Re: "git rm" seems to do recursive removal even without "-r"

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Oct 7, 2017, 19:29 UTC
Message-ID: <20171007192902.ma4s47hn6edwldx5@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.2.21.1710071506210.15271@localhost.localdomain>

On Sat, Oct 07, 2017 at 03:12:01PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:

Show 13 quoted lines

>   ok, in that case, can you give me an example where "-r" makes a
> difference, given that the man page refers to "a leading directory
> name being given"? let's use as an example the linux kernel source,
> where there are a *ton* of files named "Makefile" under the drivers/
> directory.
> 
>   should there be a difference between:
> 
>   $ git rm drivers/Makefile
>   $ git rm -r drivers/Makefile
> 
> clearly, i have a "leading directory name" in both examples above ...
> what should happen differently?

Nothing, because there is nothing to recurse in the pathspecs you've given.

Try:

  $ git rm drivers
  fatal: not removing 'drivers' recursively without -r

versus

  $ git rm -r drivers
  [...removes everything under drivers/...]

-Peff