Git untracked files list is wrong

Question

Somehow, git got it in its head that I have an untracked file (A directory that has been in my repository for quite some time, ~17 months). At any rate, I can't seem to convince git that this is not an untracked file. Furthermore, I can't re-add the file(s) in question. Any idea how I can fix this?

Example:

➜ git status
# On branch master
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#   rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

I try to add the directory and re-check the status.

➜ git add rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/
➜ git status
# On branch master
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#   rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Just to be sure (from the root of my source tree)

➜ git add .
➜ git status
# On branch master
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#   rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

What is going on here? How can I convince git to fix itself?

EDIT

A few more details:

-The files are not in the .gitignore

-There are three tracked files in the folder in question, so it's not empty

-After even more digging, it seems something like this could arise from changing the case of a tracked folder. This, unfortunately, is not the case (pun!). The folder name has never changed case.

-Contents of the docking directory:

➜ ls -lA rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/.
total 16
-rw-r--r--  1 tim  staff  2209 Jul 17 10:47 command
-rw-r--r--  1 tim  staff   260 Jul 17 10:47 flags
drwxr-xr-x  3 tim  staff   102 Jul 17 10:47 input

Answer 1

I solved this by running

git clean -f

Answer 2

The . in the git add . command refers to the "current directory". So, running git add . will add all the files in the current directory and its subdirectories. You should ensure that you are in the correct directory before running git add.

git add -A is what you want. It will add everything.

Answer 3

I had the same error: no case changes, no .ignore problems and the directory did contain files that I definitely wanted to keep. Adding the dir, committing, git add -A and other remedies did not have any effect.

I ended up deleting the directory with "git clean" and then checking out the files inside the dir again.

Here is what I did:

rex@sidekick> git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 10 commits.
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#   app/models/xSpecific/
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

At this point I made a backup copy of the "xSpecific" directory just in case. Then I made a dry run with ´git clean´ (the -n option means "dry run" and -d makes clean remove directories):

rex@sidekick> git clean -n -d
Would remove app/models/xSpecific/

After double and triple checking, I went ahead with the cleaning (the -f flag means "force" and is needed to persuade Git that you are serious. Very good design, if you ask me):

rex@sidekick> git clean -d -f
Removing app/models/xSpecific/

rex@sidekick> git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 10 commits.
#
# Changed but not updated:
#   (use "git add/rm <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#   deleted:    app/models/xSpecific/GetAddressesLog.java
#   deleted:    app/models/xSpecific/GetProductLog.java
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

So far, so good. The directory was no longer listed, but the files were of course gone too. I could have restored them from my backup, but this is what Git was made for:

rex@sidekick> git checkout -- app/models/xSpecific/GetAddressesLog.java
rex@sidekick> git checkout -- app/models/xSpecific/GetProductLog.java

rex@sidekick> git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 10 commits.
#
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

Time to celebrate! Actually, it would probably have been easier to just clone off a new copy of the repository and use that instead, but by doing it the hard way I learned something new :).

Answer 4

This solved the problem for me rm .git/fs_cache

Answer 5

Same issue i got and i solved

git clean -f -n

Answer 6

I had important untracked files and couldn't just run git clean -f as some answers suggest.

I try to add the directory and re-check the status.

➜ git add rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/

And it seems that adding a whole directory does not trigger a file recheck.

So I tried adding specifically one of the supposedly untracked files and it worked:

$ git status
On branch foo
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        important.txt
        foo/foo.java
        foo/bar.java
        foo/baz.java
        foo/qux.java

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

$ git add -- foo/foo.java
fatal: pathspec 'foo/foo.java' did not match any files

$ git status
On branch foo
Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        important.txt

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

Answer 7

This error popped up for me when git add failed due to a file name being too long in a sub directory. (in my case, something in node_modules)

In this case, adding a .gitignore file with content of * to the node_modules folder allowed git add to run to completion.

So, pay attention to the command output of git add . (or -A or --all) and make sure it is not stopping prematurely due to an error. All of my "untracked" files and folders were added successfully once the proper .gitignore was applied and I was able to commit and push my changes.

Answer 8

Recreate the file or directory

mkdir -p rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/

And then remove it again.

rm -rf rosetta_tests/profile/tests/docking/