Re: Git reset --hard with staged changes

From: Pierre-François CLEMENT <likeyn@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 9, 2014, 23:22 UTC
Message-ID: <CANWD=rVB249Vu1QMk64V+FxfCfJPzxqZgCfyEuixJJ_iKoTLPQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <87vbsayy9w.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org>

2014-06-09 16:04 GMT+02:00 David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>:

Show 30 quoted lines

> Pierre-François CLEMENT <likeyn@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Someone pointed out on the "Git for human beings" Google group
>> (https://groups.google.com/d/topic/git-users/27_FxIV_100/discussion)
>> that using git-reset's hard mode when having staged untracked files
>> simply deletes them from the working dir.
>>
>> Since git-reset specifically doesn't touch untracked files, one could
>> expect having staged untracked files reset to their previous
>> "untracked" state rather than being deleted.
>>
>> Could this be a bug or a missing feature? Or if it isn't, can someone
>> explain what we got wrong?
>
> git reset --keep maybe?
>
> In a work dir and index without modifications, I expect
>
> git apply --index ...
> git reset --hard
>
> to remove any files that git apply created.  It would not do so using
> your proposal.  I agree that it seems a bit of a borderline, but I
> consider it better that once a file _is_ tracked, git reset --hard will
> first physically remove it before untracking it.
>
> --
> David Kastrup

Hm, I didn't think of "git apply --index"... Makes sense for this special use, but I'm not sure about the other use cases. Consider this scenario:

You create a new (untracked) file. You use git-reset's hard mode to go one commit back, the new (untracked) file's still there. You add/stage that new file. You use git-reset's hard mode again to go one commit back, and the new untracked file you just staged gets deleted.

Also, according to Git-scm (http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository):

"Tracked files are files that were in the last snapshot [...]. Untracked files are everything else."

So it seems to me like staged untracked files shouldn't be considered as tracked files, and thus shouldn't be removed. Or maybe, git-reset's hard mode should always delete everything including untracked files? It would also make sense, given the numerous modes it has.

-- Pierre-François CLEMENT Application developer at Upcast Social