untracked files still appear in git status

Question

I have untracked some folders and files by using .git/info/exclude :

doc
*.txt
doc/*.txt
doc/somefile.txt

But git status says it is still tracked :

$ git st
# On branch dev
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#   modified:   doc/somefile.txt

Other weird thing is that ls-files shows it is untracked :

$ git ls-files --ignored --exclude-from=.git/info/exclude
doc/somefile.txt
$ touch /tmp/xxx
$ git ls-files --ignored --exclude-from=/tmp/xxx
$

I am on git version 1.8.1.5

So I conclude I may misunderstand something or do something wrong. Any idea please ?

Duplicated: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6964297/untrack-files-from-git — ThanksForAllTheFish, Aug 16 '13 at 12:35

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '13 at 11:19

6

Since you are locally ignoring files that are in the repository, you need to tell git that you are ignoring them

git update-index --assume-unchanged <files to forget>

answered Aug 16 '13 at 11:19

Abizern

146,289
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203
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1

This is the right answer. @lalebarde, I can add you are not `untracking` the files, you are ignoring them. They are already tracked, therefore you have to follow @Abizern's advice to let git forget them. Check [this explanation](http://source.kohlerville.com/2009/02/untrack-files-in-git/) to know why `update-index` is a better solution than `rm --cached` – ThanksForAllTheFish Aug 16 '13 at 12:35
That command was never meant to solve this type of problem, and using it as such is considered a bad idea by the developers of git. It was meant as a way to improve performance in some situations. Git will take that as a promise that the file won't be changed underneath it, but that won't be at all true in this case. Using `git stash` after this has been done is likely to lead to the local changes being lost. See the thread around http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/225308 . There may be problems with this in other cases as well. – qqx Aug 16 '13 at 13:36

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 16 '13 at 11:23

3

You need to git rm --cached <file>. This doesn't remove the file from your working directory, but it removes it from the git cache so it'll now be included by the .gitignore.

answered Aug 16 '13 at 11:23

Nicholas Smith

11,642
6
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He isn't using .gitignore, he's using .git/info/exclude which is the local repository exclusion file. – Abizern Aug 16 '13 at 11:27
Ah, true. He did say 'untrack' rather than 'ignore' though, so it depends on what he's trying to do with the files. – Nicholas Smith Aug 16 '13 at 15:30

jlundqvist · Answer 3 · 2013-08-16T11:26:36.010

0

Since the file(s) is currently beeing tracked, you need to tell gitto forget about them before ignoring them.

git rm --cached doc/somefile.txt

edited Aug 16 '13 at 11:26

answered Aug 16 '13 at 11:17

jlundqvist

651
3
10

No, that will delete the files, not ignore them. – Abizern Aug 16 '13 at 11:19
Oh, my bad. I forgot the `--cached` flag. – jlundqvist Aug 16 '13 at 11:26

untracked files still appear in git status

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