# ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' 3 messages from 2017-02-07 to 2017-02-07. Participants: Hongyi Zhao, Cornelius Weig, Jacob Keller. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/45072 ## Hongyi Zhao, 2017-02-07 14:17 Subject: ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAGP6PO%2BqD6eRkKbWAxOfiqUQw8o%2BdOfgwgvt_8OxHQ5ocAopEQ%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi all, In order to delete all of the last build stuff, does the following two methods equivalent or not? ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' Regards -- Hongsheng Zhao Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences GnuPG DSA: 0xD108493 ``` ## Cornelius Weig, 2017-02-07 15:07 Subject: Re: ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/fe8595aa-0395-e948-13e9-f952541d106e%40tngtech.com In-Reply-To: ``` On 02/07/2017 03:17 PM, Hongyi Zhao wrote: > Hi all, > > In order to delete all of the last build stuff, does the following two > methods equivalent or not? > > ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' No, it is not equivalent. * `make clean` removes any build-related files (assuming that the `clean` target is properly written). To see exactly what it would do, run `make clean -n`. Judging from your question, I think this is what you want to do. * `git clean -xdf` would remove any files that git does not track. This also includes build-related files, but also any other files that happen to be in your working directory. For example, any output from `git format-patch` would be removed by this, but not `make clean`. ``` ## Jacob Keller, 2017-02-07 19:35 Subject: Re: ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CA%2BP7%2BxpesQVS5qZJZ5wd31eJDLmb5j0Xdq_rwajjoskB07ELfg%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On Tue, Feb 7, 2017 at 7:07 AM, Cornelius Weig wrote: > On 02/07/2017 03:17 PM, Hongyi Zhao wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> In order to delete all of the last build stuff, does the following two >> methods equivalent or not? >> >> ``git clean -xdf'' and ``make clean'' > > No, it is not equivalent. > > * `make clean` removes any build-related files (assuming that the > `clean` target is properly written). To see exactly what it would do, > run `make clean -n`. Judging from your question, I think this is what > you want to do. > > * `git clean -xdf` would remove any files that git does not track. This > also includes build-related files, but also any other files that happen > to be in your working directory. For example, any output from `git > format-patch` would be removed by this, but not `make clean`. Make clean can run arbitrary code, and really depends on the implementation. git clean -xdf will result in all non-tracked files being removed, which should restore you to a pristine pre-build state. However, this can have unfortunate side effect of destroying files which you might not expect. Properly written, a make clean shouldn't remove anything except what could be regenerated by make. But that's just a strong convention. Regards, Jake ```