Locking files in git repository

[julionc]

The way to ignore certain files that are already committed is:

git update-index --skip-worktree filename

I thought that this shortcut might be useful to exclude/protect files from version control.

Usage:

git proctect-file config/database.yml

[tj]

hmm wonder if "freeze" or "lock" would maybe be better

[julionc]

yes, you are right.
Which of these do you think git-lock-file or git-lock ?

[tj]

lock sounds good to me

[LoicMahieu]

Faboulus! I wasn't aware about git update-index --skip-worktree ! It's awesome!
Would be great to have a git unlock ?

[pzelnip]

This is hugely useful. One suggestion (to echo the above): I'd like to see an unlock to go along with the lock.

One question: the update-index docs (https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-update-index.html) discuss --assume-unchanged as an alternative to --skip-worktree. Is there a reason why --skip-worktree should be preferred?

[pzelnip]

To answer my own question, this StackOverflow answer explains the difference.

[pzelnip]

One other comment, perhaps "lock" is not the right verb. You're not really "locking" the file (which would imply the file cannot change, but this is not true -- the file most definitely can change), but rather telling Git to stop tracking changes. Perhaps git ignore-future-changes <filename> would be more appropriate (though rather verbose)?

[julionc]

Thanks @pzelnip
I don't know if @visionmedia likes this PR, but you can use git alias for a while.
Furthermore, I think is a better way.

   git config --global alias.lock "update-index --skip-worktree"
   git config --global alias.lock "update-index --no-skip-worktree"

[hemanth]

@julionc Willing to proceed?

[julionc]

Updated cc/ @hemanth

[hemanth]

@julionc Awesome stuff!

[Bodacious]

I love git extras so far—hugely useful!

Can someone please explain to me the benefit of locking files in git?

[qw3rtman]

From what I understand, if you git lock <file>, it will hide <file> in git status.

This makes it useful for config files that may be changed often (or left completely untracked, leading to a bunch of files being shown as untracked in git status), with no contribution to the actual code.

See this StackOverflow answer for more info.

[Bodacious]

So this is a feature I'd use for a file already committed to the repo, rather than one I want to ignore (like config/database.yml?