Changing name of folder in Rails - Git won't let me add to commit

Question

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Referencing the screenshot above, I changed the name of the lowest-level folder in the tree. For example, I changed "Chips" to "chips." Oddly, Git refuses to recognize the following command when I try to add it to the commit:

git add public/images/chips/

The only way I can get it to add the file to the commit is by adding an actual file in the subfolder.

Any ideas how to handle?

So my ultimate solution was to: git add -f chips/ – keruilin Oct 26 '10 at 22:03 — keruilin, Oct 26 '10 at 22:03

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:11

3

In general when changing file or directory names, you'll want to use the following:

git mv oldfile newfile

This will tell git to actually add the changes so that you can commit them. So, try manually changing it back with

mv chips Chips

and then run

git mv Chips chips

answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:11

Topher Fangio

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so this is interesting...it won't let me change it from Chips to chips...but it will let me change from Chips to chip – keruilin Oct 26 '10 at 21:43
I noticed this a few days ago. It seems to be that git-mv ignores changes that are different in case only. – Jeremy Oct 27 '10 at 02:59
@keruilin - Are you on a Windows box? This doesn't appear to be true on a Linux machine. – Topher Fangio Oct 27 '10 at 15:58
@keruilin - Very interesting! What filesystem format are you using? Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? – Topher Fangio Oct 31 '10 at 23:10

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 15 '13 at 21:30

Note that, from March 15th, 2013, you can move or rename a file directly from GitHub.
That means, in your case, you could rename folders on GitHub, then clone your repo in a fresh local repo, with the new names for said folders.

renaming

You can also move files to entirely new locations using just the filename field.
To navigate down into a folder, just type the name of the folder you want to move the file into followed by /.
The folder can be one that’s already part of your repository, or it can even be a brand-new folder that doesn’t exist yet!

moving

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

This is probably only an issue when working with an OS that has case-insensitive filesystems, like OSX and Windows. You should do the rename on a unix system / case-sensitive filesystem - it will work there with either way (git mv or first rename, then git add - it will detect the move).

Then back on your case-insensitive system you'll probably get conflicts during the pull. It may help to manually rename there and try the pull again - git should merge these changes properly then (because there're actually none if the commit changed nothing else within that directory).

You can also get around this by some advanced git and rename trickery: Rename to chips-tmp first, commit, then rename to chips, amend your previous commit. Only then push to your upstream repositoy.

Look here:

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:12

0

Rollback your changes and run git mv Chips chips

answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:12

Lachezar

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:16

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How did you rename the folders? I always move / rename files in my repository using git mv (git help mv). Try mving the files/folders back to what git knew they looked like, then use git's version of move instead?

answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:16

amireh

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:44

0

Try git add -A. This will detect renames/deletes that weren't done through git mv/git rm.

answered Oct 26 '10 at 21:44

Veeti

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Changing name of folder in Rails - Git won't let me add to commit

6 Answers6