Re: "git add $ignored_file" fail

[Santi <sbejar@gmail.com>]

2006/5/17, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>:
>
>
> On Wed, 17 May 2006, Santi wrote:
> >
> >      When you try to add ignored files with the git-add command it
> > fails because the call to:
> >
> > git-ls-files -z \
> >        --exclude-from="$GIT_DIR/info/exclude" \
> >        --others --exclude-per-directory=.gitignore
> >
> >      does not output this file because it is ignored. I know I can do it with:
> >
> > git-update-index --add $ignored_file
> >
> > I understand the behaviour of git-ls-files but I think it is no the
> > expected for git-add, at least for me.
>
> Well, the thing is, git-add doesn't really take a "file name", it takes a
> filename _pattern_.
>
> Clearly we can't add everything that matches the pattern, because one
> common case is to add a whole subdirectory, and thus clearly the
> .gitignore file must override the pattern.
>
> So it's consistent that it overrides it also for a single filename case,
> no?
>

It's consistent from an implementation point of view, but not from the
(my?) user point of view. This is why I say I understand it for
git-ls-files. For the case of git-add even the usage and the man page
talk about <file>...

Clearly for the case of a whole subdirectory, or even ".",  the
.gitignore file must override the pattern, but not for the case of a
pattern that is a single existing file.

Santi