spacemacs used as GIT_EDITOR doesn't syntax highlight COMMIT_EDITMSG when magit isn't previously loaded

[mkomitee]

If you use emacs w/ spacemacs & magit via the git layer and emacsclient as GIT_EDITOR, and commit from a shell without first loading magit (by starting magit-status or something similar), then it won't syntax-highlight the COMMIT_EDITMSG buffer (it stays in FUNDAMENTAL mode) or enable the appropriate maps.

Adding (require 'magit) to dotspacemacs/config fixes the issue, so we probably need to add something else to the use-package stanza for magit in the git layer. I'd submit this as a pull request, but I'm not sure what would need to be added.

[syl20bnr]

I think this is fixed in develop thanks to #2293

[mkomitee]

I'm running on develop already. To be clear, it works as GIT_EDITOR if I previously loaded magit by executing magit-status or magit-log (or any other command which causes use-package to require magit), but not if I haven't. BTW, I'm on gitter-chat now if you want to talk.

[StreakyCobra]

@mkomitee I'm using it in this way by having (global-git-commit-mode t) in the user-config of my .spacemacs. Does it work for you?

[synic]

@StreakyCobra It doesn't work for me. In my user-config, I have this:

  ;; Enable highlighting of git commit messages when emacs is $EDITOR
  (global-git-commit-mode t)

However, when running git commit -a, the commit message is in Fundamental mode.

System Info

• OS: darwin
• Emacs: 24.5.7
• Spacemacs: 0.105.0
• Spacemacs branch: develop (rev. 7c160e8)
• Distribution: spacemacs
• Layers:

(unscroll auto-completion xkcd emacs-lisp git gtags dash yaml github javascript html markdown extra-langs python ruby org osx python django syntax-checking spell-checking version-control lua colors spacemacs-layouts vimscript
          (c-c++ :variables c-c++-enable-clang-support t)
          (shell :variables shell-default-height 30 shell-default-position 'bottom))

[StreakyCobra]

Weird...

[synic]

Oh crap, nevermind. I forgot I was running a daemon that needed reloading. It does indeed work.

[mkomitee]

This appears to work for me. Should that be configured by the layer, or should everyone who uses spacemacs/emacs as $EDITOR have to set it themselves?

... if we don't want to have it automatically enabled as the default (so that magit can be loaded as needed to speed up start-up), maybe it can be enabled by a layer configuration variable, or at least documented in the README.org file.

[StreakyCobra]

It should at least be documented :-) An option for this in the git layer would probably be better.

[StreakyCobra]

Fixed in 374e37e

[mkomitee]

Thanks!