# Can git ignore parts of files 5 messages from 2008-11-14 to 2008-11-16. Participants: Alan, Francis Galiegue, Elijah Newren, Daniel Barkalow. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/16332 ## Alan, 2008-11-14 19:17 Subject: Can git ignore parts of files Message-ID: <1226690252.6176.9.camel@rotwang.fnordora.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1226690252.6176.9.camel%40rotwang.fnordora.org ``` I have kind of an odd problem that is causing me grief in git. I figure someone has a good solution here. (Or not, they will soon.) I have a couple of kernel .config files that are checked into git. They are used to test kernel configurations for the nightly builds where I work. We have a bunch of kernel developers working on drivers. When they add a new driver, they add in the options in the test file to make it compile in the test builds. The problem is that the kernel config file has a timestamp at the top of the file that is generated by "make oldconfig" or "make config". Other than removing the timestamp each time manually, is there a way to get git to ignore the timestamp on a merge? What happens is that the authors submit the changes on a branch in most cases. Sometimes they have a version of that file that is quite out of date. When I go to merge, that one file gives me grief 95% of the time. Is there an easy way around this? Am I approaching the problem wrong? Is there a better way to do this? ``` ## Francis Galiegue, 2008-11-14 19:33 Subject: Re: Can git ignore parts of files Message-ID: <200811142033.51019.fg@one2team.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/200811142033.51019.fg%40one2team.net In-Reply-To: <1226690252.6176.9.camel@rotwang.fnordora.org> ``` Le Friday 14 November 2008 20:17:32 Alan, vous avez écrit : > I have kind of an odd problem that is causing me grief in git. I figure > someone has a good solution here. (Or not, they will soon.) > > I have a couple of kernel .config files that are checked into git. They > are used to test kernel configurations for the nightly builds where I > work. > > We have a bunch of kernel developers working on drivers. When they add > a new driver, they add in the options in the test file to make it > compile in the test builds. > > The problem is that the kernel config file has a timestamp at the top of > the file that is generated by "make oldconfig" or "make config". Other > than removing the timestamp each time manually, is there a way to get > git to ignore the timestamp on a merge? > > What happens is that the authors submit the changes on a branch in most > cases. Sometimes they have a version of that file that is quite out of > date. When I go to merge, that one file gives me grief 95% of the time. > > Is there an easy way around this? Am I approaching the problem wrong? > Is there a better way to do this? > Do they ever touch to the kernel core? You say that they are developing drivers, they basically use core kernel interfaces but not modify them right? For quite a few years now, the kernel build system has allowed one to build drivers out of the kernel tree (but _using_ the kernel tree) fairly easily. Why not go this route? You won't have any conflict problems anymore, _and_ you can maintain (and update) your kernel tree regularly. -- fge ``` ## Alan, 2008-11-14 19:58 Subject: Re: Can git ignore parts of files Message-ID: <1226692725.6176.10.camel@rotwang.fnordora.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1226692725.6176.10.camel%40rotwang.fnordora.org In-Reply-To: <200811142033.51019.fg@one2team.net> ``` On Fri, 2008-11-14 at 20:33 +0100, Francis Galiegue wrote: > Le Friday 14 November 2008 20:17:32 Alan, vous avez écrit : > > I have kind of an odd problem that is causing me grief in git. I figure > > someone has a good solution here. (Or not, they will soon.) > > > > I have a couple of kernel .config files that are checked into git. They > > are used to test kernel configurations for the nightly builds where I > > work. > > > > We have a bunch of kernel developers working on drivers. When they add > > a new driver, they add in the options in the test file to make it > > compile in the test builds. > > > > The problem is that the kernel config file has a timestamp at the top of > > the file that is generated by "make oldconfig" or "make config". Other > > than removing the timestamp each time manually, is there a way to get > > git to ignore the timestamp on a merge? > > > > What happens is that the authors submit the changes on a branch in most > > cases. Sometimes they have a version of that file that is quite out of > > date. When I go to merge, that one file gives me grief 95% of the time. > > > > Is there an easy way around this? Am I approaching the problem wrong? > > Is there a better way to do this? > > > > Do they ever touch to the kernel core? You say that they are developing > drivers, they basically use core kernel interfaces but not modify them right? > > For quite a few years now, the kernel build system has allowed one to build > drivers out of the kernel tree (but _using_ the kernel tree) fairly easily. > Why not go this route? You won't have any conflict problems anymore, _and_ > you can maintain (and update) your kernel tree regularly. Because these will go into core at some later date. (I work for Intel.) ``` ## Elijah Newren, 2008-11-14 20:06 Subject: Re: Can git ignore parts of files Message-ID: <51419b2c0811141206s2fcedfa4udc609702299cc366@mail.gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/51419b2c0811141206s2fcedfa4udc609702299cc366%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <1226690252.6176.9.camel@rotwang.fnordora.org> ``` On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:17 PM, Alan wrote: > I have kind of an odd problem that is causing me grief in git. I figure > someone has a good solution here. (Or not, they will soon.) > > I have a couple of kernel .config files that are checked into git. They > are used to test kernel configurations for the nightly builds where I > work. > > We have a bunch of kernel developers working on drivers. When they add > a new driver, they add in the options in the test file to make it > compile in the test builds. > > The problem is that the kernel config file has a timestamp at the top of > the file that is generated by "make oldconfig" or "make config". Other > than removing the timestamp each time manually, is there a way to get > git to ignore the timestamp on a merge? > > What happens is that the authors submit the changes on a branch in most > cases. Sometimes they have a version of that file that is quite out of > date. When I go to merge, that one file gives me grief 95% of the time. > > Is there an easy way around this? Am I approaching the problem wrong? > Is there a better way to do this? Someone wrote a special merge algorithm to handle similar conflicts in tracked ChangeLog files (see http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-gnulib@gnu.org/msg09183.html). Perhaps you could write a similar merge algorithm and use it? Hope that helps, Elijah ``` ## Daniel Barkalow, 2008-11-16 08:37 Subject: Re: Can git ignore parts of files Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/alpine.LNX.1.00.0811160331110.19665%40iabervon.org In-Reply-To: <1226690252.6176.9.camel@rotwang.fnordora.org> ``` On Fri, 14 Nov 2008, Alan wrote: > I have kind of an odd problem that is causing me grief in git. I figure > someone has a good solution here. (Or not, they will soon.) > > I have a couple of kernel .config files that are checked into git. They > are used to test kernel configurations for the nightly builds where I > work. > > We have a bunch of kernel developers working on drivers. When they add > a new driver, they add in the options in the test file to make it > compile in the test builds. > > The problem is that the kernel config file has a timestamp at the top of > the file that is generated by "make oldconfig" or "make config". Other > than removing the timestamp each time manually, is there a way to get > git to ignore the timestamp on a merge? Try the "clean"/"smudge" filter feature documented in gitattributes(5). You should be able to use that to remove the timestamp automatically. -Daniel *This .sig left intentionally blank* ```