Git post-commit hook as a background task

Question

I have a script, that I need to run after committing to a project under git revision control. Therefore I created a post-commit hook in my projects .git directory in the subdirectory /hooks, named it 'post-commit' and gave it the following contents:

#!/bin/sh
# I am a post-commit hook
/usr/local/bin/my_script &

my_script is executable and runs fine in /bin/sh. In fact it has a runtime of several seconds, so I want it to be backgrounded and detached from the current shell. That's why I put the trailing '&' to my hook.

The problem now is, that the '&' seems to be ignored. When I commit using gitx 0.7.1 under OSX Lion, gitx hangs for exactly the period that my_script needs to run.

I tried a lot, but do not get the process itself into the background.

What is wrong here?

Lapointe

Answer 1

Here's how it works for me:

#!/bin/sh
# I am a post-commit hook
nohup /usr/local/bin/my_script &>/dev/null &

Bigley

David, meanwhile I found a similar approach: nohup /usr/local/bin/my_script 2>&1 > /dev/null & – Lapointe

Not exactly the correct answer, but will guide some people: consider implementing a real daemon. If in ruby you can use Daemons or read the basics of what you should be doing in this description of how a daemon works in unix: daemons.rubyforge.org/Daemons.html – Strawn

Answer 2

You could also use the at command. You may have to install it first

echo /path/to/your/executable | at now

OR:

echo bash /path/to/your/script | at now

See the at(1) manual page for more info about at (man at or the online version)

Odontoblast

Answer 3

Try to use nohup

#!/bin/sh
# I am a post-commit hook
nohup /usr/local/bin/my_script &

Vermont

Hey WagnerVaz, tried that, but unfortunately it does not work. The script seems not to detach from the current process and gitx is stale as long as the script runs. – Lapointe

Answer 4

If you change #!/bin/sh to #!/bin/bash (assuming you're ok with using bash), and use nohup, your example should work.

Mikkanen