Re: Feat. req.: add a flag to `git clean` to also remove ignored nested repositories

From: Simon Cheng <cyqsimon@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 16, 2026, 05:16 UTC
Message-ID: <CA+itcS3S3SXWGSwFp=k=f0u+q5eEqSqKMzFwLzKHLzLOtYpH9g@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <aWEAHQLzwTxCpD5Q@fruit.crustytoothpaste.net>

Ah yes that's exactly what I need, thanks a lot. Pebkac moment for me sorry.

I must say though, the discoverability of this "double -f" behaviour can be improved. Maybe the "nested repository skipped" message can include a hint? Something like this I imagine:

Skipping repository ignored-path/repo (pass a second `-f` to remove)

Wdyt?

On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 at 21:18, brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> wrote:

Show 30 quoted lines

>
> On 2026-01-09 at 03:50:30, Simon Cheng wrote:
> > Currently, running `git clean -dxf` on a repository that includes
> > another repository under an ignored path would skip said repository:
> >
> > $ git clean -dxf
> > Removing foo
> > Skipping repository ignored-path/repo
> > Removing bar
> >
> > This is to request the addition of a new flag to allow altering this
> > behaviour, i.e. to make `git clean` remove those repositories too.
> >
> > For me, this feature is relevant for building `*-git` packages from
> > the AUR, for example https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/paru-git. By
> > default `makepkg` would clone the source repo into `./src/NAME`, which
> > creates the aforementioned condition. Without such an option on `git
> > clean`, cleanup after build is rather complicated.
>
> Does this work if you use `git clean -dxff` (that is, with a second `-f`
> flag)?  I do often clean up ignored repositories that way (and it's
> documented to do that in the manual page), but I'm not sure if you're
> maybe doing something a little different from my workflow.
>
> If that _doesn't_ work for you, would you mind creating a quick shell
> script to demonstrate the problem that you're seeing so that we could
> provide better advice?
> --
> brian m. carlson (they/them)
> Toronto, Ontario, CA