Here's a simple example to demonstrate my problem. If I do:
git commit -m "`date --utc`"
It executes date --utc, and puts the result inside the commit message.
However, when I alias it to testcomit:
git config --global alias.testcommit 'commit -m "`date --utc`"'
Doing git testcommit does not execute the `date --utc` part, it instead puts it verbatim in the commit message.
So, how do I get this alias to execute date --utc?
From the documentation:
If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point, it will be treated as a shell command.
So you can use:
git config --global alias.testcommit '!git commit -m "$(date --utc)"'
Note that you have to put git in there, since you're now specifying the whole shell command.
($() instead of backticks is unrelated, but it's better so you should start using it.)