Re: [PATCH v3 6/7] sparse-index: point users to new 'clean' action

> On Fri, Sep 12, 2025 at 3:30 AM Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
> <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
>>
>> In my experience, the most-common reason that the sparse index must
>> expand to a full one is because there is some leftover file in a tracked
>> directory that is now outside of the sparse-checkout. The new 'git
>> sparse-checkout clean' command will find and delete these directories,
>> so point users to it when they hit the sparse index expansion advice.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
>> ---
>>   sparse-index.c | 3 ++-
>>   1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/sparse-index.c b/sparse-index.c
>> index 5634abafaa..5d14795063 100644
>> --- a/sparse-index.c
>> +++ b/sparse-index.c
>> @@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ int give_advice_on_expansion = 1;
>>          "Your working directory likely has contents that are outside of\n"     \
>>          "your sparse-checkout patterns. Use 'git sparse-checkout list' to\n"   \
>>          "see your sparse-checkout definition and compare it to your working\n" \
>> -       "directory contents. Running 'git clean' may assist in this cleanup."
>> +       "directory contents. Running 'git sparse-checkout clean' may assist\n" \
>> +       "in this cleanup."
> 
> Given that you dropped patch 8 and explicitly call out in the
> documentation of `git sparse-checkout clean` that it alone is not
> sufficient to do the cleanup, should this advice be calling out a
> combination of `git sparse-checkout clean` and `git sparse-checkout
> reapply` ?  (Should it also suggest an order for running those two; I
> seem to recall that the order mattered, but can't recall which one
> needs to run first or if it is situation dependent.)