[PATCH v3 2/5] commit: allow a partial commit when a rebase pick becomes empty

From: Elijah Newren via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 28, 2026, 07:44 UTC
Message-ID: <e16930361978335a6718814cf5d56a8dd8b42f75.1787903085.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.2389.v3.git.git.1787903085.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>

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.

Signed-off-by: Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>
---
 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 569e31fb60..610820c99f 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_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' '

-- 
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