Set Up a Commit Message Template for Git Repositories

Introduction

🧑‍💻 New to Git or LabEx? We recommend starting with the Quick Start with Git course.

When working on a project, it is important to have a consistent and informative commit message for each change made to the codebase. This helps other developers understand the purpose of the change and makes it easier to track down bugs or revert changes if necessary. In this lab, you will learn how to set up a commit message template for a Git repository.

Skills Graph

%%%%{init: {'theme':'neutral'}}%%%% flowchart RL git(("`Git`")) -.-> git/BasicOperationsGroup(["`Basic Operations`"]) git/BasicOperationsGroup -.-> git/commit("`Create Commit`") subgraph Lab Skills git/commit -.-> lab-12710{{"`Add a Commit Message Template`"}} end

Add a Commit Message Template

Without a commit message template, developers may be tempted to write vague or uninformative commit messages, such as "fixed bug" or "updated code". This makes it difficult for others to understand the purpose of the change and can lead to confusion or mistakes down the line. By setting up a commit message template, developers are encouraged to provide more detailed and informative commit messages, which can improve collaboration and productivity.

For this lab, let's use the repository from https://github.com/labex-labs/git-playground. Follow these steps to set up a commit message template for this repository:

Clone the repository to your local machine using the command git clone https://github.com/labex-labs/git-playground.
Navigate to the repository directory using the command cd git-playground and configure your GitHub account using the commands git config --global user.name "your-username" and git config --global user.email "your-email".
Create a new file named commit-template in the repository directory using the command vim commit-template.
Open the commit-template file in a text editor and add the following lines:

## <type>: <subject>

## <body>

## <footer>

#This creates a template with three sections, where "<type>" indicates the type of submission, such as "feat" or "fix", "<subject>" is a short #summary describing the content of the submission, "<body>" is a more detailed description, and "<footer>" can contain other metadata, such as the #associated issue number or other comments.

Press Esc and enter the :wq command, then press Enter to save your changes and exit the commit-template file editor.
Use the command git add commit-templateto add commit-template files to the staging area.
Use the command git config commit.template commit-template to set the commit-template file as the commit message template for the repository.
Use the command git commit to open the commit message editor and notice that the commit message editor now contains the commit message template you created in step 4.
Press Esc and enter the :q command, then press Enter to exit the commit message editor.

Summary

In this lab, you learned how to set up a commit message template for a Git repository. By using a commit message template, developers can provide more detailed and informative commit messages, which can improve collaboration and productivity. Remember to always write clear and concise commit messages to help others understand the purpose of your changes.

Add a Commit Message Template

Introduction

Skills Graph

Add a Commit Message Template

Summary

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