Re: [PATCH v4 1/4] gitfaq: files in .gitignore are tracked

[Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 2:38 AM Shourya Shukla
<shouryashukla.oo@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Add issue in 'Common Issues' section which addresses the problem of
> Git tracking files/paths mentioned in '.gitignore'.
>
> Signed-off-by: Shourya Shukla <shouryashukla.oo@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/gitfaq.txt | 9 +++++++++
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/gitfaq.txt b/Documentation/gitfaq.txt
> index 1cf83df118..b1e758ffd1 100644
> --- a/Documentation/gitfaq.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/gitfaq.txt
> @@ -223,6 +223,15 @@ a file checked into the repository which is a template or set of defaults which
>  can then be copied alongside and modified as appropriate.  This second, modified
>  file is usually ignored to prevent accidentally committing it.
>
> +[[files-in-.gitignore-are-tracked]]
> +I asked Git to ignore various files, yet they are still tracked::
> +       A `gitignore` file specifies intentionally untracked files
> +       that Git should ignore. Files already tracked by Git are
> +       not affected. See linkgit:gitignore[5] for details.
> +       To ignore and untrack the files appearing in the staging are
> +       it is advised to use `git rm --cached <file>`as well as make
> +       the file pattern is mentioned in the '.gitignore'.

Mostly looks good, but I can't help but nitpick several small items:
The first sentence alone seems to slightly undercut the answer, so
it'd be nice to make sure the first two sentences are just one.  Also,
it doesn't explain how people get into this state, which is probably
something users are curious about.  The "To ignore and untrack the
files" lists multiple end results, making it unclear which parts of
the end results the suggested steps are addressing.  There's also a
"staging are" typo (should be "staging area").

How about something like:

The purpose of gitignore files is to ensure that certain files not
tracked by Git remain untracked.  However, git allows people to
override the `gitignore` rules by using the --force option to `git
add`, and sometimes people started tracking a file unintentionally
before adding a pattern covering it to the gitignore rules.  If you
want to untrack a file, run `git rm --cached <file>` (and then
commit).  See linkgit:gitignore[5] for details.