git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: [PATCH] commit: add --committer option

From
ZheNing Hu <adlternative@gmail.com>
Date
Nov 12, 2025, 15:58 UTC
Message-ID
<CAOLTT8TLEsSAcfUomoActrUSzje5mQNE7EweXh8WtY3sOfzfkg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To
<7d99f00c-3602-4b28-8efd-4780cad41ca8@gmail.com>
Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> 于2025年11月11日周二 22:38写道：
Show 42 quoted lines
>
> On 11/11/2025 13:01, ZheNing Hu wrote:
> > Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> 于2025年11月11日周二 00:50写道：
> >> On 09/11/2025 10:22, ZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget wrote:
> >>> From: ZheNing Hu <adlternative@gmail.com>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>       This patch introduces the --committer option to git-commit, providing:
> >>>
> >>>        1. Consistency with the existing --author option
> >>>        2. A more convenient alternative to environment variables
> >>>        3. Better support for automated workflows and scripts
> >>>        4. Improved user experience when managing multiple identities
> >>
> >> What's the use case for the same person committing under different
> >> identities? We already have a config mechanism to set different
> >> identities for different repositories but I'm struggling to see why
> >> someone would want to create commits under multiple identities in a
> >> single repository. For scripts it easy enough to set the relevant
> >> environment variables if a tool wants to create commits under its own
> >> identity.
> >>
> >
> > I frequently need to distinguish between different user.name and user.email
> > configurations on our company's internal GitHub.
> >
> > The current problems are:
> >
> > When I misconfigure (which happens occasionally), git commit --author only fixes
> > the author part, I still need to additionally set GIT_COMMITTER_NAME and
> > GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL environment variables to fix the committer information
> > These environment variables are painful to use, requiring manual setup
> > every time
>
> I'm afraid I don't quite follow. If you are amending existing commits to
> fix them up after you have corrected your configuration then they will
> have the correct committer automatically when you run "git commit
> --amend --author=..." to correct the author. If you are committing
> before you have realized that user.{name,email} are misconfigured then I
> don't see how "--committer" helps because you have not yet realized
> anything is wrong.
>
You're right that after realizing the misconfiguration and correcting the
repository's user.name and user.email, running `git commit --amend` will
 fix the committer information, but the author remains unchanged. Users
then need an additional `git commit --amend --author=...` to fix the author,
which does work but requires an extra step.

I see your point that this becomes more cumbersome when dealing with multiple commits. In such cases, users currently need to use something like:

``` GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="..." GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="..." \ GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="..." GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="..." \ git rebase -f <target> ```

This is indeed tedious and error-prone, especially when you want to quickly fix and push commits to the platform.

`git commit --amend --author --committer` or a new `git rebase --author --committer` would provide a more user-friendly workflow for correcting identity information after misconfiguration, eliminating the need to manually set multiple environment variables or run multiple commands.

> Thanks
>
> Phillip
>
Thanks
ZheNing Hu
Show 268 quoted lines
> > If a --committer option could be provided to align with --author, users wouldn't
> > need to remember and use these additional environment variables.
> > This would greatly simplify the workflow and reduce cognitive overhead.
> >
> >
> >> Thanks
> >>
> >> Phillip
> >>
> >>>       The implementation follows the same pattern as the --author option,
> >>>       accepting the format "Name " and properly validating the input.
> >>>
> >>> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1997%2Fadlternative%2Fzh%2Fimplement-committer-option-v1
> >>> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1997/adlternative/zh/implement-committer-option-v1
> >>> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1997
> >>>
> >>>    Documentation/git-commit.adoc |  9 +++-
> >>>    builtin/commit.c              | 58 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-
> >>>    t/t7509-commit-authorship.sh  | 80 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >>>    3 files changed, 144 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> >>>
> >>> diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.adoc b/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
> >>> index 54c207ad45..a015c8328e 100644
> >>> --- a/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
> >>> +++ b/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
> >>> @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ git commit [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u[<mode>]] [--amend]
> >>>           [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --squash) <commit> | --fixup [(amend|reword):]<commit>]
> >>>           [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
> >>>           [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
> >>> -        [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
> >>> +        [--date=<date>] [--committer=<committer>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
> >>>           [-i | -o] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
> >>>           [(--trailer <token>[(=|:)<value>])...] [-S[<keyid>]]
> >>>           [--] [<pathspec>...]
> >>> @@ -181,6 +181,13 @@ See linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
> >>>    `--date=<date>`::
> >>>        Override the author date used in the commit.
> >>>
> >>> +`--committer=<committer>`::
> >>> +     Override the committer for the commit. Specify an explicit committer using the
> >>> +     standard `A U Thor <committer@example.com>` format. Otherwise _<committer>_
> >>> +     is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
> >>> +     commit by that author (i.e. `git rev-list --all -i --author=<committer>`);
> >>> +     the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
> >>> +
> >>>    `-m <msg>`::
> >>>    `--message=<msg>`::
> >>>        Use _<msg>_ as the commit message.
> >>> diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
> >>> index 0243f17d53..88e77cbaab 100644
> >>> --- a/builtin/commit.c
> >>> +++ b/builtin/commit.c
> >>> @@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ static const char * const builtin_commit_usage[] = {
> >>>           "           [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --squash) <commit> | --fixup [(amend|reword):]<commit>]\n"
> >>>           "           [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]\n"
> >>>           "           [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]\n"
> >>> -        "           [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]\n"
> >>> +        "           [--date=<date>] [--committer=<committer>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]\n"
> >>>           "           [-i | -o] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]\n"
> >>>           "           [(--trailer <token>[(=|:)<value>])...] [-S[<keyid>]]\n"
> >>>           "           [--] [<pathspec>...]"),
> >>> @@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ static enum {
> >>>    } commit_style;
> >>>
> >>>    static const char *force_author;
> >>> +static const char *force_committer;
> >>>    static char *logfile;
> >>>    static char *template_file;
> >>>    /*
> >>> @@ -690,6 +691,48 @@ static void determine_author_info(struct strbuf *author_ident)
> >>>        free(date);
> >>>    }
> >>>
> >>> +static void determine_committer_info(struct strbuf *committer_ident)
> >>> +{
> >>> +     char *name, *email, *date;
> >>> +     struct ident_split committer;
> >>> +
> >>> +     name = xstrdup_or_null(getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_NAME"));
> >>> +     email = xstrdup_or_null(getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL"));
> >>> +     date = xstrdup_or_null(getenv("GIT_COMMITTER_DATE"));
> >>> +
> >>> +     if (force_committer) {
> >>> +             struct ident_split ident;
> >>> +
> >>> +             if (split_ident_line(&ident, force_committer, strlen(force_committer)) < 0)
> >>> +                     die(_("malformed --committer parameter"));
> >>> +             set_ident_var(&name, xmemdupz(ident.name_begin, ident.name_end - ident.name_begin));
> >>> +             set_ident_var(&email, xmemdupz(ident.mail_begin, ident.mail_end - ident.mail_begin));
> >>> +
> >>> +             if (ident.date_begin) {
> >>> +                     struct strbuf date_buf = STRBUF_INIT;
> >>> +                     strbuf_addch(&date_buf, '@');
> >>> +                     strbuf_add(&date_buf, ident.date_begin, ident.date_end - ident.date_begin);
> >>> +                     strbuf_addch(&date_buf, ' ');
> >>> +                     strbuf_add(&date_buf, ident.tz_begin, ident.tz_end - ident.tz_begin);
> >>> +                     set_ident_var(&date, strbuf_detach(&date_buf, NULL));
> >>> +             }
> >>> +     }
> >>> +
> >>> +     if (force_date) {
> >>> +             struct strbuf date_buf = STRBUF_INIT;
> >>> +             if (parse_force_date(force_date, &date_buf))
> >>> +                     die(_("invalid date format: %s"), force_date);
> >>> +             set_ident_var(&date, strbuf_detach(&date_buf, NULL));
> >>> +     }
> >>> +
> >>> +     strbuf_addstr(committer_ident, fmt_ident(name, email, WANT_COMMITTER_IDENT, date,
> >>> +                             IDENT_STRICT));
> >>> +     assert_split_ident(&committer, committer_ident);
> >>> +     free(name);
> >>> +     free(email);
> >>> +     free(date);
> >>> +}
> >>> +
> >>>    static int author_date_is_interesting(void)
> >>>    {
> >>>        return author_message || force_date;
> >>> @@ -1321,6 +1364,9 @@ static int parse_and_validate_options(int argc, const char *argv[],
> >>>        if (force_author && renew_authorship)
> >>>                die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"), "--reset-author", "--author");
> >>>
> >>> +     if (force_committer && !strchr(force_committer, '>'))
> >>> +             force_committer = find_author_by_nickname(force_committer);
> >>> +
> >>>        if (logfile || have_option_m || use_message)
> >>>                use_editor = 0;
> >>>
> >>> @@ -1709,6 +1755,7 @@ int cmd_commit(int argc,
> >>>                OPT_FILENAME('F', "file", &logfile, N_("read message from file")),
> >>>                OPT_STRING(0, "author", &force_author, N_("author"), N_("override author for commit")),
> >>>                OPT_STRING(0, "date", &force_date, N_("date"), N_("override date for commit")),
> >>> +             OPT_STRING(0, "committer", &force_committer, N_("committer"), N_("override committer for commit")),
> >>>                OPT_CALLBACK('m', "message", &message, N_("message"), N_("commit message"), opt_parse_m),
> >>>                OPT_STRING('c', "reedit-message", &edit_message, N_("commit"), N_("reuse and edit message from specified commit")),
> >>>                OPT_STRING('C', "reuse-message", &use_message, N_("commit"), N_("reuse message from specified commit")),
> >>> @@ -1785,6 +1832,7 @@ int cmd_commit(int argc,
> >>>
> >>>        struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
> >>>        struct strbuf author_ident = STRBUF_INIT;
> >>> +     struct strbuf committer_ident = STRBUF_INIT;
> >>>        const char *index_file, *reflog_msg;
> >>>        struct object_id oid;
> >>>        struct commit_list *parents = NULL;
> >>> @@ -1930,8 +1978,13 @@ int cmd_commit(int argc,
> >>>                append_merge_tag_headers(parents, &tail);
> >>>        }
> >>>
> >>> +     if (force_committer) {
> >>> +             determine_committer_info(&committer_ident);
> >>> +     }
> >>> +
> >>>        if (commit_tree_extended(sb.buf, sb.len, &the_repository->index->cache_tree->oid,
> >>> -                              parents, &oid, author_ident.buf, NULL,
> >>> +                              parents, &oid, author_ident.buf,
> >>> +                              force_committer ? committer_ident.buf : NULL,
> >>>                                 sign_commit, extra)) {
> >>>                rollback_index_files();
> >>>                die(_("failed to write commit object"));
> >>> @@ -1980,6 +2033,7 @@ cleanup:
> >>>        free_commit_extra_headers(extra);
> >>>        free_commit_list(parents);
> >>>        strbuf_release(&author_ident);
> >>> +     strbuf_release(&committer_ident);
> >>>        strbuf_release(&err);
> >>>        strbuf_release(&sb);
> >>>        free(logfile);
> >>> diff --git a/t/t7509-commit-authorship.sh b/t/t7509-commit-authorship.sh
> >>> index 8e373b566b..45527f6a70 100755
> >>> --- a/t/t7509-commit-authorship.sh
> >>> +++ b/t/t7509-commit-authorship.sh
> >>> @@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ author_header () {
> >>>        sed -n -e '/^$/q' -e '/^author /p'
> >>>    }
> >>>
> >>> +committer_header () {
> >>> +     git cat-file commit "$1" |
> >>> +     sed -n -e '/^$/q' -e '/^committer /p'
> >>> +}
> >>> +
> >>>    message_body () {
> >>>        git cat-file commit "$1" |
> >>>        sed -e '1,/^$/d'
> >>> @@ -171,4 +176,79 @@ test_expect_success '--reset-author with CHERRY_PICK_HEAD' '
> >>>        test_cmp expect actual
> >>>    '
> >>>
> >>> +test_expect_success '--committer option overrides committer' '
> >>> +     git checkout Initial &&
> >>> +     echo "Test --committer" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "test committer" --committer="Custom Committer <custom@committer.example>" &&
> >>> +     committer_header HEAD >actual &&
> >>> +     grep "Custom Committer <custom@committer.example>" actual
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success '--committer with pattern search' '
> >>> +     echo "Test committer pattern" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "test committer pattern" --committer="Frigate" &&
> >>> +     committer_header HEAD >actual &&
> >>> +     grep "Frigate <flying@over.world>" actual
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success '--committer malformed parameter' '
> >>> +     echo "Test malformed" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     test_must_fail git commit -a -m "test malformed" --committer="malformed committer"
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success '--committer with --amend option' '
> >>> +     git checkout -f Initial &&
> >>> +     echo "Test committer with amend" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "initial commit for amend test" &&
> >>> +     echo "Modified for amend" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     git commit -a --amend --no-edit \
> >>> +             --author="Test Author <test@author.example>" \
> >>> +             --committer="Test Committer <test@committer.example>" &&
> >>> +     author_header HEAD >actual_author &&
> >>> +     grep "Test Author <test@author.example>" actual_author &&
> >>> +     committer_header HEAD >actual_committer &&
> >>> +     grep "Test Committer <test@committer.example>" actual_committer
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success 'GIT_COMMITTER_* environment variables' '
> >>> +     git checkout -f Initial &&
> >>> +     echo "Test env vars" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="Env Committer" \
> >>> +     GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="env@test.example" \
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "test committer env vars" &&
> >>> +     committer_header HEAD >actual &&
> >>> +     grep "Env Committer <env@test.example>" actual
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success '--committer overrides GIT_COMMITTER_* environment variables' '
> >>> +     echo "Test override" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     GIT_COMMITTER_NAME="Env Committer" \
> >>> +     GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL="env@test.example" \
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "test override" \
> >>> +             --committer="Override Committer <override@test.example>" &&
> >>> +     committer_header HEAD >actual &&
> >>> +     grep "Override Committer <override@test.example>" actual
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>> +test_expect_success '--date with --committer changes both author and committer dates' '
> >>> +     git checkout -f Initial &&
> >>> +     echo "Test date override" >>foo &&
> >>> +     test_tick &&
> >>> +     git commit -a -m "test date" \
> >>> +             --author="Date Author <date@author.example>" \
> >>> +             --committer="Date Committer <date@committer.example>" \
> >>> +             --date="2024-06-15 10:30:00 +0800" &&
> >>> +     git log -1 --format="%ai" >author_date &&
> >>> +     git log -1 --format="%ci" >committer_date &&
> >>> +     grep "2024-06-15 10:30:00 +0800" author_date &&
> >>> +     grep "2024-06-15 10:30:00 +0800" committer_date
> >>> +'
> >>> +
> >>>    test_done
> >>>
> >>> base-commit: 4badef0c3503dc29059d678abba7fac0f042bc84
> >>
> >
>
Previous: Phillip WoodNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 26 of 44 in “commit: add --committer option”
  1. commit: add --committer optionZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget, Nov 9, 2025
  2. Patrick SteinhardtNov 10, 2025
  3. ZheNing HuNov 10, 2025
  4. Junio C HamanoNov 10, 2025
  5. ZheNing HuNov 11, 2025
  6. Phillip WoodNov 10, 2025
  7. brian m. carlsonNov 10, 2025
  8. Jeff KingNov 10, 2025
  9. Junio C HamanoNov 10, 2025
  10. Patrick SteinhardtNov 11, 2025
  11. Phillip WoodNov 11, 2025
  12. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  13. ZheNing HuNov 11, 2025
  14. Jeff KingNov 11, 2025
  15. Junio C HamanoNov 11, 2025
  16. Jeff KingNov 11, 2025
  17. Junio C HamanoNov 11, 2025
  18. Jeff KingNov 11, 2025
  19. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  20. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  21. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  22. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  23. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  24. ZheNing HuNov 11, 2025
  25. Phillip WoodNov 11, 2025
  26. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  27. Junio C HamanoNov 12, 2025
  28. ZheNing HuNov 15, 2025
  29. Junio C HamanoNov 16, 2025
  30. ZheNing HuNov 17, 2025
  31. Matej DujavaNov 16, 2025
  32. Phillip WoodNov 17, 2025
  33. ZheNing HuNov 17, 2025
  34. ZheNing HuNov 17, 2025
  35. commit: add --committer optionZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget, Nov 10, 2025
  36. Junio C HamanoNov 10, 2025
  37. Junio C HamanoNov 10, 2025
  38. ZheNing HuNov 11, 2025
  39. Junio C HamanoNov 11, 2025
  40. ZheNing HuNov 12, 2025
  41. commit: add --committer optionZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget, Nov 12, 2025
  42. Junio C HamanoNov 12, 2025
  43. ZheNing HuNov 15, 2025
  44. commit: add --committer optionZheNing Hu via GitGitGadget, Nov 15, 2025

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.