cannot stow ".gitignore"

[fenugrec]

Heh, I just figured it out while writing this (is there a "rubberduck" label ?). So it's not really a bug report anymore, but I'd like to discuss it anyway - feel free to close at any time.

I was trying to stow ~/.gitconfig and ~/.gitignore . The first worked, but I just could not make it work with .gitignore !

Turning on -vvvvv revealed the explanation :

Using built-in ignore list
    Ignore list regexp for paths:    /(?^:(^|/)(^/README.*|^/LICENSE.*|^/\.stow\-local\-ignore$|^/COPYING)(/|$))/
    Ignore list regexp for segments: /(?^:^(\.hg|CVS|.+,v|\.gitignore|\.svn|#.*#|\.cvsignore|\.#.+|_darcs|.+~|\.git|RCS)$)/

I understand the reason for ignoring those in the root of the "stow directory", but I'm not sure when they would be a problem coming from within a package ? Unless those regexp are mainly so that --adopt doesn't pick up all that trash ?

I know how to work around this ; just add --dotfiles in .stowrc , and rename files to dot-gitconfig and dot-gitignore, so as I said this isn't really an issue.

[aspiers]

The point is that typically when stowing from a package which is a git repo, the .gitignore at the top of that repo is intended only for use within the git repo, and should not be stowed into ~ or /usr/local or wherever the stow target directory is. The only exception is when you want to use Stow to manage ~/.gitignore (say) as a symlink pointing to a file version-controlled with git. In that case, you can set up a .stow-local-ignore just for that git repo which overrides Stow's default ignore list and allows the .gitignore to be stowed. In fact I do exactly that myself: https://github.com/aspiers/git-config/blob/master/.stow-local-ignore

Hope that makes sense, and sorry for the slow reply! Closing for now, but happy to reopen if anything is unclear.

[fenugrec]

and sorry for the slow reply!

Haha no worries I've seen / done worse.

Thanks for the alternate solution, I wasn't aware of .stow-local-ignore. I still think it's an interesting edge case / typical scenario; next time someone asks it may need to be added to the FAQ !

[aspiers]

@fenugrec commented on April 5, 2021 1:09 AM:

and sorry for the slow reply!

Haha no worries I've seen / done worse.

:laughing: Thanks for your patience!

Thanks for the alternate solution, I wasn't aware of .stow-local-ignore. I still think it's an interesting edge case / typical scenario; next time someone asks it may need to be added to the FAQ !

Yep, fair point. We don't actually have a FAQ yet, but there is a section on Ignore Lists in the manual. If you have any ideas for how to improve that, I'd be happy to hear them!

[whompyjaw]

Hmm.. I must not be as savvy as OP, but can't seem to understand the issue. I wonder if I am doing something wrong?

I put my .gitconfig and .gitignore in ~/.dotfiles/git which is vc'd using a normal git repo that makes ~/ as my work-tree (have an alias, similar to the "bare" concept, just not a bare repo basically). This seems to work fine. I think because I set my work-tree to $HOME. So it pulls the gitignore from home. Not my dotfiles. Does that make sense?

[afrid18]

I don't have .gitignore file in the .stow-global-ignore and yet I am unable to stow it.

Here is my verbose output:

  dotfiles/git/.stow-local-ignore didn't exist
  /Users/imamkhaja/.stow-global-ignore didn't exist
  Using built-in ignore list
    Ignore list regexp for paths:    /(?^:(^|/)(^/\.stow\-local\-ignore$|^/COPYING|^/LICENSE.*|^/README.*)(/|$))/
    Ignore list regexp for segments: /(?^:^(\.git|.+~|_darcs|.+,v|RCS|\.gitignore|#.*#|CVS|\.cvsignore|\.svn|\.#.+|\.hg)$)/
  Ignoring path segment .gitignore

It seems that segments ignore list is the reason, that .gitignore isn't stowing, if I am not worng.

[nineboxes]

Hello there. I also can't stow the .gitignore by eliminating it from the .stow-local-ignore file on the macOS. @aspiers sorry for bothering you, could you please take a look?

[fenugrec]

quoting the first post :

just add --dotfiles in .stowrc , and rename files to dot-gitconfig and dot-gitignore, so as I said this isn't really an issue.

that's how I solved it

[FWDekker]

@afrid18 @nineboxes Just create an empty .stow-local-ignore in ~/.dotfiles/git. The point is not to override your global ignore file, but to override Stow's internal default ignore file.