After apt finishes, etckeeper autocommits the changes to /etc, with a
commit message listing the changes to installed packages and versions.
I'd like the option of entering a commit message at that point, to
document the reasons for the package changes.  etckeeper could build a
message that includes commented-out instructions saying to just save and
quit if you want the default message, or to delete the entire message
and quit if you want to abort the commit and make additional changes
before committing.

- Josh Triplett

Josh Triplett wrote on 2011-02-13:
set, but the changes can also be pulled from:
   git pull git://gitorious.org/etckeeper/etckeeper.git bkuhn/edit-auto-commit-messages

Note that the attached patch *does not* support any VCS's except for
Git.  This is because the feature as implemented relies on Git's
--edit/-e option, which forces a commit edit even though there's already
a commit message given another way.

if other VCS's support this command in future, it's a two-line change to
support this feature on those VCS's as well.

FWIW, I've submitted a bug to bzr to add a --edit/-e option:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bzr/+bug/1222470

And I've also submitted a patch for Mercurial for the same:
http://www.selenic.com/pipermail/mercurial-devel/2013-September/053435.html
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.mercurial.devel/63400

Meanwhile, I hereby affirm that I am the author of the new copyrighted
material found in the attached patch, and I hereby license those
copyrights under GPLv2-or-later.