# git overwriting local ignored files? 6 messages from 2018-11-24 to 2018-11-25. Participants: David Mandelberg, Junio C Hamano, Konstantin Khomoutov. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/49887 ## David Mandelberg, 2018-11-24 02:35 Subject: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/a852c0e9-f278-8e2a-406c-bb6099b2440c%40mandelberg.org ``` Hi, It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in .gitignore. See command transcript below. I searched `git help config` and Google, but I couldn't find any way to prevent it. Am I missing something? (The reason I care about ignored files is that I'm using git with a working directory of $HOME to manage my dotfiles, and most files in my $HOME are not tracked by git but are still important.) dseomn@solaria:~$ mktemp -d /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp dseomn@solaria:~$ cd /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp$ git init --bare repo.git Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/repo.git/ dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp$ git clone repo.git foo Cloning into 'foo'... warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository. done. dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp$ git clone repo.git bar Cloning into 'bar'... warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository. done. dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp$ cd foo dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ echo '*' > .gitignore dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ git add -f .gitignore dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ git commit -m 'gitignore' [master (root-commit) affd2fb] gitignore 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 .gitignore dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ git push Counting objects: 3, done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 216 bytes | 216.00 KiB/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/repo.git * [new branch] master -> master dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ cd ../bar dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ git fetch remote: Counting objects: 3, done. remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done. From /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/repo * [new branch] master -> origin/master dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ git merge @{u} dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ echo hi > quux dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ git add -f quux dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ git commit -m 'quux' [master aee4b54] quux 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 quux dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ git push Counting objects: 3, done. Delta compression using up to 4 threads. Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 273 bytes | 273.00 KiB/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/repo.git affd2fb..aee4b54 master -> master dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/bar (master)$ cd ../foo dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ echo bye > quux dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ git fetch remote: Counting objects: 3, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done. remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done. From /tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/repo affd2fb..aee4b54 master -> origin/master dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ cat quux bye dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ git merge @{u} Updating affd2fb..aee4b54 Fast-forward quux | 1 + 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 quux dseomn@solaria:/tmp/tmp.RHyyMxJ5Zp/foo (master)$ cat quux hi -- https://david.mandelberg.org/ ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2018-11-24 04:22 Subject: Re: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqftvr2jfo.fsf%40gitster-ct.c.googlers.com In-Reply-To: ``` David Mandelberg writes: > It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in > .gitignore. See command transcript below. I searched `git help config` > and Google, but I couldn't find any way to prevent it. Am I missing > something? (The reason I care about ignored files is that I'm using > git with a working directory of $HOME to manage my dotfiles, and most > files in my $HOME are not tracked by git but are still important.) The .gitignore file is to list "ignored and expendable" class of files; there is no "ignored but precious class" in Git. ``` ## David Mandelberg, 2018-11-24 14:37 Subject: Re: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: <7ac49733-2e62-7d29-36aa-99df4124b54c@mandelberg.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7ac49733-2e62-7d29-36aa-99df4124b54c%40mandelberg.org In-Reply-To: ``` On 11/23/18 11:22 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > David Mandelberg writes: > >> It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in >> .gitignore. See command transcript below. I searched `git help config` >> and Google, but I couldn't find any way to prevent it. Am I missing >> something? (The reason I care about ignored files is that I'm using >> git with a working directory of $HOME to manage my dotfiles, and most >> files in my $HOME are not tracked by git but are still important.) > > The .gitignore file is to list "ignored and expendable" class of > files; there is no "ignored but precious class" in Git. Ok. Would a patch be welcome? I have three ideas for how to implement it, and I'm not sure which is better. 1. Add a boolean config option called core.preserveIgnore (or similar). I'm guessing this is the least amount of work, but it's not very flexible. I'm also not sure how it should work with `git clean`. 2. Add some syntax to the .gitignore format so the same file can list both "ignored and expendable" and "ignored and precious". I could see using this to mark compiled files as ignored+expendable and per-repo editor/IDE config files as ignored+precious. Do you have any idea how big of a patch this would be? Or any idea for the new syntax? I think starting a line with "\x" where x is any character not currently escaped by a backslash would cause the least disruption to existing .gitignore files. 3. Like (2), but use a separate file instead of .gitignore (and the other git-ignore files). Any thoughts? -- https://david.mandelberg.org/ ``` ## Konstantin Khomoutov, 2018-11-24 14:57 Subject: Re: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: <20181124145723.ow2h7x374xwwts6m@tigra> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20181124145723.ow2h7x374xwwts6m%40tigra In-Reply-To: <7ac49733-2e62-7d29-36aa-99df4124b54c@mandelberg.org> ``` On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 09:37:06AM -0500, David Mandelberg wrote: > > > It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in > > > .gitignore. [...] > > The .gitignore file is to list "ignored and expendable" class of > > files; there is no "ignored but precious class" in Git. > Ok. Would a patch be welcome? I have three ideas for how to implement it, > and I'm not sure which is better. [...] You might want to first investigate this recent thread [1] which AFAIK was dedicated to exactly this problem. 1. https://public-inbox.org/git/4C6A1C5B.4030304@workspacewhiz.com/ ``` ## Konstantin Khomoutov, 2018-11-24 15:41 Subject: Re: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: <20181124154132.co3lo27wy25i4v47@tigra> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20181124154132.co3lo27wy25i4v47%40tigra In-Reply-To: <20181124145723.ow2h7x374xwwts6m@tigra> ``` On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 05:57:24PM +0300, Konstantin Khomoutov wrote: > On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 09:37:06AM -0500, David Mandelberg wrote: > > > > > It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in > > > > .gitignore. > [...] > > > The .gitignore file is to list "ignored and expendable" class of > > > files; there is no "ignored but precious class" in Git. > > Ok. Would a patch be welcome? I have three ideas for how to implement it, > > and I'm not sure which is better. > [...] > > You might want to first investigate this recent thread [1] which AFAIK > was dedicated to exactly this problem. Well, actually the thread is old, but its continuation [2] is recent. The crux is that it discusses certain approaches to solve the apparent problem and patches to do that. 1. https://public-inbox.org/git/4C6A1C5B.4030304@workspacewhiz.com/ 2. https://public-inbox.org/git/871s8qdzph.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com/ ``` ## David Mandelberg, 2018-11-25 02:06 Subject: Re: git overwriting local ignored files? Message-ID: <89204364-f624-62ec-fbaa-84b5b7ae4099@mandelberg.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/89204364-f624-62ec-fbaa-84b5b7ae4099%40mandelberg.org In-Reply-To: <20181124154132.co3lo27wy25i4v47@tigra> ``` On 11/24/18 10:41 AM, Konstantin Khomoutov wrote: > On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 05:57:24PM +0300, Konstantin Khomoutov wrote: >> On Sat, Nov 24, 2018 at 09:37:06AM -0500, David Mandelberg wrote: >> >>>>> It seems that git is overwriting my local files on merge if they're in >>>>> .gitignore. >> [...] >>>> The .gitignore file is to list "ignored and expendable" class of >>>> files; there is no "ignored but precious class" in Git. >>> Ok. Would a patch be welcome? I have three ideas for how to implement it, >>> and I'm not sure which is better. >> [...] >> >> You might want to first investigate this recent thread [1] which AFAIK >> was dedicated to exactly this problem. > > Well, actually the thread is old, but its continuation [2] is recent. > The crux is that it discusses certain approaches to solve the apparent > problem and patches to do that. > > 1. https://public-inbox.org/git/4C6A1C5B.4030304@workspacewhiz.com/ > 2. https://public-inbox.org/git/871s8qdzph.fsf@evledraar.gmail.com/ Thanks for the pointers, and sorry to start a new thread. It looks like most of the work to do is in finding consensus on the right way forward, rather than in writing a patch. While I really would like there be a way to prevent git from overwriting ignored files, I don't have any strong opinions on what that way should look like. So I think I'll just wait and hope somebody else does the work. -- https://david.mandelberg.org/ ```