Re: Using "b4 prep" with Stacked Git

["Toke Høiland-Jørgensen" <toke@toke.dk>]

Chuck Lever <chucklever@gmail.com> writes:

> On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 12:51 PM Toke Høiland-Jørgensen <toke@toke.dk> wrote:
>>
>> Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com> writes:
>>
>> > On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 11:08 AM Chuck Lever <chucklever@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hi Konstantin -
>> >>
>> >> I'm a long-time Stacked Git and b4 user and I'm hunting for a tool to
>> >> juggle the many data items involved with posting kernel patch series
>> >> for review. "b4 prep" seems to fit that bill but it has some issues
>> >> when it comes to large cover letters with Stacked Git.
>> >>
>> >> The branch-description strategy is the least-bad option for StGit
>> >> right now, but it's fighting git's design -- git config was never
>> >> meant to hold multi-paragraph prose, and there's no way to tell StGit
>> >> "don't print the branch description in stg branch --list."
>> >>
>> >> A file-based strategy would solve all three problems cleanly. Something like:
>> >>
>> >> .git/b4-cover/<branchname>/subject
>> >> .git/b4-cover/<branchname>/body
>> >> .git/b4-cover/<branchname>/changelog
>> >> .git/b4-cover/<branchname>/recipients
>> >
>> > Fellow stacked git fan here.
>>
>> And here! I have been using the "cover letter as commit" mode of b4,
>> which works as long as you remember to 'stg commit --all' before you
>> invoke b4. I requested a pre-hook functionality in b4 to automate this,
>> so will take this opportunity to bump that:
>>
>> https://lore.kernel.org/tools/87ttdkrylx.fsf@toke.dk/
>
> To quote your 2024 email:
>> So, my feature request is this: add support to b4 for a hook command
>> that is executed before any operation that will rewrite history - and
>> abort the rewriting if the command fails.
>
> Ha! I set up a hook in my stg skill to interrupt Claude before it
> tries to modify the series using raw git commands. Same hazard.
>
> I looked at using the commit strategy and felt it doesn't work well
> with my own stg muscle memory. I didn't think of using a hook.

So that's a +1 for the hook feature request, then? ;)

-Toke