Peter schrieb: >>> 1) I can't have just one .gitignore file in the root dir, if I want to >>> _recursively_ inverse the exclude pattern for a sub dir tree. >>> >> >> No, it's not the inversion of the pattern, but the slash (if it is not at >> the end) that makes the pattern non-recursive. >> >> > from the gitignore manpage: >>> If the pattern ends with a slash, it is removed for the purpose of > the following description, but it would only find a match with a > directory. In other words, foo/ will match a directory foo and paths > underneath it, but will not match a regular file or a symbolic link foo > (this is consistent with the way how pathspec works in general in git). << > > Doesn't this mean, that if I say: > vendor/ > matches the directory and ( recursively ) the paths underneath it.? The paragraph you are citing is talking about *what* the pattern matches, but it says nothing about *where* the pattern matches. When I was saying "recursively", then I was refering to the "where" aspect, not the "what" aspect. If you have directories src/bar/vendor/ src/foo/bar/vendor/ src/vendor/ and you have the file src/.gitignore with the single pattern vendor/ then it applies to recursively ("where") these directories: src/bar/vendor/ src/foo/bar/vendor/ src/vendor/ and everything ("what") below them. But if the same src/.gitignore has only this pattern: bar/vendor/ then it will not match ("where") recursively and only apply to src/bar/vendor/ and everything ("what") below it, but will not apply to src/foo/bar/vendor/ > And, consequently: > !vendor/ > inverse the exclusion for vendor ( that is: include ) and everything > that is contained in it ? ( This is obviously not the case, but this is > what I would expect ) You should update your expectations. ;-) You think that git starts with the .gitignore files, and somehow applies the rules that it finds to all files (perhaps recursively). But it does not work like this; rather it is in the oppsite direction: git starts with a file name, and then checks the rules in the .gitignore files that it has available. For example, take the path "src/vendor/foo.exe". git finds the file src/.gitignore and there it sees the pattern "*.exe". The pattern matches, and so git obeys the rule (ignores the file). But the pattern "!vendor/" does not match (because the path ends with "foo.exe", not "vendor"). Before git had seen the path "src/vendor/foo.exe", it had already seen "src/vendor". This time the pattern "!vendor/" did match (because the name is identical *and* it is a directory, as per the cited paragraph) and git obeyed the rule (which was not to ignore the directory). -- Hannes -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html