commitlint: no such file or directory COMMIT_EDITMSG on new checkout

When checking out a repo, there is no COMMIT_EDITMSG file until a new commit is made. In the case of elastic-apm-node, we trigger the commit lint automatically, as part of the test process. This currently means a fresh checkout can’t run the tests because @commitling/cli will crash due to being unable to find that file.

Expected Behavior

There was no commit to have a failing message on, so it should not be a failure.

Current Behavior

It crashes with this output:

/home/stephenbelanger/Code/elastic-apm-node/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/lib/cli.js:113
	throw err;
	^

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/home/stephenbelanger/Code/elastic-apm-node/.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG'
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! errno 1
npm ERR! elastic-apm-node@2.5.1 lint-commit: `test/lint-commits.sh`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the elastic-apm-node@2.5.1 lint-commit script.
npm ERR! This is probably not a problem with npm. There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     /home/stephenbelanger/.npm/_logs/2019-03-03T19_30_57_446Z-debug.log

Affected packages

cli
core
prompt
config-angular

Possible Solution

Consider it a “pass” if the file is not found.

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

Checkout any repo for the first time, which uses @commitlint/cli
Trigger @commitlint/cli
???
😢

Context

Currently this makes the contributing process painful, as new contributors will always run into this the first time they try to run our tests.

About this issue

Original URL
State: open
Created 5 years ago
Reactions: 8
Comments: 18 (5 by maintainers)

Commits related to this issue

fix: remove escape of commit lint file param due to macOS support More information in: https://github.com/conventional-changelog/commitlint/issues/589 — committed to Sifchain/sifchain-ui-next by oieduardorabelo 2 years ago

Most upvoted comments

I’m quite certain this is the result of a miss-configuration and not a fault in the commitlint itself.

This happens if you by mistake add commitlint to pre-commit instead of commit-msg hook (I know it by doing)

+16

Megamannen on Sep 20, 2022

I faced this problem today, I’ve created the COMMIT_EDITMSG file on .git folder and my hook backs to work: touch ./.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG

Take a look at file permission, this need to be: -rw-rw-r-- 1 example example 9 jan 31 15:17 COMMIT_EDITMSG

+16

iaurg on Jan 31, 2022

The issue here is the unconditional usage of the --edit flag.

An excerpt from commitlint --help reveals the flag triggers commitlint to read from fs instead of stdin or the commit history:

--edit, -e   read last commit message from the specified file or fallbacks to ./.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG

Based on the comment in your linting script you want to call commitlint like this:

commitlint --from=HEAD^1

Let me know if this works for you.

marionebl on Mar 9, 2019

I have the same issue. Disabling commintlint until fixed.

I’m using it with husky

npx --no-install commitlint --edit $1

Also, sometimes it checks the PREVIOUS commit msg and not the one I’m currently trying to commit, resulting in an error if the previous one was in error.

https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360010605439/comments/4406713360018

Yohandah on Jan 17, 2022

I have the same issue. Disabling commintlint until fixed.

I’m using it with husky

npx --no-install commitlint --edit $1

Also, sometimes it checks the PREVIOUS commit msg and not the one I’m currently trying to commit, resulting in an error if the previous one was in error.

https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360010605439/comments/4406713360018

{project}/node_modules/.pnpm/@commitlint+cli@17.0.3/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/lib/cli.js:114
        throw err;
        ^

[Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '{project}/${1}'] {
  errno: -2,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'open',
  path: '{project}/${1}'
}
husky - commit-msg hook exited with code 1 (error)

#!/bin/sh
. "$(dirname "$0")/_/husky.sh"

# npx --no -- commitlint --edit "\${1}" # throw error
npx --no-install commitlint --edit $1 # it works

Thanks

ccforeverd on Jul 6, 2022

I have the same issue. Disabling commintlint until fixed. I’m using it with husky npx --no-install commitlint --edit $1 Also, sometimes it checks the PREVIOUS commit msg and not the one I’m currently trying to commit, resulting in an error if the previous one was in error. https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360010605439/comments/4406713360018
{project}/node_modules/.pnpm/@commitlint+cli@17.0.3/node_modules/@commitlint/cli/lib/cli.js:114
        throw err;
        ^

[Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '{project}/${1}'] {
  errno: -2,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'open',
  path: '{project}/${1}'
}
husky - commit-msg hook exited with code 1 (error)
#!/bin/sh
. "$(dirname "$0")/_/husky.sh"

# npx --no -- commitlint --edit "\${1}" # throw error
npx --no-install commitlint --edit $1 # it works
Thanks

I suggest to put this on the documentation, so Windows users could save their time.

ShiftWatchOut on Jul 27, 2022

For some reason, the commitlint script isn’t looking in the correct place for the git message when I run the husky command.

A fix for me was using the PWD command to tell commitlint where the git message needs linting.

#!/usr/bin/env sh
. "${PWD}/$(dirname -- "$0")/_/husky.sh"

COMMIT_LOCATION="${PWD}/.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG"

npx --no-install commitlint --edit "${COMMIT_LOCATION}"

SampsonM on May 30, 2023

Maybe a separate flag that augments the --edit flag like --edit --skip-empty and then change the default to produce a more useful error when the file is not found?

Qard on Jun 3, 2019