ignored file can be deleted silently

Hi,

I noticed that when i put a file in the git ignore If i switch to a branch where the file is present and versioned git delete my local ignored file replacing it with the content of the branch I switched this is done silently and the file is gone forever if I don't have a copy somewhere

this is a stupid testcase:

$ git init $ echo 'content I dont care about' > testcase.txt $ git add testcase.txt $ git commit -m "content I don't care about" $ git checkout -b test $ echo 'testcase.txt' > .gitignore $ git rm testcase.txt $ echo 'content I do care a lot' > testcase.txt $ git add .gitignore $ git commit -m "ignored testcase.txt" $ cat testcase.txt content I do care a lot $ git checkout master $ cat testcase.txt $ git checkout test $ ls testcase.txt ls: testcase.txt: No such file or directory

This may sound stupid (put a content you care about in an ignored file) but think about environment configuration files

it is common to initially commit them (wrong) then copy them to a template file adding the original to ignore especially if you are migrating from subversion where it is really common practice to have local modified file you never commit (and I think git really miss a *feature* like this) they can be very big and with a lot of environment options...

if for some reason I had to switch to an old commit where the file is still not ignored to do some test and I forgot that commit do not ignore my little environment file I can lose it...

I think git should warn me in some way and, at least, give me a backup of the file

what do you think about it?

regards, Daniele Segato