Re: [PATCH] init - Honour the global core.filemode setting

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 1, 2014, 17:10 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqy4szpvfv.fsf@gitster.dls.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAE1pOi1dAO7XFZtrgZyNm-eLVKQx=KpeejbGmF8khCofAppDLg@mail.gmail.com>

Hilco Wijbenga <hilco.wijbenga@gmail.com> writes:

> Perhaps I completely misunderstand the meaning of core.filemode but I
> thought it determined whether Git cared about changes in file
> properties?

By setting it to "false", you tell Git that the filesystem you placed the repository does not correctly represent the filemode (especially the executable bit).

"core.fileMode" in "git config --help" reads:

       core.fileMode
           If false, the executable bit differences between the
           index and the working tree are ignored; useful on broken
           filesystems like FAT. See git-update- index(1).

           The default is true, except git-clone(1) or git-init(1)
           will probe and set core.fileMode false if appropriate
           when the repository is created.

Maybe our documentation is not clear enough. A contribution from somebody new to Git we would appreciate would be to point out which part of these sentences are unclear; that way, people can work on improving its phrasing.

Thanks.