gistfile1.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# example commit-msg hook to prevent commit messages with less than 20 characters

message=`cat $1`
message_length=`echo ${#message}`

if [ $message_length -lt 20 ]; then
        echo "Commit failed. The commit message is less than 20 characters. (length is $message_length)"
        exit 1
fi

exit 0