Why git-cliff must be executed from root directory?

[azzamsa]

Hi, 👋.

Why is it that, unlike git, git-cliff can't be executed from a sub-directory?
git can be run from any child directory without being executed where the .git directory is located.

nvim/configs on  master [!⇕]
🦄 git-cliff --tag v2.2.0 --output CHANGELOG.md --workdir .
 ERROR git_cliff > Git error: `could not find the repository at '.'; class=Repository (6); code=NotFound (-3)`

nvim/configs on  master [!⇕]
🙊 git-cliff --tag v2.2.0 --output CHANGELOG.md --workdir ..
 WARN  git_cliff > "../cliff.toml" is not found, using the default configuration.

The first command fails because it runs in nvim/configs, but the second succeeds because I passed --workdir ...
However, when we observe git behavior:

nvim/configs on  master [!?⇕]
🦄 git status
On branch master
Your branch and 'origin/master' have diverged,

It works from any location.

---

Why must it be executed from the root directory?
If you're okay with it, can I make a PR where git-cliff searches for .git in the parent directory, then executes the operations if found; otherwise, it gives up.

The implementation would be similar to https://github.com/azzamsa/toor/blob/579ecc9a113a2a66dd5f46a4986786251420ec1b/src/project.rs#L20

[alerque]

This should be easily fixed, but don't do it by searching for .git. It is possible that the directory has a different name or even is located outside of the tree altogether. Also that would not play nice with submodules. Instead just use the appropriate API in libgit (git2 crate) to find the repository root. That will account for a lot of edge cases you might otherwise get wrong.

[orhun]

Hello!

If you're okay with it, can I make a PR where git-cliff searches for .git in the parent directory, then executes the operations if found; otherwise, it gives up.

It makes sense to have this feature so please go ahead!

As @alerque mentioned, this should be handled with git2.

[RJSonnenberg]

@azzamsa Any movement on this? Just curious if any progress has been made here.

[alerque]

This would be a relatively easy thing to contribute yourself.

[orhun]

Yup, please go ahead @RJSonnenberg if you are interested :)

[RJSonnenberg]

I would love to, but I'm at a complete loss of where to start/look. I am not familiar with Rust or Rust-based project structure. Any hints on where to start?

[orhun]

I think you can take a look at Repository::init function in repo.rs - this is where the magic should happen :)

You can use GitRepository::discover function instead of open, and I guess that should be it!