Re: [PATCH] ignores: handle non UTF-8 exclude files

From: Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 7, 2026, 14:36 UTC
Message-ID: <072dc5ef-e750-4023-bf6c-30b4b143beca@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CALH9GrYi0dYo4LJg8ww1cDOETiOT44m0zQgkxLsxqEuMmv_myQ@mail.gmail.com>

On 06/01/2026 20:32, Matthieu Beauchamp wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> 
> Yes you are correct, but I want to address the issues for users who may not
> realize that they used the wrong encoding when creating their exclude file.
> For that case I don't see how the fact that powershell can be configured to
> UTF-8 helps, aside from preventing repeating the same mistake.

My concern with that is that it ends up hampering collaboration with people using bash on Windows or a native shell on other platforms. If they append to a UTF-16 encoded .gitignore with "echo path >>.gitignore" you'll end up with a mix of encodings in the same file. Similarly if you use powershell to append to an existing file that is UTF-8 encoded with "echo hello >>.gitignore" is the appended text UTF-16 encoded resulting in mixed encodings in the same file?

Thanks

Phillip