Re: Untracked working tree files

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008, david@lang.hm wrote:
> 
> I see it fairly frequently when switching between different branches of a
> project.

So, at least for any normal switch, assuming file 'a' doesn't exist in the 
other branch, you really should have a few different cases:

 - you have a dirty file, and git should say something like

	error: You have local changes to 'file'; cannot switch branches.

   because it refuses to modify the file to match the other branch (which 
   includes removing it) if it doesn't match the index.

   So this case shouldn't leave anything behind.

 - You have that extra file, but it's not in the index.

   If it's in your current HEAD, we should still notice it with something 
   like:

	error: Untracked working tree file 'tree' would be removed by merge.

   because now it's untracked (not in the index), but the switching 
   between branches tries to essentially "apply" the difference between 
   your current HEAD and the new branch, and finds that the difference 
   involves removing a file that git isn't tracking.

See?

HOWEVER.

If you're used to doing "git checkout -f" or "git reset --hard", both of 
those checks are just ignored. After all, you asked for a forced switch. 

And at least in the second case, what I think happens is that git won't 
remove the file it doesn't know about, so you'll have a "turd" left 
around.

So yes, you can certainly get these kinds of left-overs, but they really 
should be only happening if you "force" something. Do you do that often?

			Linus