> On 15 Nov 2017, at 18:51, Stefan Beller <sbel...@google.com> wrote: > > On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 7:08 AM, Lars Schneider > <larsxschnei...@gmail.com> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Git gathers user input via text editor in certain commands (e.g. "git >> commit"). >> If you configure a text based editor, such as vi, then this works great as >> the >> editor is opened in your terminal window in the foreground and in focus. >> >> However, if you configure an editor that runs outside your terminal window >> then >> you might run into the following problem: >> Git opens the editor but the editor is the background or on another screen >> and >> consequently you don't see the editor. You only see the Git command line >> interface which appears to hang. >> >> I wonder if would make sense to print "Opening editor for user input..." or >> something to the screen to make the user aware of the action. Does this sound >> sensible to you? Am I missing an existing solution to this problem? > > Can this be put in a wrapper that opens the text editor? > The wrapper would print these lines and then open the text editor; > depending on the operating system, there might even be a command to > focus on that editor window.
Yeah, that would be a workaround. However, in order to take these steps (write the wrapper, enable the focus command) the users needs to understand the problem. That's quite a leap especially for new Git users. They just get the feeling "Git is broken because it hangs". Can you imagine any downside for an "Opening editor for user input..." message? > Regarding Git, maybe improve the documentation for how to set the editor > variable? The sad truth is that 98% of the users do not read the documentation (made up number but close to my observed reality). - Lars
