threads / discuss / 53559

[Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

Subject: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

## tl;dr

5 messages between May 26, 2020 and May 27, 2020.

replies: 4people: 4as markdown or json

Erik Janssen· May 26, 2020, 21:21 UTC · lore

Hello All,

Would it be feasible to add a -u option to git rm to specify that I also want a file deleted if it is not tracked by git? Currently, git rm -f can remove files in whatever state it seems, except when it is untracked. By allowing a -u option (-u: also delete untracked files) I would be sure that the file is gone while it would also make sure that it doesn't break past behaviour where people perhaps rely on git rm to leave untracked files alone.

Kind regards,

Erik Janssen.

Jeff King· May 27, 2020, 07:34 UTC · re: Erik Janssen · lore

Re: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 11:21:23PM +0200, Erik Janssen wrote:

> Would it be feasible to add a -u option to git rm to specify that I
> also want a file deleted if it is not tracked by git?

It might be a little tricky, as I suspect the code is starting from the set of tracked files, and then applying the arguments of pathspecs (but I didn't look too carefully, so I might be wrong).

The "git clean" command is made for this (and starts by iterating over the filesystem), and does exactly what you want. But I guess you are hoping for a state where you can just run "git rm" without having to think about whether the file is tracked or not.

-Peff

Đoàn Trần Công Danh· May 27, 2020, 12:44 UTC · re: Erik Janssen · lore

Re: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

On 2020-05-26 23:21:23+0200, Erik Janssen <eaw.janssen@chello.nl> wrote:

Show 8 quoted lines

> Would it be feasible to add a -u option to git rm to specify that
> I also want a file deleted if it is not tracked by git?
> Currently, git rm -f can remove files in whatever state it seems,
> except when it is untracked. 
> By allowing a -u option (-u: also delete untracked files) I would be
> sure that the file is gone while it would also make sure that it
> doesn't break past behaviour where people perhaps rely on git rm to
> leave untracked files alone.

I _think_ remove untracked file is pretty much risky operation, and it should be done separately/independently (via git-clean(1)).

Let's assume we have -u|--untracked, nothing (probably) can stop our users from:

	git rm -u src
	git rm -u .

Even git-clean(1) requires either --force or --interactive because it's too much risky to begin with.

If we think Git as a FileSystem, its rm should only care about its tracked file. I prefer to just rm(1) instead of "git-rm -u".

-- 
Danh

Randall S. Becker· May 27, 2020, 14:29 UTC · re: Đoàn Trần Công Danh · lore

RE: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

On May 27, 2020 8:45 AM, Ðoàn Tr?n Công Danh wrote:

Show 17 quoted lines

> To: Erik Janssen <eaw.janssen@chello.nl>
> Cc: git@vger.kernel.org
> Subject: Re: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked
> files
> 
> On 2020-05-26 23:21:23+0200, Erik Janssen <eaw.janssen@chello.nl> wrote:
> > Would it be feasible to add a -u option to git rm to specify that I
> > also want a file deleted if it is not tracked by git?
> > Currently, git rm -f can remove files in whatever state it seems,
> > except when it is untracked.
> > By allowing a -u option (-u: also delete untracked files) I would be
> > sure that the file is gone while it would also make sure that it
> > doesn't break past behaviour where people perhaps rely on git rm to
> > leave untracked files alone.
> 
> I _think_ remove untracked file is pretty much risky operation, and it should
> be done separately/independently (via git-clean(1)).

A git alias could easily be set up to do this, of course dangerous because of what git-clean does without any arguments:

    git config --global alias.rmu 'clean -f --'

Show 11 quoted lines

> Let's assume we have -u|--untracked,
> nothing (probably) can stop our users from:
> 
> 	git rm -u src
> 	git rm -u .
> 
> Even git-clean(1) requires either --force or --interactive because it's too
> much risky to begin with.
> 
> If we think Git as a FileSystem, its rm should only care about its tracked file. I
> prefer to just rm(1) instead of "git-rm -u".

Erik Janssen· May 27, 2020, 19:31 UTC · re: Randall S. Becker · lore

RE: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked files

Hello All,

Thanks for the responses! I was not aware of the alias option, but it gave me the following idea that seems to work: git config --global alias.rmclean '!git rm -r -f $1; git clean -f $1'

A dir with a untracked file 'file1' will give: git rmclean file1 fatal: pathspec 'file1' did not match any files Removing file1 but effectively the file is gone.

A dir with a tracked file 'file2' will give: git rmclean file2 rm 'file2'

alternatively, ignore the errors: git config --global alias.rmclean '!git rm -r -f $1 2>/dev/null; git clean -f $1 2>/dev/null'

some setup as above, untracked file1, tracked file2 in one go: git rmclean .

gives: rm 'file2' Removing file1

So I think I solved my own question :-)

Kind regards, Erik.

Show 38 quoted lines

> Op 27 mei 2020 om 16:29 schreef "Randall S. Becker" <rsbecker@nexbridge.com>:
> 
> 
> On May 27, 2020 8:45 AM, Ðoàn Tr?n Công Danh wrote:
> > To: Erik Janssen <eaw.janssen@chello.nl>
> > Cc: git@vger.kernel.org
> > Subject: Re: [Feature request] Add -u option to git rm to delete untracked
> > files
> > 
> > On 2020-05-26 23:21:23+0200, Erik Janssen <eaw.janssen@chello.nl> wrote:
> > > Would it be feasible to add a -u option to git rm to specify that I
> > > also want a file deleted if it is not tracked by git?
> > > Currently, git rm -f can remove files in whatever state it seems,
> > > except when it is untracked.
> > > By allowing a -u option (-u: also delete untracked files) I would be
> > > sure that the file is gone while it would also make sure that it
> > > doesn't break past behaviour where people perhaps rely on git rm to
> > > leave untracked files alone.
> > 
> > I _think_ remove untracked file is pretty much risky operation, and it should
> > be done separately/independently (via git-clean(1)).
> 
> A git alias could easily be set up to do this, of course dangerous because of what git-clean does without any arguments:
> 
>     git config --global alias.rmu 'clean -f --'
> 
> > Let's assume we have -u|--untracked,
> > nothing (probably) can stop our users from:
> > 
> > 	git rm -u src
> > 	git rm -u .
> > 
> > Even git-clean(1) requires either --force or --interactive because it's too
> > much risky to begin with.
> > 
> > If we think Git as a FileSystem, its rm should only care about its tracked file. I
> > prefer to just rm(1) instead of "git-rm -u".
>