Enable bash tab completion for Mercurial (hg)

Question

I've installed Mercurial (1.4.3-1) on ubuntu and it doesn't do tab completion in bash by default. What is the simplest way to enable this feature?

Answer 1

You need to

• Install an up-to-date package for Mercurial, see the Mercurial PPA. This will give you a /etc/bash_completion.d/mercurial file with the completion code for Mercurial. You can source this file directly to enable completion support for Mercurial.

You can also enable completion support for all programs:

• Install the bash-completion package: aptitude install bash-completion.

• Source /etc/bash_completion in your ~/.bashrc file:

  # Use bash-completion, if available
  if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
    . /etc/bash_completion
  fi
  

  This will enable completion for all commands, including Mercurial.