Bash – how to re-use existing completion with recent bash-completion

autocompletebashdebian

i use alias which adds some parameters to some program.

for example:

alias git.home='git --git-dir=$HOME/.git.home/'

complete -o bashdefault -o default -o nospace -F _git git.home \
  2>/dev/null || complete -o default -o nospace -F _git git.home

it works with bash-completion v.1:2.0-1 ("debian 7 wheezy"):
tab completes parameters and options for alias git.home as well as for "original" git.

but with bash-completion v.1:2.1-4 ("debian 8 jessie") after typing git.home and pressing tab i get this error:

bash: completion: function `_git' not found

how to re-use existing completion (for example for git) with recent versions of package bash-completion?

update

found partial solution: do source /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/git before complete ...

but i get another error – git.home log + space + tab results in:

fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git
HEAD

Best Answer

how to re-use existing completion (for example for git) with recent versions of package bash-completion

Add the following lines to your ~/.bashrc:

_completion_loader git
eval $(complete -p git | perl -pe 's/(\s)git$/$1git.home/')

Explanation:

bash-completion uses a dynamic loading of completions since 1.90. So, the git compspec unavailable before your typing git,Space,Tab.

Try:

bash
complete -p git # bash: complete: git: no completion specification
git<space><tab>
complete -p git # complete -o bashdefault -o default -o nospace -F __git_wrap__git_main git

_completion_loader git imitates git,Space,Tab (i.e. loads a compspec for git)

complete -p git | perl -pe 's/(\s)git$/$1git.home/' builds a compspec for git.home (replaces git to git.home in a git's compspec)

eval execute the resulting compspec.

Type git.home,Space,pTab. You should see:

popt   pull   push

But git.home log,Space,Tab produces:

fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git HEAD

This message is a result of the git completion bug. There is a fix in the upstream: completion: silence "fatal: Not a git repository" error

Looks like another question:)

_githome(){ 
   GIT_DIR=$HOME/.git.home
   complete -o default -o nospace -F _git git.home
 }

doesn't work as expected. You set GIT_DIR for current session. Try with your solution:

bash
git clone git://git.debian.org/git/bash-completion/bash-completion.git ~/bash-completion
cd ~/bash-completion
git log<space><tab> # completion for current repo
git.home log<space><tab> # completion for GIT_DIR
git log<space><tab> # completion for GIT_DIR
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