[BUG] git-add doesn't apply filepatterns to tracked files

Ran across a rather bizarre bug today while trying to help someone in #git. It seems that git-add doesn't match filepatterns against tracked files, only against untracked files. Other tested commands (such as git-rm and git-ls-files) are happy to match tracked files, but not git-add.

% git --version
git version 1.7.3.3.576.gd872
% ls -a
./       ../      .git/    bar.txt  foo.txt
% git status --short
 M foo.txt
?? bar.txt
% git add '*.txt'
% git status --short
A  bar.txt
 M foo.txt

There are no .gitignores in play here.

I haven't had time to investigate the source yet, as I'm still at work.

-Kevin Ballard

Kevin Ballard <kevin@sb.org> writes:

This is an issue known for a long time (and the one I had been bitching about every time I had a chance). Tracked ones obey diff-index pathspec rules (leading path match only) while untracked ones use gitignore pathspec rules.

On Dec 8, 2010, at 3:07 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

If I understand you correctly, you're saying tracked files don't understand patterns because git-diff-index doesn't handle patterns? Is there some reason that git-diff-index doesn't support patterns? I tried a handful of commands and here's the pattern-matching behavior I saw:

git-add: patterns match untracked, but not tracked git-rm: patterns match tracked files, command doesn't work on untracked git-status: patterns match untracked, but not tracked git-ls-files: patterns match tracked, command doesn't work on untracked git-ls-tree: no pattern support git-check-attr: no pattern support

Documentation is a bit sporadic here as well. git-add lists <filepattern> in its synopsis and options and defines this as supporting "fileglobs". No mention whatsoever of the tracked file limitation. git-rm only lists <file> in synopsis/options, but does document this as being a "fileglob". git-status uses <pathspec> in the synopsis, and doesn't even document this in the options. It only makes a reference in the description, calling it "paths". git-ls-files calls it <file> in both synopsis and options, and makes no mention whatsoever of globs. git-ls-tree uses <path> in both synopsis/options, but explicitly claims that this is really a pattern in the option documentation. Curious, given its complete lack of pattern matching. git-check-attr uses <list-of-paths> in the synopsis, with no mention in the options.

Overall, there's a few problems here. The first is that git-add and git-ls-files apply the git-diff-index rules for tracked files, but apply actual patterns to untracked files. The second is the documentation is inconsistent, both in the name of the argument, and in making it clear which commands actually support patterns (plus the documentation for git-ls-tree is explicitly wrong about pattern support). The third is we're inconsistent in which commands support patterns at all.

-Kevin Ballard