Gitignore file exceptions are not applied to untarcked files

Hi,

I'm not sure if the described issue is a bug or a feature; if it is the latter, please, excuse the report.

I'm dealing with git 1.7.12.4. If this has been addressed in the later issue, please, point me so.

The problem: I have a directory tree with lots of files and dirs, of which I only track certain files in subdirs of a specific subdir. It goes like this:

/untracted_file1 /untracked_file2 /untracked_dir1/... /untracked_dir2/... /tracked_dir/subdir1/config /tracked_dir/subdir1/another_untracked_file /tracked_dir/subdir2/config /tracked_dir/subdir2/another_untracked_file

I'm only interested in /tracked_dir/.../config files. My .gitignore is as follows:

# Ignore everything first * # Do not ignore tracked files !/tracked_dir/*/config # Don't ignore .gitignore !.gitignore

This works fine until a new directory with a config file is created inside /tracked_dir:

/tracked_dir/new_subdir/config

This config file is not seen by git at all (git status returns no changes to add), although it matches the exclusion pattern.

While I can use various workarounds, I'm interested whether this actual phenomenon occurs - why does the exclusion pattern not match an untracked file in untracked directory? Is it because the exclusion pattern is never applied to untracked files? Or is it because the directory new_subdir is itself untracked?

WWell,

Assen Totin

Assen Totin <assen.totin@gmail.com> writes:

That is a bit too ancient version, so I am not sure how it behaved back then.

I am not sure if that is "working fine". First, aren't these 'config' files tracked? "!/tracked_dir/*/config" or whatever you have in the gitignore files have no effect on what is already tracked.

That is, if you replace your .gitignore with a single line,

	# ignore everything
        *

your /tracked_dir/foo/config that is already in the index (i.e. "git ls-files tracked_dir/foo/config" would show it) would not be ignored.

So my suspicion is that (1) you do see tracked_dir/subdir1/config is not ignored not because of any of your !tracked_dir/*/config lines but because tracked_dir/subdir1/config is already in the index, and (2) your tracked_dir/new_subdir/config is shown as ignored because it is not tracked yet, and '*' tells Git that new_subdir is ignored.

By the way, this area did have a recent regression at v2.7.0, to which a fix is percolating down to the v2.7.x maintenance track.

Hi Junio,

I've tested it with many older versions of git, as well as with the recent v2.7.0 - it seems like this feature has been never working properly.

The script https://gist.github.com/anatolyborodin/9c581b50c584534fff28

#!/bin/sh

set -e

# a # b # c # D/a # D/b # D/c # E/F/a # E/F/b # E/F/c

mkdir -p D E/F touch a b c D/a D/b D/c E/F/a E/F/b E/F/c

echo && echo '.gitignore' && echo '----------' echo '*\n!b\n!D/b\n!/D/b\n!/E/*/b' > .gitignore cat .gitignore

echo && echo 'With `--ignored`' && echo '----------' git status --ignored

echo && echo 'Without `--ignored`' && echo '----------' git status

The output:

.gitignore ---------- * !b /D/b !/D/b !/E/*/b

With `--ignored`
----------
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        b

Ignored files:
  (use "git add -f <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        .gitignore
        D/
        E/
        a
        c

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Without `--ignored`
----------
On branch master
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        b

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

All files in the subdirectories are ignored, no matter what.