$GIT_DIR/info/exclude fails to negate a pattern defined by core.excludesfile

[Dun Peal]

I have the pattern `*.out` defined in my `core.excludesfile`.
According to the documentation[1], patterns defined in
`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` take precedence over `core.excludesfile`, so
for one particular project that needs to track some `.out` files, I
created `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` with just one pattern: `!*.out`.

Yet for some reason, `git status` still fails to report newly created
`.out` files for that project. Am I misunderstanding the
documentation?

Thanks, D.

[1] http://jk.gs/gitignore.html

[Dun Peal]

I used `check-ignore -v`, and the `.out` file is being ignored by the
`*.out` pattern in the `core.excludesfile` file. Its parent folder is
not being ignored. So as a rule, `core.excludesfile` overrides
`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude`.

That doesn't make much sense to me, because I'm much more likely to
want to override global exclusions for a specific project, than
override specific project settings with a global exclusion file (that
last one really makes no sense imho).

Thoughts?

Post by Dun Peal
I have the pattern `*.out` defined in my `core.excludesfile`.
According to the documentation[1], patterns defined in
`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` take precedence over `core.excludesfile`, so
for one particular project that needs to track some `.out` files, I
created `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` with just one pattern: `!*.out`.
Yet for some reason, `git status` still fails to report newly created
`.out` files for that project. Am I misunderstanding the
documentation?
Thanks, D.
[1] http://jk.gs/gitignore.html

[Duy Nguyen]

Post by Dun Peal
I have the pattern `*.out` defined in my `core.excludesfile`.
According to the documentation[1], patterns defined in
`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` take precedence over `core.excludesfile`, so
for one particular project that needs to track some `.out` files, I
created `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` with just one pattern: `!*.out`.
Yet for some reason, `git status` still fails to report newly created
`.out` files for that project. Am I misunderstanding the
documentation?

We process in groups, so rules in core.excludesfile are in one group,
those in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude in another group. Negative patterns
only has effects within their group, so !*out in .../exclude can't
revert *.out in core.excludesfile. Probably implementation limitation,
not by design..

But even if we flatten them into one group, i'm not sure you can
achieve that. The patterns would be

!*.out
*.out

"!*.out" has nothing to revert because it's before "*.out".

[Dun Peal]

Hey Duy,

I'm not sure why the pattern would have to be as you describe - I'm
just looking to ignore `*.out` as a general configuration, and disable
it for one specific project, so it would seem a plain `!*.out` should
work.

In any case, I added a `.gitignore` file with the single pattern
`!*.out` at the root of the project, and now .out files are no longer
ignored for the project.

It's not an ideal solution because now all the other developers of the
project who do not have `*.out` in their `core.excludesfile` will have
an unnecessary pattern in their exclusion logic, but it does work as
expected.

Thanks, D.

Post by Duy Nguyen

Post by Dun Peal
I have the pattern `*.out` defined in my `core.excludesfile`.
According to the documentation[1], patterns defined in
`$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` take precedence over `core.excludesfile`, so
for one particular project that needs to track some `.out` files, I
created `$GIT_DIR/info/exclude` with just one pattern: `!*.out`.
Yet for some reason, `git status` still fails to report newly created
`.out` files for that project. Am I misunderstanding the
documentation?

We process in groups, so rules in core.excludesfile are in one group,
those in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude in another group. Negative patterns
only has effects within their group, so !*out in .../exclude can't
revert *.out in core.excludesfile. Probably implementation limitation,
not by design..
But even if we flatten them into one group, i'm not sure you can
achieve that. The patterns would be
!*.out
*.out
"!*.out" has nothing to revert because it's before "*.out".
--
Duy