How to check if a Git Repo has uncommitted changes using Python

Question

I'm pretty new to git, but I'm trying to use python to check if a git repository has any uncommitted changes. I seem to get the same error no matter what command I try to run using python. Here's my code:

from git import *
repo = Repo("path\to\my\repo")
lastCommit = repo.head.commit.committed_date
uncommitted = repo.is_dirty()

Everything works as expected until I run the last line which is when I get the error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
.
.
.
    raise GitCommandNotFound: [Error 2] The system cannot find the file specified 

I've tried this with other commands too and I get the same error. For example, repo.index.diff(repo.head.commit). I've also tried running repo.index.diff(None) and repo.index.diff('HEAD') which give the same error. What I really want is to essentially run $ git status for the repository I've named repo. I'm using Python 2.7.9 and gitpython 1.0.1 on Windows 7. Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

In your particular example (which is only for illustration purposes), your "path\to\my\repo" would be understood as 'path\to\\my\repo'. Use a double backslash between the components of your path ("path\\to\\my\\repo"). \t is understood as a tab, and \r is understood as a carriage return. Alternatively, you can put a r in front of your path like so: r"path\to\my\repo"

Answer 2

Look like GitPython can't find git.exe.

Try setting the environment variable GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE. It's should most likely be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\git.exe" if using Git for Windows with defaults

at command line (cmd.exe)

set GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE="C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\bin\git.exe"