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gitgitattributes

git ignoring .gitattributes pattern

I've a directory structure like this:

root/
  .git
  deploy/
  Site/
    blah/
    more_blah/
      something.local
      else.development
    Rakefile
    .gitattributes

Edit: to further clarify the above, directories have a trailing / and children are indented beneath a directory, so blah and more_blah are directories but Rakefile and .gitattributes are files, but all four are children of Site.

I'm running git-archive from the Site directory like so:

git archive --format=tar --prefix=git-v0.0.1/ v0.0.1 | gzip > ../deploy/git-v0.0.1.tar.zip

but whatever pattern I put in .gitattributes, the resulting archive always contains Rakefile. I've tried:

  • Rakefile
  • Site/Rakefile
  • */Rakefile
  • ./Rakefile
  • Rakefile*
  • *

None of them work as I'd expect. Is anyone willing to point out the obvious yet non-obvious to me solution? Any help is much appreciated.

My apologies for not being clear.

  • I said the pattern I was using didn't seem to work, but I am using "export-ignore" after the pattern.
  • Rakefile is not a directory, just a file
  • The .gitattributes file is successful in removing other patterns from the archive, Rakefile is not the only pattern used, but is the only one that doesn't work. It doesn't work whether I have it on its own or with other patterns, and at any place in the file. This is not true, due to having renamed certain files but not archiving the commit with the rename I was appearing to get some good results. My bad! :S

This is my .gitattributes (sitting in the directory Site)

Rakefile        export-ignore
*.local         export-ignore
*.development   export-ignore
*.staging       export-ignore
Solution

  • I believe @Jefromi gave the information needed for me to resolve this with his comments, but is too humble to take the credit, and I'd like to keep my acceptance rating at 100% (quite rightly) so I'll give the answer here:

    First edit:

    Ok, two things were needed. --worktree-attributes on its own did not work, but when I moved the .gitattributes file into the root dir from the Site dir, then it worked. Again, the Git book implies that the file doesn't need to be in the root for it to work (note: dead link)

    ... (normally the root of your project)

    Much later edit:

    Even the latest version of the docs (2.35.1) there are references to .gitattributes files that aren't in the root of the repo (GIT_WORK_TREE / GIT_DIR) e.g.

    not in .gitattributes files in working tree subdirectories

    Git does not follow symbolic links when accessing a .gitattributes file in the working tree.

    I feel a bit let down by those docs (for once). I also think it's not-what-you'd-think behaviour to have to opt in the file when .gitignore just works, IMO.