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Re: Unexpected ignorecase=false behavior on Windows

From
Marc Strapetz <marc.strapetz@syntevo.com>
Date
Jun 24, 2018, 10:07 UTC
Message-ID
<c9a9167c-8528-c85a-e7aa-9197ab92e685@syntevo.com>
In-Reply-To
<CAGyf7-GvcN8EhMgtaZcDJNYNdfLwVH8HVBDmZqJU40nze0NSEA@mail.gmail.com>
On 22.06.2018 22:58, Bryan Turner wrote:
Show 51 quoted lines
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 1:45 PM Marc Strapetz <marc.strapetz@syntevo.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 22.06.2018 19:36, Johannes Sixt wrote:
>>> Am 22.06.2018 um 14:04 schrieb Marc Strapetz:
>>>> On Windows, when creating following repository:
>>>>
>>>> $ git init
>>>> $ echo "1" > file.txt
>>>> $ git add .
>>>> $ git commit -m "initial import"
>>>> $ ren file.txt File.txt
>>>> $ git config core.ignorecase false
>>>
>>> This is a user error. core.ignorecase is *not* an instruction as in
>>> "hey, Git, do not ignore the case of file names". It is better regarded
>>> as an internal value, with which Git remembers how it should treat the
>>> names of files that it receives when it traverses the directories on the
>>> disk.
>>>
>>> Git could probe the file system capabilities each time it runs. But that
>>> would be wasteful. Hence, this probe happens only once when the
>>> repository is initialized, and the result is recorded in this
>>> configuration value. You should not change it.
>>
>> Sorry, it looks like my example was misleading. I'm actually questioning
>> current behavior in case of Windows repositories with core.ignorecase
>> initialized to false, like in following setup:
>>
>> $ git init
>> $ git config core.ignorecase false
>>
>> The repository is now set up to be case-sensitive on Windows. From this
>> point on, core.ignorecase won't change anymore and the repository will
>> be filled:
> 
> I don't think Hannes's point was _when_ you changed it; it was that
> you changed it _at all_.
> 
> Git on Windows is not designed to run with anything other than
> core.ignoreCase=true, and attempting to do so will cause unexpected
> behavior. In other words, it's not a behavior toggle so user's can
> request the functionality to work one way or the other; it's an
> implementation detail that `git init` and `git clone` set when a
> repository is created purely so they don't have to probe the file
> system each time you run a `git` command.
> 
> NTFS is case-preserving-but-case-insensitive by default[1]. So long as
> that's the case, the only mode for running Git on Windows is
> core.ignoreCase=true.
> 
> Hopefully this clarifies things!

Thanks, it does. In this case, I'd suggest to make this clear in the documentation, too. I've just sent a patch.

-Marc
Previous: Bryan TurnerNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 5 of 7 in “Unexpected ignorecase=false behavior on Windows”
  1. Marc StrapetzJun 22, 2018
  2. Johannes SixtJun 22, 2018
  3. Marc StrapetzJun 22, 2018
  4. Bryan TurnerJun 22, 2018
  5. Marc StrapetzJun 24, 2018
  6. Junio C HamanoJun 25, 2018
  7. Bryan TurnerJun 25, 2018

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