Is there a way to make git flow show the commands it is executing behind the scenes?

Question

Is there any way to make git-flow tell me ahead of time the exact git commands it will execute when I do a flow command; or tell me as it is dong it?

All i can see the output and a summary?

Answer 1

You can use Git's GIT_TRACE environment variable to get a detailed trace of commands executed. For example:

GIT_TRACE=true git flow feature start bar

... displays ...

trace: exec: 'git-flow' 'feature' 'start' 'bar'
trace: run_command: 'git-flow' 'feature' 'start' 'bar'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.master'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.develop'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.master'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.develop'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.master'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.branch.develop'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.origin'
trace: built-in: git 'config' '--get' 'gitflow.prefix.feature'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '-r' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'branch' '-r' '--no-color'
trace: built-in: git 'checkout' '-b' 'feature/bar' 'develop'
Switched to a new branch 'feature/bar'

Summary of actions:
- A new branch 'feature/bar' was created, based on 'develop'
- You are now on branch 'feature/bar'

Now, start committing on your feature. When done, use:

     git flow feature finish bar

If you want more details than that, you can use the sh shell xtrace option:

After expanding each simple command, for command, case command, select command, or arithmetic for command, display the expanded value of PS4, followed by the command and its expanded arguments or associated word list.

Edit the git-flow script and add set -x right after the #!/bin/sh first line. Executing the above command, git flow feature start bar, would display a lot of information (more than can be included in an answer).