On Sat, Oct 07, 2017 at 03:32:24PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > Nothing, because there is nothing to recurse in the pathspecs you've
> > given.
> >
> > Try:
> >
> > $ git rm drivers
> > fatal: not removing 'drivers' recursively without -r
> >
> > versus
> >
> > $ git rm -r drivers
> > [...removes everything under drivers/...]
>
> that is not what the man page is saying ... it refers to a "leading"
> directory name, not simply a directory name. if it should say simply
> "when a directory name is given", then it should be changed to say
> that.
It's the leading directory of the files that will be removed.
An earlier part of the manpage (under <file>) also says:
A leading directory name (e.g. dir to remove dir/file1 and dir/file2)
can be given to remove all files in the directory, and recursively all
sub-directories, but this requires the -r option to be explicitly
given.
which perhaps makes it more clear. Later in "-r", we say:
-r
Allow recursive removal when a leading directory name is given.
which I guess is the part you're reading. I think it would be equally
correct to say "leading directory" or just "directory" there.
Though really, you could give many such directory names, or even match
them with a glob. So a more accurate description might be something
like:
-r
Recursively remove the contents of any directories that match
`<file>`.
or something.
-Peff
