Re: [PATCH] git stash: one bug and one feature request

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

"Marco Costalba" <mcostalba@gmail.com> writes:

> I understand your point. The problem is that in git there isn't an
> unique way to test success/fail for any command, as example, regarding
> checking the exit status:
>
> $ git status; echo $?
> # On branch master
> nothing to commit (working directory clean)
> 1

That is a bad example, with a slight historical background.

When you say "git status $args", you are asking the command this
question.

	I am contemplating to issue "git commit $args", but will
	there actually be changes if I issued that command?

When there will be no changes staged with the given $args (in
your case that happens to be empty), there won't be anything to
be committed if you issued "git commit $args" at that point.
The command answers "Eh, by issuing 'git commit' you will get
an 'Nothing to commit', which is an error" --- and that is
reported with its exit status.