Re: git-ls-files --added?

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: May 24, 2009, 18:17 UTC
Message-ID: <7vmy921i3j.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <2cfc40320905240212jc111b1xfeb39b1851c606d3@mail.gmail.com>

Jon Seymour <jon.seymour@gmail.com> writes:

Show 6 quoted lines

> Jakub,
>
> Thanks - yes, I wasn't happy about parsing git status.
>
> I am still interested in the rationale for git-ls-files not supporting
> such an option directly, since git-diff still seems a little indirect.

Partly historical, but more fundamental reason is because ls-files plumbing is about the index.

The index by definition knows about the work tree files. Reporting the status of work tree files by comparing what was added to the index makes sense in that context.

git-ls-files documentation lists --cached/deleted... and if you think about them, you will realize that the all of them make sense; they are about the index or comparison between the index and the work tree.

Added is _not_ about comparision between the index and the work tree. It is between the HEAD commit and the index, and it does not belong to ls-files plumbing.