When I first tried to use the git-prompt.sh script, I followed the
instructions at the top of the file and everything worked, except for the
"GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE" preference. Even though I had it set to true, I
wasn't seeing the "()" and "(+)" in my shell prompt. After a few hours of
poking around, I finally discovered what I had done wrong: I was setting the
variable *after the "source ~/.git-prompt.sh" line, and it has to be set
before.

I moved the lines around my .bashrc script and got everything working, but I
thought the instructions could be a bit more explicit about how to set these
preference variables, especially because this is a silent failure situation;
the preference doesn't work if you get the order wrong and there are no
warnings or errors to guide you.

This patch started as a PR on the official Github project two years ago (
https://github.com/git/git/pull/425), back when I didn't know the official
process for submitting patches. Luckily, a kind user (@dscho) saw it and
pointed me in the right direction to get it submitted.

This will be my first time submitting a patch, so hopefully I've figured out
the process.

Edward D'Souza (1):
  git-prompt.sh: update shell variable instructions.

 contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

base-commit: cb5918aa0d50f50e83787f65c2ddc3dcb10159fe

Submitted-As: https://public-inbox.org/git/pull.255.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com