GIT BASH COMPLETION ON SLACKWARE


+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| tl;dr                                                            |
|                                                                  |
| Bash completion may already work while Git completion does not.  |
| Git completion is a separate layer that must be registered.      |
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OVERVIEW

Slackware provides programmable shell completion through the
bash-completion package.

General completion support may already be active while Git-specific
completion is still unavailable. This happens because Git completion
is implemented as a separate completion script that must be loaded
into the current shell.

The behavior can vary depending on whether the shell is started as
a login shell or a non-login interactive shell.


CHECKING BASH COMPLETION

To verify that bash-completion itself is active:

    type _init_completion

If completion support is loaded, bash prints that
_init_completion is a function.

Example:

    _init_completion is a function


CHECKING GIT COMPLETION

Git completion is registered separately.

To verify whether it is active:

    complete -p git

If nothing is printed, Git completion has not been loaded into the
current shell.


LOCATING THE GIT COMPLETION SCRIPT

On Slackware, the script is usually installed under:

    /usr/doc/git-<version>/contrib/completion/

Locate it with:

    find /usr/doc -name git-completion.bash 2>/dev/null


MANUAL TEST

Load the script manually:

    . /usr/doc/git-*/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash

Then test completion:

    git che<TAB>

If Git completion works, bash expands the command:

    git checkout


NON-LOGIN SHELLS

Many terminal emulators, tmux panes, GNU screen windows, and mtm
sessions start bash as a non-login interactive shell.

Non-login shells do not read /etc/profile automatically. As a
result, scripts installed under /etc/profile.d/ may not be loaded.

This can lead to situations where bash-completion partially works
or behaves differently depending on how the shell was started.


ADDING GIT COMPLETION TO ~/.bashrc

If desired, Git completion can be loaded explicitly from ~/.bashrc:

    if [ -f /usr/doc/git-*/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash ]; then
        . /usr/doc/git-*/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
    fi

This ensures Git completion is available in terminal emulators and
multiplexer panes.


NOTES

Slackware uses executable permissions on scripts inside
/etc/profile.d/ as the mechanism to enable or disable them.

When reproducing shell startup logic manually, matching the original
Slackware behavior exactly is usually preferable.


REFERENCES

bash(1) manual, Programmable Completion section.
git(1) documentation.

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Last Modified: 2026-05-09