Re: [BUG] Git won't commit

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Hi,

Michael Witten wrote:

> As for why one version works but the other does not, I'm not sure.

It's my fault, I'm afraid:

 $ git log v1.7.4..v1.7.4.4 --grep=template --no-merges
 commit 2140b140
 Author: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
 Date:   Fri Feb 25 03:07:57 2011 -0600

     commit: error out for missing commit message template

     When "git commit" was rewritten in C (v1.5.4-rc0~78^2~30,
     2007-11-08), a subtle bug in --template was introduced.  If the
     file named by a --template parameter is missing, previously git
     would error out with a message:

         Commit template file does not exist.

     but in the C version the --template parameter gets ignored and
     the default template is used.

     t7500 has two tests for this case which would have caught it, except
     that with the default $EDITOR, the commit message template is left
     unmodified, causing 'git commit' to error out and the test to
     succeed.

     Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
     Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Fabricio, do you remember what you were trying to do when the
"[commit] template" configuration got set?  Currently the error
message says

	fatal: could not read '<path>'

where <path> is the configured template filename; probably this
should be changed to mention (1) that the file we were expecting to
find is a commit message template and (2) whether we got it from the
commandline or configuration.

What I'm trying to figure out is whether other people were relying on
the accidental "optional template" behavior or if there is some case
where it is more useful.  If so, it should be brought back.