Tweaking zsh git autocompletion

Question

I just switched from bash to using zsh 4.3.4 on Ubuntu Hardy. I'm developing with git and I find myself constantly fighting with the default git completions: filename completion tries to be smart by detecting what you've added or removed (using git-ls-files) but sometimes it gets things wrong---e.g., if you are in a sub-directory. It also doesn't know about my custom git aliases (e.g., git ci as an alias for commit).

zsh superusers, how should I improve this situation?

Here are some of my thoughts, though I don't know how to implement them as I'm new to zsh, so maybe you can help or offer your own:

• Disable git filename completion, leaving just branch/tag/command-name/command-option completion.
• Replace the "smart" filename completion with the regular zsh filename completion.
• Get a newer _git completion file, if it fixes these bugs, and override the system one.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Try upgrading to the latest version of Zsh. I just upgraded from 4.3.4 to 4.3.10 and it at least fixes the problem with Git aliases not completing.

Instead of hacking my installation I added this to my local .zshrc:

customzsh=/usr/local/src/zsh-4.3.10/bin/zsh-4.3.10
if [ "$SHELL" != "$customzsh" ]; then
  export SHELL=$customzsh
  exec $customzsh
fi

Answer 2

For large projects, even the newer git completion scripts are far too slow. To disable them and just use normal file completion, place the following command in your .zshrc:

compdef -d git