# [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore 9 messages from 2012-10-02 to 2012-10-04. Participants: Ramkumar Ramachandra, Stefano Lattarini, Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, Jens Lehmann, Joshua Jensen. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/31708 ## Ramkumar Ramachandra, 2012-10-02 07:21 Subject: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CALkWK0nXfeAnFfdFtdDNdEwtk0mMPtpYbg8sPzfrEXUpXsGQOA%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi, I've often found the '**' (extended) shell glob useful for matching any string crossing directory boundaries: it's especially useful if you only have a toplevel .gitignore, as opposed to a per-directory .gitignore. Unfortunately, .gitignore currently uses fnmatch(3), and doesn't recognize '**'. Would extending the .gitignore format to accept this be a useful feature? Would it involve re-implementing and extending fnmatch, or is there some other way? Ram ``` ## Stefano Lattarini, 2012-10-02 07:58 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: <506A9EA6.9010303@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/506A9EA6.9010303%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On 10/02/2012 09:21 AM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: > Hi, > > I've often found the '**' (extended) shell glob useful for matching > any string crossing directory boundaries: it's especially useful if > you only have a toplevel .gitignore, as opposed to a per-directory > .gitignore. Unfortunately, .gitignore currently uses fnmatch(3), and > doesn't recognize '**'. Would extending the .gitignore format to > accept this be a useful feature? Would it involve re-implementing and > extending fnmatch, or is there some other way? > I think there is a topic in flight about this: HTH, Stefano ``` ## Ramkumar Ramachandra, 2012-10-02 08:24 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CALkWK0%3DX5nJ6Shwa0%2B6Jk2cgvvo25j%3DmKLRs4v%3DeQY7x9%2BXvFw%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <506A9EA6.9010303@gmail.com> ``` Stefano Lattarini wrote: > On 10/02/2012 09:21 AM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I've often found the '**' (extended) shell glob useful for matching >> any string crossing directory boundaries: it's especially useful if >> you only have a toplevel .gitignore, as opposed to a per-directory >> .gitignore. Unfortunately, .gitignore currently uses fnmatch(3), and >> doesn't recognize '**'. Would extending the .gitignore format to >> accept this be a useful feature? Would it involve re-implementing and >> extending fnmatch, or is there some other way? >> > I think there is a topic in flight about this: > > Ah, yes. Thanks. Ram ``` ## Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, 2012-10-03 11:35 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CACsJy8CUK0g4FhuJxzJqN7qS2apoO2zYdg_SGvWzEN5dGcHhaA%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 3:24 PM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: > Stefano Lattarini wrote: >> On 10/02/2012 09:21 AM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> I've often found the '**' (extended) shell glob useful for matching >>> any string crossing directory boundaries: it's especially useful if >>> you only have a toplevel .gitignore, as opposed to a per-directory >>> .gitignore. Unfortunately, .gitignore currently uses fnmatch(3), and >>> doesn't recognize '**'. Would extending the .gitignore format to >>> accept this be a useful feature? Would it involve re-implementing and >>> extending fnmatch, or is there some other way? >>> >> I think there is a topic in flight about this: >> >> While I'm behind this series, I have no use cases for it in my repositories. It's tested in git test suite but that's about it. Some feedback would be nice, especially on the performance side if you do a lot of ignores. -- Duy ``` ## Jens Lehmann, 2012-10-03 13:35 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: <506C3F23.9000009@web.de> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/506C3F23.9000009%40web.de In-Reply-To: ``` Am 03.10.2012 13:35, schrieb Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy: > On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 3:24 PM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: >> Stefano Lattarini wrote: >>> On 10/02/2012 09:21 AM, Ramkumar Ramachandra wrote: >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> I've often found the '**' (extended) shell glob useful for matching >>>> any string crossing directory boundaries: it's especially useful if >>>> you only have a toplevel .gitignore, as opposed to a per-directory >>>> .gitignore. Unfortunately, .gitignore currently uses fnmatch(3), and >>>> doesn't recognize '**'. Would extending the .gitignore format to >>>> accept this be a useful feature? Would it involve re-implementing and >>>> extending fnmatch, or is there some other way? >>>> >>> I think there is a topic in flight about this: >>> >>> > > While I'm behind this series, I have no use cases for it in my > repositories. It's tested in git test suite but that's about it. Some > feedback would be nice, especially on the performance side if you do a > lot of ignores. I really like it as we do have use cases at my dayjob. Due to our naming conventions in subdirectories we have stuff like this in our .gitignore files: */foo/bar */*/foo/bar */*/*/foo/bar Using "**/foo/bar" instead would be a great improvement (I looked into adding that myself some time ago, but decided it wasn't a low hanging fruit). Maybe I'll find time do do some performance measurements until the weekend, what numbers are you interested in? Will a hot cache "time git status" be sufficient or are you interested in other numbers too? ``` ## Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, 2012-10-03 13:42 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CACsJy8DRxbjcRpbO30vOCo9D%2BTK_dDX_oiocZSOtnGAR2jAOFw%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <506C3F23.9000009@web.de> ``` On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 8:35 PM, Jens Lehmann wrote: > */foo/bar > */*/foo/bar > */*/*/foo/bar > > Using "**/foo/bar" instead would be a great improvement If this "**/foo/bar" (i.e. no wildcards except one ** at the beginning) is popular, we could optimize this case, turning fmatch() into strncmp(), just like what we do for "foobar*" -- Duy ``` ## Jens Lehmann, 2012-10-03 13:51 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: <506C42CB.90903@web.de> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/506C42CB.90903%40web.de In-Reply-To: ``` Am 03.10.2012 15:42, schrieb Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy: > On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 8:35 PM, Jens Lehmann wrote: >> */foo/bar >> */*/foo/bar >> */*/*/foo/bar >> >> Using "**/foo/bar" instead would be a great improvement > > If this "**/foo/bar" (i.e. no wildcards except one ** at the > beginning) is popular, we could optimize this case, turning fmatch() > into strncmp(), just like what we do for "foobar*" I expect the logic "ignore in any directory depth you find it" to be one of the major use cases for "**", so I think optimization makes sense here. ``` ## Joshua Jensen, 2012-10-03 17:51 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: <506C7B37.3080804@workspacewhiz.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/506C7B37.3080804%40workspacewhiz.com In-Reply-To: ``` ----- Original Message ----- From: Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy Date: 10/3/2012 7:42 AM > On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 8:35 PM, Jens Lehmann wrote: >> */foo/bar >> */*/foo/bar >> */*/*/foo/bar >> >> Using "**/foo/bar" instead would be a great improvement > If this "**/foo/bar" (i.e. no wildcards except one ** at the > beginning) is popular, we could optimize this case, turning fmatch() > into strncmp(), just like what we do for "foobar*" FWIW, I would like to see this in .gitattributes as well. I have a version of .gitattributes that supports recursive wildcards that I use for specifying filters. -Josh ``` ## Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, 2012-10-04 01:34 Subject: Re: [ENHANCEMENT] Allow '**' pattern in .gitignore Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CACsJy8C2QcNPte%2BC9aFHOD1oTqopqdX2%3D6KG13s4dPrPoONYVg%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <506C7B37.3080804@workspacewhiz.com> ``` On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 12:51 AM, Joshua Jensen wrote: > FWIW, I would like to see this in .gitattributes as well. I have a version > of .gitattributes that supports recursive wildcards that I use for > specifying filters. .gitattributes also learns about "**" in nd/wildmatch topic. -- Duy ```