From 5823eb2b28696bf0eb25f6ca35b303447869f85c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:53:48 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] git status: document trade-offs in choosing parameters to the -u option MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In some repostories users experience that "git status" command takes long time. The command spends some time searching the file system for untracked files. Explain the trade-off struck by the default choice of `normal` to help users make an appropriate choice better, before talking about the configuration variable. Inspired by Torsten Bögershausen. Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> --- Documentation/git-status.txt | 14 ++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/git-status.txt b/Documentation/git-status.txt index 67e5f53a9e..00d5951012 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-status.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-status.txt @@ -43,15 +43,21 @@ OPTIONS Show untracked files. + The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to -specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the -default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories. +specify the handling of untracked files. + The possible options are: + - - 'no' - Show no untracked files - - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories + - 'no' - Show no untracked files. + - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories. - 'all' - Also shows individual files in untracked directories. + +When `-u` option is not used, untracked files and directories are +shown (i.e. the same as specifying `normal`), to help you avoid +forgetting to add newly created files. Because it takes extra work +to find untracked files in the filesystem, this mode may take some +time in a large working tree. You can use `no` to have `git status` +return more quickly without showing untracked files. ++ The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1]. -- 2.48.1