Problem using git and Emacs eshell mode on Windows

Question

when i try to make a git commit in emacs eshell mode:

git commit -a -m "message"

I receive an error:

'c:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.  

and at the same time this problem is absent in emacs shell mode. How to force eshell work correctly with git?

Simba

Might I also suggest Magit? zagadka.vm.bytemark.co.uk/magit/magit.html – Castello

Have the same error on MacOS. Where do I add the path so eshell sees it? – Alleyway

Answer 1

This seems to be a problem with the whitespace in the directory name of the program you want to execute; this whitespace seems to be not properly escaped.

For example, if what you want to execute is "C:\Program Files\git\git.exe commit ...", then that first whitespace needs to be escaped, or the whole pathname enclosed in quotes, otherwise this line will be parsed into the tokens "C:\Program", "Files\git\git.exe", "...", the first token being the command to execute.

A first workaround would be to expand the full name by hand and enclose it in quotes, e.g.:

"C:\Program Files\git\git.exe" commit ...

Cardiganshire

i've solved problem by reinstalling git into c:/git, so there are not spaces in the paths – Simba

Answer 2

Had a similar problem, this is for magit, (on MacOS). Add the following in your emacs startup file:

(add-to-list 'exec-path "/usr/local/git/bin")
(setq magit-git-executable "/usr/local/git/bin/git")

Alleyway

Answer 3

Don't know about specifically with git and emacs, but with other applications it has worked for me to replace Program Files with Progra~1 in your PATH.

Troxler

the error occurs somewhere inside git or emacs.eshell, so i can't manage – Simba

Answer 4

I had the very same problem, and "solved" it by changing PATH such that git.exe (in c:\Program Files\Git\bin) comes before git.cmd (in c:\program files\git\cmd, IIRC).

Alroy

Answer 5

Uh, eshell and git? Why?

Just use magit for invoking git from emacs; it is much richer than the command-line interface.

Tank

-1 Magit's interface doesn't support everything the command-line interface does. For instance, it doesn't support PGP signing commits, which makes it a non-starter for me. – Varistor

Magit also allows you to run commands as you would on the command line, so you can do everything in Magit that you can on the command line with the git command – Wrigley