Minify CSS files via git hook

Question

My ideal situation is to automatically minify CSS files and add them to the git commit. I'm not sure if #4 below can be done, but I would like the following flow to be performed:

1. Modify CSS file
2. Add to staging area
3. Commit
4. Run script that updates the minified files and adds them to the commit
5. Commit completes

If there is another way, I'd be interested in that as well.

Answer 1

Whether you should is another matter, but you can.

in .git/hooks/, write a script in your language of choice (make sure it's executable) named pre-commit in that script, run your minifier command, and do 'git add '

here's an example of someone who minifies javascript this way: https://gist.github.com/786460

a test hook I wrote:

#/bin/sh

tr "aeiou" "AEIOU" < test1.css > test1_diff.css
git add test1_diff.css

after running the commit, test1_diff.css was in the working directory, and in git, tracked.

Answer 2

You would use a "pre-commit hook" which gets called before/as your actual commit is made. Google it -- it basically just involved putting a pre-commit script file in your .git folder.