Show 35 quoted lines
> A Clean checkout command might be...
>
> The Git model does not seem to go far enough conceptually, for some
> unexplainable reason...
>
> In particular, why is Git not treating the entire working tree as the
> versioned document (qualified of course by the .gitignore file).
>
> Instead, Git is treating a manually maintained list of files within the
> working tree as the versioned document, this list being initialized and
> manually amended by the "Git add/rm/mv" commands, etc.
>
> The result is conceptual complexity and rather counter-intuitive behavior.
> For example, adding and renaming files outside of Git is not considered
> editing the version until you subsequently do a "Git Add ." Contrast that
> with editing or deleting files outside of Git. Yet adding and renaming files
> and folders is a significant part of substantive projects, especially in the
> early stages and experimental branches.
>
> Granted, this is not a big deal functionally, but what is being lost is
> conceptual simplicity (and consistency, in my book) and conceptual
> simplicity is a key value point, if not THE key.
>
> Also can we augment checkout to totally CLEAN the working directory prior to
> a restore. If necessary we can augment .gitignore to stipulate those files
> or folders that should be excluded from the cleaning. This suggestion is in
> recognition of the fact that if you are not versioning the file, it is
> typically trash; which becomes the case when the entire working treat is
> treated as the versioned document.
>
> Consequently, I recommend the following new commands:
> "Git commit -x" -- performs a "Git add ." then a "Git commit"
> "Git checkout -x" -- that clean the working tree prior to perform a
> checkout
>
Jonathan del Strother <maillist@steelskies.com>