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Github: avoid syncing/pulling README.md

How can I exclude README.md from all sync/pull/push github requests? I wish to download/sync all files except that file.

Context: I have a repo for StreakyCobra style dotfiles management. I would like to add some notes to README.md (showing up on github), but wish to avoid having the file in $HOME on my computer.

Solution

  • Working off of @kba's comment, here's a solution that works:

    You can enable sparse checkout for a repo with the following command: git config core.sparsecheckout true

    Then edit the repository's .git/info/sparse-checkout file to be:

    /*
!README.md

    which essentially says "checkout everything, except any file named README.md". The format of sparse-checkout works the same as a .gitignore file.

    Just tested this by checking out an existing repository, and it works. (Although, there's a catch-22 situation where you need an existing repository to configure the sparse checkout on, so I used git init to create one, configured it, and then added the existing repo as a new remote).