Use git shortcuts with a new version, overriding old

Question

I'm using git on a shared hosting plan which runs a Linux distribution. Because it's shared, I don't have access to sudo. The machine already has git version 1.7.1 installed in /usr/bin/, but this version is rather prehistoric at this point. I've already used make install to get the current version 2.14.1, which is in ~/git-2.14.1/. As detailed by this answer, I can access the correct version of git from the command line like so:

$ git --version
git version 2.14.1

which was a simple change to the $PATH variable, in the ~/.bash_profile, so I can use git just fine.

I have a list of shortcuts in my ~/.gitconfig file that make git much faster for me to use:

[alias]
    co = checkout
    st = status
    ci = commit
    ... etc etc etc

When I invoke these (e.g. git st), I get the results from the wrong version of git. It goes back to 1.7.1. If I type out the full command (e.g. git status), it uses the correct version of git.

I also have these commands in my ~./bashrc:

git () {
    case "$*" in
        st* ) shift 1; command ~/git-2.14.1/git status "$@" ;;
        * ) shift 1; command ~/git-2.14.1/git "$@" ;;
    esac
}

Which I have source-ed since writing.

I have also tried:

alias git="~/git-2.14.1/git"

To no avail.

Is there a work-around that would allow me to use these shortcuts with my preferred version of git? I am imagining a way to hide the config file from the other version by redirecting the pointer to a different location, but I have no knowledge of the existence of any such pointer.

Alternatively, is there a way to totally disable the previous version of git without root access?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 15 '17 at 16:21

1

When I invoke these (e.g. git st), I get the results from the wrong version of git. It goes back to 1.7.1

That is not what I see in my Ubuntu session.

I have in my .gitconfig

[alias]
        st = status
        br = branch
        v = !git version

That means I type git v, to check git version (which is the same as git --version).

If I change my PATH to a new compiled Git, I do see a different version.

vonc@VONC:~/gits$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
vonc@VONC:~/gits$ which git
/usr/bin/git
vonc@VONCAVN7:~/gits$ git v
git version 2.13.0

vonc@VONC:~/gits$ export PATH=~/gits/v2.14.0/bin:$PATH
vonc@VONC:~/gits$ git v
git version 2.14.0

answered Aug 15 '17 at 16:21

VonC

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I don't get the same results. I added `v = !git version`, and even when I do `~/git-2.14.1/git v`, I still get: `git version 1.7.1`. This even persists when I do: `export PATH=~/git-2.14.1/:$PATH` and `export PATH=~/git-2.14.1:$PATH` – M. Davis Aug 15 '17 at 16:34
@M.Davis Yes, because the ! opens a sub-shell in which your path is not the same. Are you sure you don't have an alias or a function 'git' anywhere which could have precedence? – VonC Aug 15 '17 at 16:35
Looks like git had its own! You pointed me in the correct direction though, thanks – M. Davis Aug 15 '17 at 20:19

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '17 at 20:17

Here's what I found. If I took out the alias section of the .gitconfig, the aforementioned shell wrapper function worked. If I removed that and restarted the ssh connection, nothing worked (as expected).

I found, with help from this answer, that there is a magical GIT_EXEC_PATH variable which tells git where to find tools like git-add, git-commit, git-status, et. al.. Uncommenting my alias section of the .gitconfig file and using

$ export GIT_EXEC_PATH=/path/to/my/new/git's/executables/

made it possible to use the aliases in the .gitconfig file. For me the path that worked was the same folder as I installed into: ~/git-2.14.1.You can check the current value of GIT_EXEC_PATH with:

$ git --exec-path
/path/to/my/new/git's/executables/

Also, echo $GIT_EXEC_PATH works as well. My understanding is that git uses its aliases not through the instance of git which called git <alias>, but rather directly through the executables in it's exec path.

Note: for me,

$ git --exec-path=/path/to/my...

did not work, but if I understand correctly, this is the equivalent command.

TL;DR: add the path to the new executables (git-add, git-status, etc.) in your .bash_profile:

export GIT_EXEC_PATH=/your/path/

Nice find with `GIT_EXEC_PAT` (that I described in https://stackoverflow.com/a/43432410/6309). +1 — VonC, Aug 15 '17 at 20:30

Use git shortcuts with a new version, overriding old

2 Answers2