How to check if a Git Repo has uncommitted changes using Python

Question

I'm pretty new to git, but I'm trying to use python to check if a git repository has any uncommitted changes. I seem to get the same error no matter what command I try to run using python. Here's my code:

from git import *
repo = Repo("path\to\my\repo")
lastCommit = repo.head.commit.committed_date
uncommitted = repo.is_dirty()

Everything works as expected until I run the last line which is when I get the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
.
.
.
    raise GitCommandNotFound: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified

I've tried this with other commands too and I get the same error. For example, repo.index.diff(repo.head.commit). I've also tried running repo.index.diff(None) and repo.index.diff('HEAD') which give the same error. What I really want is to essentially run $ git status for the repository I've named repo. I'm using Python 2.7.9 and gitpython 1.0.1 on Windows 7. Any help would be appreciated!

Noctis Skytower · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-21 13:34:07Z

1

In your particular example (which is only for illustration purposes), your "path\to\my\repo" would be understood as 'path\to\\my\repo'. Use a double backslash between the components of your path ("path\\to\\my\\repo"). \t is understood as a tab, and \r is understood as a carriage return. Alternatively, you can put a r in front of your path like so: r"path\to\my\repo"

answered Jul 21, 2015 at 13:34

Noctis Skytower

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2 Comments

holdenweb Over a year ago

These "string lterals" are known as raw strings, but remember this is just a different way to represent strings in your program text - they don't represent a different type of object.

Noctis Skytower Over a year ago

@holdenweb Thanks for explaining that for jtaylor. If u had been used instead of r before Python 3, then the data type would different. After Python 3, substituting a b for a r also changes the data type.

Joakim Elofsson · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-21 13:59:53Z

1

Look like GitPython can't find git.exe.

Try setting the environment variable GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE. It's should most likely be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\git.exe" if using Git for Windows with defaults

at command line (cmd.exe)

set GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE="C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\git.exe"

answered Jul 21, 2015 at 13:59

Joakim Elofsson

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jtaylor · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-22 14:26:29Z

0

Thanks for your suggestions, but implementing them did not actually solve my problem. I did develop a work-around with the following code:

def statusChecker(repo, lastCommit):
    uncommittedFiles = []
    files = os.listdir(repo)
    for file in files:
        if os.path.getmtime(repo + "\\\\" + file) > lastCommit:
            uncommittedFiles.append(file)
    uncommittedFiles = uncommittedFiles.remove(".git")
    return uncommittedFiles

As long as you use something like lastCommit = repo.head.commit.committed_date for the lastCommit argument this should work well.

answered Jul 22, 2015 at 14:26

jtaylor

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1 Comment

sxleixer Over a year ago

This is not a stable solution to the problem.

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