Change in .gitignore handling: intended or bug?

Hello,

I've found a change in the way .gitignore works, and I'm not sure if it's a bug or intended.

Previously, one could use the following .gitignore:

    *
    !/foo
    !/foo/bar.txt
    !/baz
    !/baz/quux
    !/baz/quux/**/*

And these files would be seen by git:

    foo/bar.txt
    baz/quux/grault.txt
    baz/quux/corge/wibble.txt

And these files would be ignored:

    foo/garply.txt
    baz/waldo.txt

At some point (between git 2.6.0 and 2.7.0, I think), the behavior changed such that _none_ of the files above would be ignored. Previously, git would treat !/foo as an indication that it should not prune /foo, but that _wouldn't_ be sufficient to un-ignore the contents thereof. Now, it seems the new scheme treats !/foo as functionally equivalent to !/foo followed by !/foo/**/* in the old scheme.

I manage my home directory by making it a git repo, and using ~/.gitignore to selectively permit certain files or subdirectories to be seen by git. The recent change in behavior has resulted in sensitive directories like ~/.gpg being un-ignored. For reference, I've appended my .gitignore to the end of this email.

So, is this behavior intended, or is this a bug? If the former, is there an announcement explaining this change?

-Charles

(.gitignore is as follows)

* !/.Xdefaults !/.Xresources !/.ackrc !/.bash_profile !/.config !/.config/dunst !/.config/dunst/dunstrc !/.config/taffybar !/.config/taffybar/taffybar.hs !/.config/taffybar/taffybar.rc !/.ctags !/.gdb !/.gdb/**/* !/.gdbinit !/.gemrc !/.ghci !/.git_template !/.git_template/**/* !/.gitexcludes !/.gitignore !/.gnupg !/.gnupg/dirmngr.conf !/.gnupg/gpg.conf !/.goobook/ !/.goobook/decipher !/.goobook/decipher/goobookrc !/.inputrc !/.irbrc !/.irssi !/.irssi/**/* !/.mbsyncrc !/.msmtprc !/.mutt !/.mutt/accounts !/.mutt/accounts/* !/.mutt/gpg.rc !/.mutt/mailcap !/.mutt/muttrc !/.mutt/signature !/.mutt/theme/* !/.nixpkgs !/.nixpkgs/**/* !/.notmuch-config !/.pystartup !/.tmux !/.tmux.conf !/.tmux/**/* !/.vim !/.vim/**/* !/.vimrc !/.xmonad !/.xmonad/xmonad.hs !/.xsession !/.zlogin !/.zprofile !/.zsh !/.zsh/**/* !/.zshenv !/.zshrc !/osx