jdx/mise · error

Git diff failed ( )

Error message

Git diff failed ({}): {}

What it means

git_diff runs `git diff --no-index` on the local and remote sides of a dotfile conflict. git exits 0 for identical files and 1 for differences; any other exit code means the diff itself failed (e.g. git missing, unreadable file), so the command bails with the exit status and trimmed stderr.

Solutions

1. Check git is installed and working: `git --version` and `which git`
2. Verify both conflict-side files exist and are readable (ls -l on the paths from the error output)
3. Read the stderr text in the error message — it names the concrete git failure
4. Re-run the dotfiles command after fixing the file/git issue

Example fix

// before: file deleted mid-conflict so git diff exits 2
ls ~/.config/mise/dotfiles-conflicts/
// after: restore or make both sides readable, then retry
chmod u+r ~/.file && git --version

command -v git >/dev/null 2>&1 && test -r "$local" && test -r "$remote" || echo 'git or file unreadable'

match DotfilesConflictDiff { Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Git diff failed") => check git installation and file readability, e => propagate }

When it happens

Trigger: `mise dotfiles` conflict handling invokes git_diff; git exits with a code other than 0 or 1 — git binary missing (code 127), one of the conflict-side file paths unreadable/deleted (code 2), or git config errors printing to stderr.

Common situations: A tracked dotfile was deleted after a checkpoint but before resolving conflicts; git not installed or a broken git shim earlier on PATH; file permissions changed so git cannot read one side.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

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AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f2879a7425ab2e7b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/dotfiles/conflicts.rs:217

    command.current_dir(repo.dir().parent().unwrap_or(repo.dir()));
    command.args([
        "diff",
        "--no-ext-diff",
        "--no-textconv",
        "--patch",
        if color {
            "--color=always"
        } else {
            "--color=never"
        },
    ]);
    command.arg("--no-index").arg("--");
    command.arg(local.file.path()).arg(remote.file.path());
    let mut output = command
        .output()
        .wrap_err_with(|| format!("running Git conflict comparison for {}", display_path(path)))?;
    if !matches!(output.status.code(), Some(0 | 1)) {
        bail!(
            "Git diff failed ({}): {}",
            output.status,
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim()
        );
    }
    let local_name = local.file.path().to_string_lossy();
    let remote_name = remote.file.path().to_string_lossy();
    output.stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout)
        .replace(local_name.as_ref(), &local.label)
        .replace(local_name.trim_start_matches('/'), &local.label)
        .replace(remote_name.as_ref(), &remote.label)
        .replace(remote_name.trim_start_matches('/'), &remote.label)
        .into_bytes();
    Ok(output)
}

static AFTER_LONG_HELP: &str = color_print::cstr!(
    r#"<bold><underline>Examples:</underline></bold>

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