Is it possible to override git command by git alias?

Question

my ~/.gitconfig is:

[alias]
        commit = "!sh commit.sh"

However, when I type git commit, script is not called.

Is it possible, or I have to use another alias name?

Answer 1

It is NOT POSSIBLE

This is from my clone of git.git:

static int run_argv(int *argcp, const char ***argv)
{
    int done_alias = 0;

    while (1) {
        /* See if it's an internal command */
        handle_internal_command(*argcp, *argv);

        /* .. then try the external ones */
        execv_dashed_external(*argv);

        /* It could be an alias -- this works around the insanity
         * of overriding "git log" with "git show" by having
         * alias.log = show
         */
        if (done_alias || !handle_alias(argcp, argv))
            break;
        done_alias = 1;
    }

    return done_alias;
}

So its not possible. (handle_internal_command calls exit if it finds the command).

You could fix this in your sources by changing the order of the lines and making handle_alias call exit if it finds the alias.

Answer 2

I opted to solve this with a bash function. If I call git clone, it will redirect the call to git cl, which is my alias with some added switches.

function git {
  if [[ "$1" == "clone" && "$@" != *"--help"* ]]; then
    shift 1
    command git cl "$@"
  else
    command git "$@"
  fi
}

Answer 3

As already mentioned, it is not possible to use a git alias to override a git command. However, it is possible to override a git command using a shell alias. For any POSIXy shell (i.e. not MS cmd), write a simple executable script that performs the desired modified behavior and set a shell alias. In my .bashrc (Linux) and .bash_profile (Mac) I have

export PATH="~/bin:$PATH"
...
alias git='my-git'

In my ~/bin folder I have an executable Perl script called my-git that checks if the first argument (i.e. the git command) is clone. It looks essentially like this:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
use strict;
use warnings;
my $path_to_git = '/usr/local/bin/git';
exit(system($path_to_git, @ARGV))
    if @ARGV < 2 or $ARGV[0] ne 'clone';
# Override git-clone here...

Mine is a little more configurable, but you get the idea.

Answer 4

Not only not possible, but also WONTFIX

In 2009 http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/allowing-aliases-to-override-builtins-to-support-default-options-td2438491.html

Hamano replies:

Currently git does not allow aliases to override builtins. I understand the reasoning behind this, but I wonder if it's overly conservative.

It is not.

Most shells support overriding commands with aliases, and I'm not sure why git needs to be more conservative than the shell.

Because sane shells do not expand aliases when used in a script, and gives a handy way to defeat the alias even from the command line.

$ alias ls='ls -aF'
$ echo ls >script
$ chmod +x script

and compare:

$ ./script
$ ls
$ /bin/ls

Answer 5

FWIW, I solved this (okay, "worked around it"...) by writing the following ~/bin/git wrapper, which checks for, e.g., ~/bin/git-clone, and calls that instead of the built-in.

[NOTE: I apologize for any "clever" bash-isms, but after you get past the two helper functions — one to expand symlinks and one to search your $PATH for the executable being wrapped — the actual script itself is just Three Lines of Code™... So I guess I'm not sorry after all, hehe!]

#!/usr/bin/env bash

###########################
###  UTILITY FUNCTIONS  ###  ...from my .bashrc
###########################
#
# deref "/path/with/links/to/symlink"
#   - Returns physical path for specified target
#
# __SUPER__
#   - Returns next "$0" in $PATH (that isn't me, or a symlink to me...)

deref() {
  ( # Wrap 'cd's in a sub-shell
    local target="$1"
    local counter=0

    # If the argument itself is a link [to a link, to a link...]
    # NOTE: readlink(1) is not defined by POSIX, but has been shown to
    #  work on at least MacOS X, CentOS, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and OpenBSD
    while [[ -L "$target" ]]; do
        [[ $((++counter)) -ge 30 ]] && return 1
        cd "${target%/*}"; target="$(readlink "$target")"
    done

    # Expand parent directory hierarchy
    cd "${target%/*}" 2>/dev/null \
      && echo "$(pwd -P)/${target##*/}" \
      || echo "$([[ $target != /* ]] && echo "$(pwd -P)/")$target"
  )
}

__SUPER__() {
  local cmd="${1:-${0##*/}}"
  local me="$(deref "$0")"

  # NOTE: We only consider symlinks...  We could check for hardlinks by
  #       comparing device+inode, but stat(1) has portability problems

  local IFS=":"
  for d in $PATH; do
    [[ -x "$d/$cmd" ]] && [[ "$(deref "$d/$cmd")" != "$me" ]] \
      && { echo "$d/$cmd"; return; }
  done

  # else...
  return 1
}

########################################################################

# (1) First, figure out which '$0' we *WOULD* have run...

GIT="$(__SUPER__)" || { echo "${0##*/}: command not found" >&2; exit 1; }

# (2) If we have a "~/bin/git-${command}" wrapper, then
#     prepend '.../libexec/git-core' to $PATH and run it

[[ -f "${HOME}/bin/git-$1" ]] &&
  PATH="$PATH:$( "$GIT" --exec-path )" \
    exec "${HOME}/bin/git-$1" "${@:2}"

# (3) Else fall back to the regular 'git'

exec "$GIT" "$@"

Answer 6

Here’s yet another workaround, that does not rely on actually overriding anything, but relies on abusing autocomplete instead. This feels less dangerous and more transparent than wrapping git.

As I never type the full command names, it is enough to define an alias that is a prefix of the command to override.

For example, to override git show-branch with an alias, and knowing I usually type git show-<Tab>, I define the show-br alias to customise the show-branch behaviour.

For OP’s example git commit I usually type git com<Tab> so git comm would be correct workaround.

This strategy has several advantages:

• It is clear you are not calling the “vanilla” command.
• If your prefix is long enough:
  • It does not modify your workflow
  • It is clear which command you’re subverting
• The original command is still easily accessible