On Dienstag, 5. April 2011, Jonathan Nieder wrote: > Eric Blake wrote: > > @@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ PATTERN FORMAT > > - An optional prefix '!' which negates the pattern; any > > matching file excluded by a previous pattern will become > > included again. If a negated pattern matches, this will > > - override lower precedence patterns sources. > > + override lower precedence patterns sources. However, a > > + file negation does not override a path that has already > > + been excluded by a directory match. I don't think this is the right place to explain this caveat. Here we describe the format and behavior of the patterns in a rather formal manner. > > @@ -87,7 +89,8 @@ PATTERN FORMAT > > > > - Otherwise, git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable > > for consumption by fnmatch(3) with the FNM_PATHNAME flag: > > - wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname. > > + wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname, > > + and do not ignore files with a leading . in the pathname. I don't think this is correct. * matches .gitignore. I tried it. > > @@ -116,8 +119,11 @@ EXAMPLES > > [...] > > # Untracked files: > > [...] > > + # Documentation/build > > # Documentation/foo.html > > # Documentation/gitignore.html > > + # build/log > > + # build/.file > > # file.o > > # lib.a > > # src/internal.o > > @@ -125,6 +131,10 @@ EXAMPLES > > $ cat .git/info/exclude > > # ignore objects and archives, anywhere in the tree. > > *.[oa] > > + # ignore files in the immediate child directory build, > > + /build/* > > + # except for the log. > > + !/build/log Doesn't this example give the false impression that you could do /foo/* !/foo/bar/baz and have foo/bar/baz not ignored? But it is still ignored. I propose a paragraph like this in the NOTES section: --- 8< --- When a directory is ignored, it is not possible to un-ignore a single file somewhere in the directory using another pattern. E.g., with the patterns -------------- /build/ !/build/tests/results -------------- the file "build/tests/results" is still ignored because when a directory is ignored, its contents are never investigated. In a situation where a few exceptions in an otherwise ignored hierarchy are needed, the recommended procedure is to specify to ignore the root of the hierarchy and then to 'git add -f' the exceptional files. Subsequent changes to the files will not be ignored. --- 8< --- -- 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