Subject: Re: [PATCH] optionally disable overwriting of ignored files

From: Clemens Buchacher <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:20:56 +0200

On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 12:25:31AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> 
> Traditionally (think "git status" output without "-s") the way to remind
> oneself that some day these paths need to be added when they are ready has
> been to keep them untracked but _not_ ignored, so that they will be listed
> in the output.

But they do not have to be added. I may never want to add them. So
I do not want git status to keep reminding me. That's why I add
them to .git/info/exclude. And with the current behavior, I do not
see anything wrong with that, because git does not consider them
trashable.

> Quite contrary to what you earlier said in another message, adding
> such a path that is not trashable does defeat the point of the "ignore"
> mechanism.

If I understand correctly, the reason for considering ignored paths
trashable is because they are likely to have been tracked in other
versions of the project, and would therefore frequently get in the
way of commands like checkout or merge.

But the same is not true for private ignores in .git/info/exclude.
Such paths most likely never were tracked and never will be. And in
the rare case that an ignored path turns out to be a nuisance, it's
easy enough to remove it from .git/info/exclude.

So I see only advantages if such a path is not considered
trashable.

Clemens