diff --git a/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt b/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt index c54437428b..6e32034511 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt @@ -192,7 +192,40 @@ on this file. The files matching the patterns in the file will appear in the working directory, and the rest will not. -INTERNALS -- CONE PATTERN SET +INTERNALS -- CONE MODE HANDLING +------------------------------- + +The "cone mode", which is the default, lets you specify only what +directories to include. For any directory specified, all paths below +that directory will be included, and any paths immediately under +leading directories (including the toplevel directory) will also be +included. Thus, if you specified the directory + Documentation/technical/ +then your sparse checkout would contain: + + * all files in the toplevel-directory + * all files immediately under Documentation/ + * all files at any depth under Documentation/technical/ + +Also, in cone mode, even if no directories are specified, then the +files in the toplevel directory will be included. + +When changing the sparse-checkout patterns in cone mode, Git will inspect each +tracked directory that is not within the sparse-checkout cone to see if it +contains any untracked files. If all of those files are ignored due to the +`.gitignore` patterns, then the directory will be deleted. If any of the +untracked files within that directory is not ignored, then no deletions will +occur within that directory and a warning message will appear. If these files +are important, then reset your sparse-checkout definition so they are included, +use `git add` and `git commit` to store them, then remove any remaining files +manually to ensure Git can behave optimally. + +See also the "Internals -- Cone Pattern Set" section to learn how the +directories are transformed under the hood into a subset of the +Full Pattern Set of sparse-checkout. + + +INTERNALS -- FULL PATTERN SET ----------------------------- The full pattern set allows for arbitrary pattern matches and complicated @@ -201,31 +234,62 @@ updating the index, where N is the number of patterns and M is the number of paths in the index. To combat this performance issue, a more restricted pattern set is allowed when `core.sparseCheckoutCone` is enabled. -The accepted patterns in the cone pattern set are: +The sparse-checkout file uses the same syntax as `.gitignore` files; +see linkgit:gitignore[5] for details. Here, though, the patterns are +usually being used to select which files to include rather than which +files to exclude. (However, it can get a bit confusing since +gitignore-style patterns have negations defined by patterns which +begin with a '!', so you can also select files to _not_ include.) + +For example, to select everything, and then to remove the file +`unwanted` (so that every file will appear in your working tree except +the file named `unwanted`): + + git sparse-checkout set --no-cone '/*' '!unwanted' + +These patterns are just placed into the +`$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` as-is, so the contents of that file +at this point would be + +---------------- +/* +!unwanted +---------------- + +See also the "Sparse Checkout" section of linkgit:git-read-tree[1] to +learn more about the gitignore-style patterns used in sparse +checkouts. + + +INTERNALS -- CONE PATTERN SET +----------------------------- + +In cone mode, only directories are accepted, but they are translated into +the same gitignore-style patterns used in the full pattern set. We refer +to the particular patterns used in those mode as being of one of two types: 1. *Recursive:* All paths inside a directory are included. 2. *Parent:* All files immediately inside a directory are included. -In addition to the above two patterns, we also expect that all files in the -root directory are included. If a recursive pattern is added, then all -leading directories are added as parent patterns. - -By default, when running `git sparse-checkout set` with no directories -specified, the root directory is added as a parent pattern. At this -point, the sparse-checkout file contains the following patterns: +Since cone mode always includes files at the toplevel, when running +`git sparse-checkout set` with no directories specified, the toplevel +directory is added as a parent pattern. At this point, the +sparse-checkout file contains the following patterns: ---------------- /* !/*/ ---------------- -This says "include everything in root, but nothing two levels below root." +This says "include everything immediately under the toplevel +directory, but nothing at any level below that." -When in cone mode, the `git sparse-checkout set` subcommand takes a list of -directories. In this mode, the command `git sparse-checkout set A/B/C` sets -the directory `A/B/C` as a recursive pattern, the directories `A` and `A/B` -are added as parent patterns. The resulting sparse-checkout file is now +When in cone mode, the `git sparse-checkout set` subcommand takes a +list of directories. The command `git sparse-checkout set A/B/C` sets +the directory `A/B/C` as a recursive pattern, the directories `A` and +`A/B` are added as parent patterns. The resulting sparse-checkout file +is now ---------------- /* @@ -244,11 +308,14 @@ Unless `core.sparseCheckoutCone` is explicitly set to `false`, Git will parse the sparse-checkout file expecting patterns of these types. Git will warn if the patterns do not match. If the patterns do match the expected format, then Git will use faster hash-based algorithms to compute inclusion -in the sparse-checkout. +in the sparse-checkout. If they do not match, git will behave as though +`core.sparseCheckoutCone` was false, regardless of its setting. -In the cone mode case, the `git sparse-checkout list` subcommand will list the -directories that define the recursive patterns. For the example sparse-checkout -file above, the output is as follows: +In the cone mode case, despite the fact that full patterns are written +to the $GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout file, the `git sparse-checkout +list` subcommand will list the directories that define the recursive +patterns. For the example sparse-checkout file above, the output is as +follows: -------------------------- $ git sparse-checkout list @@ -260,32 +327,6 @@ case-insensitive check. This corrects for case mismatched filenames in the 'git sparse-checkout set' command to reflect the expected cone in the working directory. -When changing the sparse-checkout patterns in cone mode, Git will inspect each -tracked directory that is not within the sparse-checkout cone to see if it -contains any untracked files. If all of those files are ignored due to the -`.gitignore` patterns, then the directory will be deleted. If any of the -untracked files within that directory is not ignored, then no deletions will -occur within that directory and a warning message will appear. If these files -are important, then reset your sparse-checkout definition so they are included, -use `git add` and `git commit` to store them, then remove any remaining files -manually to ensure Git can behave optimally. - - -INTERNALS -- FULL PATTERN SET ------------------------------ - -By default, the sparse-checkout file uses the same syntax as `.gitignore` -files. - -While `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is usually used to specify what -files are included, you can also specify what files are _not_ included, -using negative patterns. For example, to remove the file `unwanted`: - ----------------- -/* -!unwanted ----------------- - INTERNALS -- SUBMODULES -----------------------