Re: [RFC PATCH 00/12] Sparse checkout

> On 7/24/08, Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> wrote:
> >  > > No, I did mean the index.  This is an attribute of the index: 
> >  > > either it is sparsely checked out or not.  You can even have 
> >  > > multiple indices (switching between them by setting 
> >  > > GIT_INDEX_FILE) which have different prefixes.
> >  >
> >  > I don't think so. It's a mask for workdir, right? If you save it it 
> >  > index, you can switch index and the prefix as well, but workdir 
> >  > only has several subtrees that do not fit any other prefix than the 
> >  > original prefix.
> >
> >
> > Ah, you adroitly avoided addressing the issue that the user can change 
> > the prefix without the index ever noticing.
> 
> Forgive my ignorance. I still do not get why index must notice prefix 
> change? The only reason I can think of is that we must make sure there 
> won't be any user-modification in index outside the prefix. But that can 
> be guarded from higher level (plumbings and porcelains) because index is 
> allowed to have modification outside sparse prefix (auto-merged 
> entries).