# Feature request: git commit -A 2 messages from 2014-06-24 to 2014-06-24. Participants: Aidan Feldman, David Turner. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/36992 ## Aidan Feldman, 2014-06-24 19:01 Subject: Feature request: git commit -A Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPgiXS7AizvtVNWR4dPXZ6nUQh7ujrrRFmd2SAktsUB0pidFVw%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi all- I work on the education team at GitHub and do a fair number of Git workshops. One thing that I've always found difficult to explain to newbies is how the staging area works, and why it's useful. As a hand-wave to simplify things, I usually have them use git add -A git commit -m "..." to not really have to worry about untracked vs. modified/removed files aren't included with `git commit -a` or `git add .`. I would like to add a `-A` flag to the `commit` command, which effectively does a `git add -A` before committing. I was trying to submit a patch myself, but couldn't even manage to find where the various flags are defined :-) Does the feature sound reasonable? Mind pointing me in the right direction of where this would be added? Thanks! -Aidan Feldman ``` ## David Turner, 2014-06-24 23:34 Subject: Re: Feature request: git commit -A Message-ID: <1403652885.22828.10.camel@stross> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1403652885.22828.10.camel%40stross In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, 2014-06-24 at 15:01 -0400, Aidan Feldman wrote: > Hi all- > I work on the education team at GitHub and do a fair number of Git > workshops. One thing that I've always found difficult to explain to > newbies is how the staging area works, and why it's useful. As a > hand-wave to simplify things, I usually have them use > > git add -A > git commit -m "..." > > to not really have to worry about untracked vs. modified/removed files > aren't included with `git commit -a` or `git add .`. I would like to > add a `-A` flag to the `commit` command, which effectively does a `git > add -A` before committing. > > I was trying to submit a patch myself, but couldn't even manage to > find where the various flags are defined :-) Does the feature sound > reasonable? Mind pointing me in the right direction of where this > would be added? Look at builtin/commit.c in the cmd_commit function. You'll see: OPT_BOOL('a', "all", &all, N_("commit all changed files")), Just add another one, OPT_BOOL('A', "all-untracked", &all_untracked, N_("commit all changed files as well as all non-excluded untracked files")), That said, I am mildly opposed to this feature because it will inevitably lead to cruft (and credentials) being checked into repositories. It's easier, but it's not simpler. ```