# Could #-ignoring in commit message be smarter? 3 messages from 2010-09-04 to 2010-09-04. Participants: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Sverre Rabbelier. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/24978 ## Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, 2010-09-04 22:24 Subject: Could #-ignoring in commit message be smarter? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTimgt6kjTkc%2BgxyOmTz03bdnfiRzgt4p8vymQ%3DVY%40mail.gmail.com ``` On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 21:55, Sverre Rabbelier wrote: > Heya, > > On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 16:37, Ramana Kumar wrote: >> The commit message message says "Lines starting with '#' will be >> ignored", but fails to say "Lines below this message will be ignored, >> even if they don't start with '#'". > > Because they're not. Only those starting with # are ignored. Which also sucks a bit. I've been bit by writing commits messages like this numerous times: parser: fix non-\W issues This change is here to fix screwups of special characters like %, !, #, ^ and other non-\W chars. These characters screw up our parser. # Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting # with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit. # On branch master # Changes to be committed: # (use "git reset HEAD ..." to unstage) # # modified: parser.c Where I'm referencing the #-character in the commit message itself for some reason, and due to word wrapping it just *happens* to end up at the start of a line. So the commit message silently becomes: parser: fix non-\W issues This change is here to fix screwups of special characters like %, !, These characters screw up our parser. The main reason for why this probably can't be fixed is that we've painted ourselves into a corner with git rebase -i squash and fixup messages, which will insert comments themselves. Still *maybe* we could handle this better for the common case. E.g. if we're *not* inside a rebase only ignore the continuous and unbroken lines starting with # at the bottom. But that'd probably break something I'm not thinking of. ``` ## Sverre Rabbelier, 2010-09-04 22:30 Subject: Re: Could #-ignoring in commit message be smarter? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTinTxFveiuJvCUyB5Hghj-Jy%2B%3DLfhPJhtW1UYkSH%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` Heya, On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 17:24, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote: > Where I'm referencing the #-character in the commit message itself for > some reason, and due to word wrapping it just *happens* to end up at > the start of a line. So the commit message silently becomes: Isn't this rare enough that it's not really a problem? I mean, sure, when it happens it's a PITA, but it's about as painful as doing `git commit -m "Yay, it works!"` and having bash history magic blow it away. After a while you get used to it and either remember to escape the bang, or not use it? -- Cheers, Sverre Rabbelier ``` ## Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, 2010-09-04 22:44 Subject: Re: Could #-ignoring in commit message be smarter? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTinRE9tLBxCXApvJ9dM9cAUVAAcAWn-N1AkW-bVz%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 22:30, Sverre Rabbelier wrote: > Heya, > > On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 17:24, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote: >> Where I'm referencing the #-character in the commit message itself for >> some reason, and due to word wrapping it just *happens* to end up at >> the start of a line. So the commit message silently becomes: > > Isn't this rare enough that it's not really a problem? I mean, sure, > when it happens it's a PITA, but it's about as painful as doing `git > commit -m "Yay, it works!"` and having bash history magic blow it > away. After a while you get used to it and either remember to escape > the bang, or not use it? With the bash thing you *notice* it, but in most cases like these what you actually do is *not* notice it, then scratch your head a month later at a commit message that makes no sense. Anyway, it's obviously not a huge issue since we don't have people complaining about it more often. But it's really annoying when it happens. ```