How to force git to add dotfiles to repository

Question

Git seems to always ignore these.

When I type git add ., dotfiles in GIT_DIR are added, but not from subdirectories. On the other hand, git add subdir/.dotfile won't work.

I tried git add -f and putting !.* in GIT_DIR/.git/info/exclude.

Answer 1

git add . and git add dir/.dot work fine for me with the unadorned 1.6.6.1 and 1.7.0 versions of Git that I have handy right now.

% git --version
git version 1.6.6.1
% git ls-files -o
.baz/baz
.foo
bar/.bar
quuux/quuux
quux
% git add .
% git ls-files -o
% git ls-files 
.baz/baz
.foo
bar/.bar
quuux/quuux
quux

What version of Git are you using? Are your subdirs actually submodules (which are managed independently)?

“dot files” are not excluded by default, but maybe some bit of configuration on your system, repository, or working tree has them set that way. If they show up in git ls-files --exclude-standard -oi then they are being ignored and "!.*" is the right way to ‘unignore’ them. But to be effective, that pattern has to be in the right place. Ignores are processed in this order:

• .gitignore of the immediately containing directory, then
• .gitignore of the parent directory (each parent, up to the repository root), then
• $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, then
• the file reported by git config core.excludesfile (which could be set by
  • $GIT_DIR/config,
  • $HOME/.gitconfig, or
  • the system config file (try GIT_EDITOR=echo git config --system --edit to get its pathname)).

When a pathname matches a pattern in one file, subsequent files are not consulted. The last match in each file “wins”. A pattern in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude can never override a pattern in a .gitignore file. So, if the files are being ignored (per git ls-files --exclude-standard -oi) and if "!.*" in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude is ineffective, then check all the applicable .gitignore files for the culprit.

Answer 2

You can add them specifically by pathname, e.g.,

git add */.*

or

find . -name '.[a-z]*' -exec git add '{}' ';'

(It's good to be careful with the -name because you don't necessarily want to pick up every directory with its . entry.)

But by far the easiest way to do this is with git gui. Just click on the files.

Answer 3

If there are only few .dotfiles you need to add, I recommend using -f flag since simple git add .yourDotFile does not work on git version 2.28.8 and you do not want to mess with global .gitignore. Therefore use git add .yourDotFile -f

Answer 4

i use

find . -type f | grep -vP '^.\/.git' |  xargs git add

the grep -vP '^.\/.git' exclude everthing wich start with .git and find get all files include all hidden files.

Answer 5

I just forced it with:

git add . -f

Cheers.

Answer 6

I dont like the idea of using a 'find' as it might find things you told git to ignore. You could use a bash script. This script will only 'add' a file that is modified, not untracked:

#!/bin/bash
addFile=false

theseLines=($(git status))
for thisLine in "${theseLines[@]}" ; do

  if [[ "${addFile}" == 'true' ]] ; then
    git add $thisLine
    addFile=false
  fi
  if [[ "${thisLine}" == 'modified:' ]] ; then
    addFile=true
    #echo 'the next line will be a file that should be added'
  fi

done