[PATCH] Documentation/gitignore.txt: Fix the seriously misleading priority explanation
Signed-off-by: David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>
---
Documentation/gitignore.txt | 22 ++++++++++++++--------
1 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index ea79d74..9c83095 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -18,21 +18,26 @@ pattern.
When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
`gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
-order of precedence:
+order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
+precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
- * Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
- variable 'core.excludesfile'.
-
- * Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
+ * Patterns read from the command line for those commands that support
+ them.
* Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
- as the path, or in any parent directory, ordered from the
- deepest such file to a file in the root of the repository.
+ as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
+ higher level files (up to the root) being overriden by those in
+ lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
These patterns match relative to the location of the
`.gitignore` file. A project normally includes such
`.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for
files generated as part of the project build.
+ * Patterns read from `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.
+
+ * Patterns read from the file specified by the configuration
+ variable 'core.excludesfile'.
+
The underlying git plumbing tools, such as
gitlink:git-ls-files[1] and gitlink:git-read-tree[1], read
`gitignore` patterns specified by command-line options, or from
@@ -49,7 +54,8 @@ Patterns have the following format:
- An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any
matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become
- included again.
+ included again. If a negated pattern matches, this will
+ override lower precedence patterns sources.
- If the pattern does not contain a slash '/', git treats it as
a shell glob pattern and checks for a match against the
--
1.5.2.3
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum
David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>