Re: Stashing untracked files

From: Neil Macneale <mac4-git@theory.org>
Date: Sep 29, 2007, 21:46 UTC
Message-ID: <46FEC799.30803@theory.org>
In-Reply-To: <EEE8F630-AE62-4425-96A0-239D54724DF4@lrde.epita.fr>

Benoit SIGOURE wrote:

Show 26 quoted lines

> On Sep 29, 2007, at 11:03 PM, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, Neil Macneale wrote:
>>
>>> When using "git stash," in some cases I'd like to stash away files that
>>> are currently untracked. It seems to me like there should be a way to
>>> stash everything in a working directory so that the end result is a
>>> pristine tree. Then applying the stash will reinstate those file as
>>> untracked.
>>
>> Funny how the same ideas always come in packs: I had the same discussions
>> a few nights ago on IRC.
>>
>> Here is why I think it is _wrong_ to stash untracked files: this would
>> include *.o and *.a, as well as all those binary files, too.
>>
>> Instead this is what you _should_ do:
>>
>> git add <the files that you care about>
>> git stash
> 
> You could stash untracked files that are not ignored (I personally 
> ignore *.o, *.a and the like).
>

Yeah, I wouldn't want the ignored files. I'm interested in the files listed as untracked when I run git status.

Performing an add would require me to remove those file from the index at a later date in the event that I don't want to commit them on the next commit.

In the case I'm dealing with right now, I working on content files (html/perl). It's not uncommon for me to have files which are untracked and will remain that way for an extended period of time (a few commits, say). When I need to do a stash, I generally don't want those files around afterward.

( Here is the full story. I'm using git to make my life working with perforce a little less painful. It's not uncommon for me to jump to my master branch to do a perforce sync. When I do that, I want all of my changes in working branches stashed away. I selectively add new files on each commit so that what is committed to the working branch syncs up with what I end up submitting to perforce. And to make my life even more difficult, my co-workers are not using git. So it's not uncommon for someone to send me a file for my sandbox which I will never submit to perforce because it's their job to do so. I can't tell you how many times I've told them "this would be a lot easier if we all just used git" but I digress... )

Thanks, Neil