git commit -m “EVERYTHING”

Posted on by Lea Verou

I was working on a project today, when I realized that I had forgotten to commit for days (local only repo). I switched to my terminal, spent at least five minutes trying to decide on the commit message before settling to the completely uninformative “Another commit”. Embarrassed with myself, I shared my frustration with twitter:

The awkward moment when you realize you forgot to commit for days & you can't pick a commit message as nothing describes all these changes.
April 4, 2012 15:35 via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@LeaVerou
Lea Verou

Immediately, I started getting a flood of suggestions of what that commit message could have been. Some of them were hilarious, some clever and some both. So, I decided I wouldn’t be selfish and I’d share them. Enjoy:


@ Hah, yeah.. "Uhmm... lots of stuff added"
April 4, 2012 15:36 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@vmasto
Vassilis Mast

@ git commit - m "...stuff"
April 4, 2012 15:36 via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@GovertVerschuur
Govert Verschuur

@ A.K.A. "General design improvements"
April 4, 2012 15:37 via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@upperdog_se
UPPERDOG

@ "Lotsa stuff." Always works for me.
April 4, 2012 15:37 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@brunoscheele
Bruno Scheele

@ Sounds like you need "committed something or other".
April 4, 2012 15:37 via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@idiot
Visual Idiot

@ git commit -a -m "Metric ton of changes and stuff..."
April 4, 2012 15:37 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@LukeMaciak
Luke Maciak

@ $git commit -a -m "Hey hehe.. this is awkward but I er... you know.. been busy.. with... stuff..."
April 4, 2012 15:37 via PollyReplyRetweetFavorite
@jfgen
Jorge Encarnação



@ I tend to call these things "change binges", where I pretend I change a whole bunch of things on a whim before committing.
April 4, 2012 15:40 via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite
@BoltClock
Daniel Tan


@ "EVERYTHING."
April 4, 2012 15:47 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@skidding
Ovidiu Cherecheș

@ a generic "If you can't tell what I've done by reading the source, you don't deserve to complain about my lack of commit message!"
April 4, 2012 15:48 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@omgmog
Max Glenister

@ Just keep it simple with "sorry!"
April 4, 2012 15:52 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@stevehickeydsgn
Steve Hickey

@ git commit -m "Acquired by Facebook"
April 4, 2012 15:55 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@_dte
Dan Eden

@ git commit -a -m "Like a boss"
April 4, 2012 15:55 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@nathandim
Nathan Dim


@ there is only one way around this: delete commit history and start over with "First commit" :p
April 4, 2012 15:56 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@LukeMaciak
Luke Maciak

@ "what is this, I don't even..."
April 4, 2012 15:57 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@croncobaurul
Mihai Chereji

@ 'Fixed stuff' generally fits well :)
April 4, 2012 15:58 via Hotot for ChromeReplyRetweetFavorite
@MayaPosch
Maya Posch

@ "Reinvented the wheel. Again."
April 4, 2012 15:59 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@OllyHodgson
Olly Hodgson

@ only a link to that original tweet, *maybe* with the tweet text as a second paragraph.
April 4, 2012 16:00 via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@eternicode
Andrew Rowls


@ -m "this changes everything. again."
April 4, 2012 16:02 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@kioopi
vTsoumenis

@ features: "Made it better", bugs: "Fixed sh*t", tech tasks: "Misc. optimizations" or "Refactoring", mixed: "Chuck Norris was here"
April 4, 2012 16:06 via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@streetpc
Adrien Lavoillotte

@ "the one true commit" always works for me ;)
April 4, 2012 16:06 via DestroyTwitterReplyRetweetFavorite
@GNi33
Lukas B Dot

@ $git commit -a -m "Basically started from scratch and rewrote everything. NBD."
April 4, 2012 16:07 via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@jo_Osiah
Josiah Sprague


@ Commit message: What's elvish for "I forgot.";)
April 4, 2012 16:08 via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@jordanpittman
Jordan Pittman


@ "because of my lack of commits. I have committed myself"
April 4, 2012 16:13 via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite
@StuRobson
Stuart Robson

@ "this is not the commit message you are looking for..." ;)
April 4, 2012 16:18 via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@gmoulin_dev
Guillaume Moulin

  • kjvdven

    I Miss: “Pending conflicts … “

  • http://amiridis.net Petros Amiridis

    git commit -m “All of the commits”

  • http://mathiasbynens.be/ Mathias Bynens

    git commit -m “$(lynx -dump whatthecommit.com | head -n 2)”

    • Guest

      curl whatthecommit.com/index.txt

  • http://twitter.com/walterstephanie Stéphanie Walter

    I would put ” Pink Unicorn commit, too bad you can’t see her she’s beautiful”

  • http://twitter.com/_davidhiggins_ David Higgins

    Google “the one true commit” including quotes

  • http://grovman.pl/ GrovMan

    “Commit’em all”

  • http://blog.trevorjnorris.com trev.norris

    I’ve been in that boat too. So for a more practical approach: `git add -p` and selectively stage similar changes (pay special attention to the ‘s’ option to split larger changes to smaller ones). Then commit each with their own commit message.

  • http://twitter.com/Fed03_templar Federico Teotini

    awesome XD

  • http://twitter.com/Vokiel Vokiel

    My best: “I’m on the horse”

  • Anonymous

    Happens to me all the time… Simple fix: open gitx, switch to stage area, look through commits and commit in chunks with corresponding, meaningful messages. Or just `git reset –hard` all that mess and move on ;)

  • KP_Brown

    “Guess.”

  • Nicolas Klein

    “404 Commit message not found.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/crocodile2u Victor Bolshov

    “This is a useless commit message. Completely void of any useful information.”

  • IanFHood

    Reduced, Reused and Recycled.

  • http://twitter.com/Benjamin_Knight Benjamin Knight

    I thought it was only guys who were so hesitant to commit.

  • http://twitter.com/Benjamin_Knight Benjamin Knight

    “All stuffs, things and items. None of the bullshit.”

  • anaketa

    Super! Next time i don’t esitate anymore, just read again here! :P (Chuck Norris, everytime the best one!)

  • http://www.livingwithsourcecode.com/ Dave

    I’ve seen “aaa” or “blah” or even “meh!”

    At least when you come across that, there’s a name attached, and you know who to go torment / educate / transfer to someone else’s team. 8-)

  • http://twitter.com/Micharch54 Michael Archibald

    Message “Apparently I’m afraid of commitment…”

  • http://thadeudepaula.net Thadeu de Paula

    Do a rebase and use all as the message :P

  • http://icewhite.us/ Ice White

    git  ci -am $(date “+%s”), i used to do this.

  • Chris Heney

    been there … (with SVN) but yeah, felt the same kind of awkwardness.  I think it was -m “Run a diff – Sorry – End of transmission”

  • http://twitter.com/samtsai Sam Tsai

    Thanks for sharing, good afternoon laugh.

    By the way, are you using a twitter embed plugin for wordpress? Cause I really like how you shared the twitter posts while keeping them interactive.

    • http://leaverou.me Lea Verou

      Yes, I think it was called blackbird pie.

      • Sam Tsai

        Thanks Lea! Implementing now on our wordpress.

  • Markus Beck

    Well, we’ve got a coworker here that usually commit everything with an “whatever” message…

  • http://www.studiomohu.com Ben Smith

    git commit -m “All your commits are belong to us!!”

  • taiar

    read the diff

  • azz0r

    Id have reviewed it file by file, hunk by hunk and committed each “feature” or “enhancement” in separate commits.

    Gitbox is good at encouraging this behaviour.

  • Pingback: איך לעשות צל רק מצד אחד, ועוד דברים כיפיים | ליקוטי שיבולים

  • Ramone Burrell

    I sometimes have a trouble with this also. I feel I have made a substantial amount off changes but cant describe it in words. Hmmmm ‘The app is now better’