Re: Unexpected ignorecase=false behavior on Windows

[Marc Strapetz <marc.strapetz@syntevo.com>]

On 22.06.2018 22:58, Bryan Turner wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 1:45 PM Marc Strapetz <marc.strapetz@syntevo.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 22.06.2018 19:36, Johannes Sixt wrote:
>>> Am 22.06.2018 um 14:04 schrieb Marc Strapetz:
>>>> On Windows, when creating following repository:
>>>>
>>>> $ git init
>>>> $ echo "1" > file.txt
>>>> $ git add .
>>>> $ git commit -m "initial import"
>>>> $ ren file.txt File.txt
>>>> $ git config core.ignorecase false
>>>
>>> This is a user error. core.ignorecase is *not* an instruction as in
>>> "hey, Git, do not ignore the case of file names". It is better regarded
>>> as an internal value, with which Git remembers how it should treat the
>>> names of files that it receives when it traverses the directories on the
>>> disk.
>>>
>>> Git could probe the file system capabilities each time it runs. But that
>>> would be wasteful. Hence, this probe happens only once when the
>>> repository is initialized, and the result is recorded in this
>>> configuration value. You should not change it.
>>
>> Sorry, it looks like my example was misleading. I'm actually questioning
>> current behavior in case of Windows repositories with core.ignorecase
>> initialized to false, like in following setup:
>>
>> $ git init
>> $ git config core.ignorecase false
>>
>> The repository is now set up to be case-sensitive on Windows. From this
>> point on, core.ignorecase won't change anymore and the repository will
>> be filled:
> 
> I don't think Hannes's point was _when_ you changed it; it was that
> you changed it _at all_.
> 
> Git on Windows is not designed to run with anything other than
> core.ignoreCase=true, and attempting to do so will cause unexpected
> behavior. In other words, it's not a behavior toggle so user's can
> request the functionality to work one way or the other; it's an
> implementation detail that `git init` and `git clone` set when a
> repository is created purely so they don't have to probe the file
> system each time you run a `git` command.
> 
> NTFS is case-preserving-but-case-insensitive by default[1]. So long as
> that's the case, the only mode for running Git on Windows is
> core.ignoreCase=true.
> 
> Hopefully this clarifies things!

Thanks, it does. In this case, I'd suggest to make this clear in the 
documentation, too. I've just sent a patch.

-Marc