Merge branch 'jk/maint-1.6.5-reset-hard'

[git.git] / Documentation / gitignore.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/gitignore.txt b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
index fc0efd8ec8dcc791c528d0eca362172f7e445164..7df3cef46f3cc2a0cb0e0d7197b431b01b3af4fd 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/gitignore.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitignore.txt
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@ DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 
 A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files that
-git should ignore.  Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a
-pattern.
-
+git should ignore.
+Note that all the `gitignore` files really concern only files
+that are not already tracked by git;
+in order to ignore uncommitted changes in already tracked files,
+please refer to the 'git update-index --assume-unchanged'
+documentation.
+
+Each line in a `gitignore` file specifies a pattern.
 When deciding whether to ignore a path, git normally checks
 `gitignore` patterns from multiple sources, with the following
 order of precedence, from highest to lowest (within one level of
@@ -26,8 +31,8 @@ precedence, the last matching pattern decides the outcome):
 
  * Patterns read from a `.gitignore` file in the same directory
    as the path, or in any parent directory, with patterns in the
-   higher level files (up to the root) being overridden by those in
-   lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
+   higher level files (up to the toplevel of the work tree) being overridden
+   by those in lower level files down to the directory containing the file.
    These patterns match relative to the location of the
    `.gitignore` file.  A project normally includes such
    `.gitignore` files in its repository, containing patterns for