error: There was a problem with the editor 'vi' when using it with git

Question

I have this strange problem with using vi as the editor for git commit -a.

Normal flow is: I type git commit -a, vi appears, I enter my commit message, and then :wq to save & exit from vi.

This works fine. However, sometimes I make a typo and instead of :wq I type :Wq (because I use the shift for :). Then, when I correct myself and type :wq again, git gives the following error:

error: There was a problem with the editor 'vi'.
Please supply the message using either -m or -F option.

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

vi is existing with a non-zero status, although without additional details about your setup, it's difficult to tell why. If you're using a lot of plugins to vim, you might try moving your .vimrc file to .vimrc.back and seeing if you can replicate. There are a few sources that discuss this problem, including at least one with a potential solution:

git config --global core.editor /usr/bin/vim

I would try removing your .vimrc first, however. It seems to cause more consternation.

Answer 2

As answered here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22699614/git-commit-messages-lost-by-vi

The real solution is to

git config --global core.editor vim -f

According to vim documentation - -f option should be used when Vim is executed by a program that will wait for the edit session to finish

Answer 3

Do you use the golang vim plugins? This line is causing the vi exit value problem for me: filetype plugin indent off

Removing the whole golang plugin block in .vimrc fixed the problem. Installing the golang plugin using fugitive can be as easy as: ln -s $GOROOT/misc/vim ~/.vim/bundle/vim-golang

(I just documented the problem in this issue on the vim-golang github)

Answer 4

Something is wrong with Git config I guess.

So the solution is to reset Git config and it worked for me:

git config --global core.editor $(which vim)

$(which vim) is more flexible than /usr/bin/vim (vim executable may not be there for some people)