Re: more pedantry ... what means a file "known to Git"?

[Philip Oakley]

From: "Robert P. J. Day" 


 apologies for more excruciating nitpickery, but i ask since it seems
that phrase means slightly different things depending on where you
read it.

 first, i assume that there are only two categories:

 1) files known to Git
 2) files unknown to Git

and that there is no fuzzy, grey area middle ground, yes?


sort of...


 now, in "man git-clean", one reads (near the top):

   Cleans the working tree by recursively removing files that are
   not under version control, starting from the current directory.

   Normally, only files unknown to Git are removed, but if the -x
 ^
   option is specified, ignored files are also removed.

the way that's worded suggests that ignored files are "known" to Git,
yes?


You've hit the three way binary problem of +1, 0, -1 ! The lsb is still 0 or 
1, but we have the two assertions of:

Positively known to git -- added to the index and the object store
Negatively 'known' to git -- paths we actively ignore, thus not in the index 
or object store.


Unknown files are those that could be added.


 that is, if, by default, "git clean" removes only files "unknown"
to Git, and "-x" extends that to ignored files, the conclusion is that
ignored files are *known* to Git.


but only in a negative sense ...



 if, however, you check out "man git-rm", you read:

   The  list given to the command can be exact pathnames,
   file glob patterns, or leading directory names. The command
   removes only the paths that are known to Git. Giving the name
   
   of a file that you have not told Git about does not remove that file.

so "git rm" removes only files "known to Git", but from the above
regarding how "git clean" sees this, that should include ignored
files, which of course it doesn't.


The man page description starts with the key "Remove files from the index", 
so this is the positive 'knowing' part. Clearly it can never remove other 
ignored files as they can't be in the index (but note the 'other' caveat. 
P->Q # Q->P).




 given that this phrase occurs in a number of places:

$ grep -ir "known to git" *
builtin/difftool.c: /* The symlink is unknown to Git so read from the 
filesystem */

dir.c: error("pathspec '%s' did not match any file(s) known to git.",
Documentation/git-rm.txt:removes only the paths that are known to Git. 
Giving the name of

Documentation/git-commit.txt:   be known to Git);
Documentation/user-manual.txt:error: pathspec 
'261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24' did not match any file(s) known 
to git.
Documentation/gitattributes.txt: Notice all types of potential whitespace 
errors known to Git.
Documentation/git-clean.txt:Normally, only files unknown to Git are 
removed, but if the `-x`
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.2.1.txt: * The code to keep track of what 
directory names are known to Git on
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.6.txt: * The code to keep track of what 
directory names are known to Git on
Documentation/RelNotes/2.9.0.txt:   known to Git.  They have been taught 
to do the normalization.
Documentation/RelNotes/2.8.4.txt:   known to Git.  They have been taught 
to do the normalization.
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.3.txt: * The code to keep track of what 
directory names are known to Git on
t/t3005-ls-files-relative.sh: echo "error: pathspec $sq$f$sq did not match 
any file(s) known to git."
t/t3005-ls-files-relative.sh: echo "error: pathspec $sq$f$sq did not match 
any file(s) known to git."

$

it might be useful to define precisely what it means. or is it assumed
to be context dependent?



A little bit of clarification may be useful. You can't be/aren't the only 
one who is willing to note these subtle inconsistencies (Git knows things 
via the index (staging area) and the object store (repository)).


rday

--
Philip= 

more pedantry ... what means a file "known to Git"?

[Robert P. J. Day]

  apologies for more excruciating nitpickery, but i ask since it seems
that phrase means slightly different things depending on where you
read it.

  first, i assume that there are only two categories:

  1) files known to Git
  2) files unknown to Git

and that there is no fuzzy, grey area middle ground, yes?

  now, in "man git-clean", one reads (near the top):

Cleans the working tree by recursively removing files that are
not under version control, starting from the current directory.

Normally, only files unknown to Git are removed, but if the -x
  ^
option is specified, ignored files are also removed.

the way that's worded suggests that ignored files are "known" to Git,
yes? that is, if, by default, "git clean" removes only files "unknown"
to Git, and "-x" extends that to ignored files, the conclusion is that
ignored files are *known* to Git.

  if, however, you check out "man git-rm", you read:

The  list given to the command can be exact pathnames,
file glob patterns, or leading directory names. The command
removes only the paths that are known to Git. Giving the name

of a file that you have not told Git about does not remove that file.

so "git rm" removes only files "known to Git", but from the above
regarding how "git clean" sees this, that should include ignored
files, which of course it doesn't.

  given that this phrase occurs in a number of places:

$ grep -ir "known to git" *
builtin/difftool.c: /* The symlink is unknown to Git so read from 
the filesystem */
dir.c:  error("pathspec '%s' did not match any file(s) known to git.",
Documentation/git-rm.txt:removes only the paths that are known to Git.  Giving 
the name of
Documentation/git-commit.txt:   be known to Git);
Documentation/user-manual.txt:error: pathspec 
'261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24' did not match any file(s) known to 
git.
Documentation/gitattributes.txt:Notice all types of potential 
whitespace errors known to Git.
Documentation/git-clean.txt:Normally, only files unknown to Git are removed, 
but if the `-x`
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.2.1.txt: * The code to keep track of what directory 
names are known to Git on
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.6.txt: * The code to keep track of what directory 
names are known to Git on
Documentation/RelNotes/2.9.0.txt:   known to Git.  They have been taught to do 
the normalization.
Documentation/RelNotes/2.8.4.txt:   known to Git.  They have been taught to do 
the normalization.
Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.3.txt: * The code to keep track of what directory 
names are known to Git on
t/t3005-ls-files-relative.sh:   echo "error: pathspec $sq$f$sq 
did not match any file(s) known to git."
t/t3005-ls-files-relative.sh:   echo "error: pathspec $sq$f$sq 
did not match any file(s) known to git."
$

it might be useful to define precisely what it means. or is it assumed
to be context dependent?

rday

-- 


Robert P. J. Day Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:   http://twitter.com/rpjday
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