git ls-files unreliable?

Hi,

I want to verify from a script that the working directory is clean. Some time ago Linus suggested to use "git diff --quiet --cached" followed by "git ls-files --exclude-standard -o -d -m -u". But:

$ git status # On branch git_workdir_check # Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 1 commit. # # Changes to be committed: # (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage) # # modified: ../../../test # # Changed but not updated: # (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed) # (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working # directory) # # modified: ../../../test # $ git ls-files --exclude-standard -o -d -m -u $ echo $? 0

So there _were_ uncommitted changes, "git status" showed them, but "git ls-files" did not. Unstaging the staged changes did not help, changing a different file did not help. Tried git versions 1.5.4.2 and 1.7.0-rc2, both showed the same behavior.

When I did a "commit" and changed a file after that, then ls-files
started to take notice. I don't know how to reproduce the state shown
above. But this means that I cannot rely on "git ls-files" to check if
the working directory is clean; so what should I use instead?
Restriction: any solutions must work with git versions as old as 1.5.4.

Gabor