git-edit-atom

Easily edit Git commit messages in the current Atom pane 🌟 😏

mmore500

653

0

0.3.3

MIT

GitHub

git-edit-atom package

Want to use Atom's handy COMMIT_EDITMSG syntax highlighting? 🙋

Tired of waiting on Atom to open a new window with the --wait option? ⌛ 😴

Together with sister Go package git-commit-atom, this Atom package allows Git commit files to be conveniently edited in the current editor pane... avoiding the launch of another instance of Atom! 🌟 😏

A screenshot of git-edit-atom and git-commit-atom in action together

Prerequisites

Installation

Installation of the package can be performed via Atom's Settings pane or on the command line via the Atom Package Manager.

apm install git-edit-atom

See the git-commit-atom repository for instructions on how to install the sister Go package.

Usage

Once the git-edit-atom Atom package is installed and the git-commit-atom Go package is configured as Git's editor, Git COMMIT_EDITMSG, TAG_EDITMSG, MERGE_MSG, git-rebase-todo, and .diff files will open in the current pane of Atom.

To complete the message editing process simply close the tab (cmd-w is convenient) if the Atom package git-edit-atom is configured to tag the "magic marker" on the end of that message file type.

If Atom is not configured to supply the "magic marker" on file close, simply enter quit or done followed by a return at the terminal.

The filetypes recognized by git-edit-atom can be configured in the package settings. By default, COMMIT_EDITMSG, TAG_EDITMSG, MERGE_MSG, and git-rebase-todo files are targeted for tagging with the magic marker but .diff files are not.

Implementation

This project has two components: a standalone Go script that acts as the editor called by Git during the commit process and the Atom package git-edit-atom.

When the standalone Go script is activated, it opens the COMMIT_EDITMSG file in the current Atom pane. When that file is closed, Atom appends a "magic marker" (## ATOM EDIT COMPLETE##) to the end of the COMMIT_EDITMSG file. The Go script, which is listening to the end of the COMMIT_EDITMSG file, recognizes the "magic marker" and terminates, ending the commit edit session.

In addition, the Go script listens for user input at the terminal. The commit session can also be ended by entering quit or done. (This functionality allows the standalone script to function in some capacity without the Atom package in place).

This project is directly inspired by AJ Foster's git-commit-atom.sh, presented on his personal blog. It is hoped that this implementation in Go and as an Atom package will yield greater portability and reliability.