Re: [PATCH 2/2] Documentation: point to related commands from gitignore

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Nov 11, 2010, 19:05 UTC
Message-ID: <7vwrojfzq3.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20101110190048.GC12365@burratino>

Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> writes:

> While at it, move a reference to update-index --assume-unchanged from
> the DESCRIPTION to lower down on the page.  This way, the methodical
> reader can benefit from first learning what excludes files do, then
> how they relate to other git facilities.

Looks sensible.

Show 5 quoted lines

> +To ignore uncommitted changes in a file that is already tracked,
> +use 'git update-index {litdd}assume-unchanged'.
> +
> +To stop tracking a file that is currently tracked, use
> +'git rm --cached'.

I am not very happy with the wording "to do X, use Y" above, though. For example, "rm --cached" is a good starting point, but that needs to be followed by a commit some time in the future to take permanent effect. The realization that "rm --cached" is a good starting point would come only with an understanding of what "rm --cached" does (i.e. it removes the path from the index, preparing for its removal from the future history).

"to do X, see Y" might be a good compromise, because what I am suggesting by the above is that ideally to say "to do X means doing Z so using Y is a good way to achieve it", but "... means doing Z" part is explained in the manual page of Y.

In any case, will queue.  Thanks.