Documentation: clarify "git clean -e <pattern>"

The current explanation of -e can be misread as allowing the user to say

    I know 'git clean -XYZ' (substitute -XYZ with any option and/or
    parameter) will remove paths A, B, and C, and I want them all removed
    except for paths matching this pattern by adding '-e C' to the same
    command line, i.e. 'git clean -e C -XYZ'.

But that is not what this option does. It augments the set of ignore rules
from the command line, just like the same "-e <pattern>" argument does
with the "ls-files" command (the user could probably pass "-e \!C" to tell
the command to clean everything the command would normally remove, except
for C). Also error out when both -x and -e are given with an explanation of
what -e means---it is a symptom of misunderstanding what -e does.

It also fixes small style nit in the parameter to add_exclude() call. The
current code only works because EXC_CMDL happens to be defined as 0.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

diff --git a/Documentation/git-clean.txt b/Documentation/git-clean.txt
index 974e04ef1abaf4a3018b83b0323a46cbaa5339d4..79fb9841441d02cd635dcdd2aecef42d38c6b59d 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-clean.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clean.txt
@@ -47,12 +47,14 @@ OPTIONS
 
 -e <pattern>::
 --exclude=<pattern>::
-       Specify special exceptions to not be cleaned.  Each <pattern> is
-       the same form as in $GIT_DIR/info/excludes and this option can be
-       given multiple times.
+       In addition to those found in .gitignore (per directory) and
+       $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, also consider these patterns to be in the
+       set of the ignore rules in effect.
 
 -x::
-       Don't use the ignore rules.  This allows removing all untracked
+       Don't use the standard ignore rules read from .gitignore (per
+       directory) and $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, but do still use the ignore
+       rules given with `-e` options.  This allows removing all untracked
        files, including build products.  This can be used (possibly in
        conjunction with 'git reset') to create a pristine
        working directory to test a clean build.

diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index 75697f711116e42df1e21e608c21829f49549b08..0c7b3d0f4c28c9e9c721c961e529196751271d11 100644 (file)
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
                OPT_BOOLEAN('d', NULL, &remove_directories,
                                "remove whole directories"),
                { OPTION_CALLBACK, 'e', "exclude", &exclude_list, "pattern",
-                 "exclude <pattern>", PARSE_OPT_NONEG, exclude_cb },
+                 "add <pattern> to ignore rules", PARSE_OPT_NONEG, exclude_cb },
                OPT_BOOLEAN('x', NULL, &ignored, "remove ignored files, too"),
                OPT_BOOLEAN('X', NULL, &ignored_only,
                                "remove only ignored files"),
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
                setup_standard_excludes(&dir);
 
        for (i = 0; i < exclude_list.nr; i++)
-               add_exclude(exclude_list.items[i].string, "", 0, dir.exclude_list);
+               add_exclude(exclude_list.items[i].string, "", 0,
+                           &dir.exclude_list[EXC_CMDL]);
 
        pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv);