CODEWITHSUNDEEP
git
wufoo
wufoo

Reputation: 14571

How can I tell Git to forget about a file completely?

I am using my master branch to hold base 'material' files which are used in child branches for various projects. Let's say I work for a company which makes wagons as well as downhill skis. My master branch would contain all the files which are used as parts for those products. Each product is branched from master (wagon branch, ski branch, etc). The parts not needed for each project are then removed using git rm (although skis on a wagon do sound like fun).

The problem is, whenever I merge my master branch (material changes perhaps) into a project branch (wagon for instance) git thinks I really want the changes to the files which I've git rm'd into oblivion, and adds them back for me - Version master of skis left in tree as shown code below.

How can I get git to really and truly forget about a file I've told it to forget about and stop tracking?

add some parts to master, and commit:

$ pwd
/tmp/parts
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/parts/.git/
$ echo rubber > wheels
$ echo steel > skis
$ echo vinyl > seat
$ echo wood > sides
$ ls
seat  sides  skis  wheels
$ 
$ git add .
$ git commit -a -m 'initial parts'
[master (root-commit) ca7610e] initial parts
 4 files changed, 4 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 seat
 create mode 100644 sides
 create mode 100644 skis
 create mode 100644 wheels

Create a wagon project branch and remove the parts that we do not need on a wagon:

$ git checkout -b wagon
Switched to a new branch 'wagon'
$ ls
seat  sides  skis  wheels
$ git rm skis
rm 'skis'
$ git rm seat
rm 'seat'
$ git commit -a -m 'initial wagon design'
[wagon 384b246] initial wagon design
 2 files changed, 2 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 seat
 delete mode 100644 skis

The engineering team has decided to change some materials. Commit those changes in master so they are available to all our projects:

$ git checkout master
Switched to branch 'master'
$ ls
seat  sides  skis  wheels
$ 
$ echo 'titanium' > skis
$ echo 'metal' > sides
$ git commit -a -m 'design requirements call for stronger sides and skis'       
[master a8bf4c4] design requirements call for stronger sides and skis
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

We need some of the changes in the wagon project so merge master to get them but now git is complaining:

$ git checkout wagon
Switched to branch 'wagon'
$ git merge master
CONFLICT (modify/delete): skis deleted in HEAD and modified in master. Version master of skis left in tree.
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 96

Answers (2)

wufoo
wufoo

Reputation: 14571

So far, the most workable solution I've found is to merge master into the current branch and then use --porcelain to print out a list of Deleted Updated files and then call xargs to remove them:

git status --porcelain | awk '{if ($1=="DU") print $2}'

It's not pretty. It would be nice to plug this into a pre-merge git hook but that apparently does not exist.

Upvotes: 0

Igor Andri
Igor Andri

Reputation: 189

I think you might be using git not as a source control system but more like a solution manager. Think about it, why would you put files under source control if you want to remove a different part of them whenever you checkout a new branch?

Feature branches are forks on the development path that are intended to be merged with master and bring additional functionality to the entire project.

You can create a repo for each material and then set up a project build to fetch required materials from material repos.

Upvotes: 4

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