Is it possible to disable a "dangerous" command line option in git?

Question

By habit, I'll often work on a change in my repo, and add/commit it in one shot using git commit -am 'my commit message'

There are times when I only want to add a few of the modified files, so I'll issue preparatory git add commands to meticulously set-up my staging area, and separate the ready-to-commit changes from the half-baked changes.

Then, I'll fat-finger the whole thing by issuing the same git commit -am '...' command as I usually do.

Would there be a way for me to disable the git commit -a option, and/or issue a warning when I use the -a switch? I want to train myself out of this sketchy habit...

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 20 '14 at 01:55

Create a wrapper script named git that will catch bad commands and forward good ones on to the real git. Put it earlier in your $PATH:

#!/bin/bash

for ARG in "${@}"; do
    if [ "${ARG}" = "-am" ]; then
        echo "Hey! Don’t do that!" 1>&2
        exit 1
    fi
done

exec /usr/bin/git "${@}"

Almost all git commands will work just fine:

$ git pull
remote: Counting objects: 1183, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (728/728), done.
remote: Total 1183 (delta 771), reused 632 (delta 455)
Receiving objects: 100% (1183/1183), 1.12 MiB | 1.46 MiB/s, done.
...

But the ones you don’t want to work won’t:

$ git commit -am "foo"
Hey! Don’t do that!

This would not work properly if the user calls `git commit -am"blah blah"` — loudandclear, Jan 25 '16 at 22:28

VonC · Answer 2 · 2014-06-20T05:09:17.913

3

I don't know of a git config setting which would prevent/disallow the --all/-a option of a git commit.

You could consider though a:

pre-commit hook (here a hooks--pre-commit.sample):

git stash save -q --keep-index "possible commit am"

(-q for 'quiet')

That would remove from the working tree any of your modification (except the ones already added to the index)

post-commit hook

if [[ "$(git stash list|| grep "stash@{0}" | grep "possible commit am")" != "" ]]; then
  git stash pop -q
fi

That should allow you to type a git commit -[a]m "a commit message" without committing everything.
And if you want to skip those hooks for one commit:

git commit --no-verify -m "a commit message"

edited Jun 20 '14 at 05:09

answered Jun 19 '14 at 22:28

VonC

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Note to self: other great tips around pre-commit hook: http://codeinthehole.com/writing/tips-for-using-a-git-pre-commit-hook/. Also interesting https://github.com/jish/pre-commit, https://gist.github.com/Simbul/1781656 – VonC Jun 19 '14 at 22:29
Also: (1) beware of bug in `git stash` (noted in first comment on linked page); (2) note that if there are no changes to stash, `git stash -q --keep-index` is a no-op, in which case you should *not* run `git stash pop -q` as there was no stash pushed. Solving the second one is tricky if you use two separate hooks. – torek Jun 19 '14 at 23:32
@torek regarding the bug, I believe you explain it at http://stackoverflow.com/a/20480591/6309. And you should be able to check if git stash list includes a stash made after a possible `commit -am`: I have added a crude test in the answer. – VonC Jun 20 '14 at 05:09
Yes, I just figured there should be a note here as well, on that stash bug. Probably should have looked up my earlier answer myself :-) – torek Jun 20 '14 at 05:47

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 04 '18 at 18:50

This is specific to fish shell, so it won't be useful to everyone... but it might be to some!

function git
  if string match 'commit' $argv[1] > /dev/null
    set has_am 0

    for arg in $argv
      if string match -r -- '^-am.*' $arg > /dev/null
        set has_am 1
      end
    end

    if test $has_am -eq 1
      echo -e "Commit All detected.\nDon't do this!"
    else
      command git $argv
    end
  else
    command git $argv
  end
end

Is it possible to disable a "dangerous" command line option in git?

3 Answers3