Re: git cherry-pick with --no-verify option

Yubin Ruan <ablacktshirt@gmail.com> writes:

Does "git cherry-pick" even trigger pre-commit hook in the first place? In my quick tests, it does not seem to.

 $ git init test
 $ cd test
 $ printf "%s\n" '#!/bin/sh' 'echo >&2 no' 'exit 1' >.git/hooks/pre-commit
 $ chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit
 $ git commit --allow-empty -m initial
 no

Up to this point, I set up a pre-commit that stops me unconditionally and made sure it is working.

 $ git commit --no-verify --allow-empty -m initial
 [master (root-commit) 5d967c2] initial
 $ I=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
 $ echo "foo" >file
 $ git add file
 $ git commit --no-verify -m 'add file'
 [master 93a33c4] add file
  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
  create mode 100644 file

Then I built two commits

 $ git checkout --detach $I
 HEAD is now at 5d967c2 initial

And rewound to the initial commit so that the second one can be cherry-picked on top of it.

 $ git cherry-pick master
 [detached HEAD 699c604] add file
  Date: Mon Mar 14 15:58:38 2022 -0700
  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
  create mode 100644 file

And that is understandable, as "cherry-pick" is more about replaying what was committed in the past, with bugs and crufts preserved, than committing a new-and-improved version out of an existing commit.

Perhaps in a case where a conflict stops the command there is something? Let's see. Continuing from the above transcript:

 $ git cherry-pick master
 HEAD detached from 5d967c2
 You are currently cherry-picking commit 93a33c4.
   (all conflicts fixed: run "git cherry-pick --continue")
   (use "git cherry-pick --skip" to skip this patch)
   (use "git cherry-pick --abort" to cancel the cherry-pick operation)

 nothing to commit, working tree clean
 The previous cherry-pick is now empty, possibly due to conflict resolution.
 If you wish to commit it anyway, use:

     git commit --allow-empty

 Otherwise, please use 'git cherry-pick --skip'
 $ edit file
 $ git commit --allow-empty -a
 no

Of course, "git commit" to conclude a conflicted cherry-pick, possibly with intervening conflict resolutin by editing working tree files, would by default trigger pre-commit hook, and it of course takes --no-verify as expected.

 $ git commit --allow-empty -a --no-verify --no-edit
 [detached HEAD 5858d22] add file
  Date: Mon Mar 14 15:58:38 2022 -0700

Ahh, I think the user is fooled by a bad advice in the message. (all conflicts fixed: run "git cherry-pick --continue") is wrong and misleading advice added by those who did not think things through.

After fixing all conflicts, run "git commit" to record it and then you run "git cherry-pick --continue" if there are more steps to cherry-pick (i.e. "git cherry-pick A..B"). "git commit" takes not just "--no-verify" but other options like "--reset-author" to let you take over authorship if the conflict resolution (actually, adjusting the original commit to the different context it is being cherry-picked to) is so involved that a change of authorship is warranted. "cherry-pick --continue" does not have all the necessary flexibility and conceptually it is a separte operation (i.e. "please continue the stopped sequence" is what it means) from concluding the current step in the sequence.