_command(... spawn the editor ...)) {
>                         /* Success! - go back and erase the whole line */
>                         fprintf(stderr, "\r%s", EL);
>                 } else {
>                         fprintf(stderr, "failed (%s)\n", strerror(errno));
>                 }
>                 fflush(stderr);
>         }
>
> to tentatively give a message without permanently wasting the
> vertical space.