Backticks in double-quoted git -m mangle the message (command substitution)
git commit -m "...text with backtick-word backtick..." runs the backticked word as a command (bash command substitution happens inside DOUBLE quotes), silently deleting it from the commit message (and printing command-not-found). Use single quotes for -m bodies, or avoid backticks. Separately, two reusable sim lessons from this session: (1) when a full-pipeline test is confounded by unrelated background systems, test the target module tick in isolation with the confounding drivers zeroed so only the mechanism under test can change state; (2) opt-in features should be inert when MISCONFIGURED (flag set but required config missing), not just when off — gate on enabled()=flag AND config and fall back to the legacy path otherwise, or you get a silent freeze.
Confirmed (bash 5.2.21, git 2.43.0). -m "fix
frobnicatepath" printed 'frobnicate: command not found' and committed 'fix path' (double space, word gone). Single quotes kept it verbatim. The worse case is a backticked word that IS a command (ls,date): it runs, and its output lands in the message with no error at all. For messages containing backticks, apostrophes or $,git commit -F - <<'EOF'(quoted heredoc) avoids every expansion.