[Monotone-devel] Re: .mt-ignore and .cvsignore files

[Bruno Hertz]

Nathaniel Smith <address@hidden> writes:

> On Sat, May 14, 2005 at 12:04:57AM -0700, David Brown wrote:
>> On Fri, 13 May 2005 20:39:31 -0700, Nuno Lucas <address@hidden>  
>> wrote:
>> 
>> >I understand your point. On the other hand there is no way to be fully
>> >sure they will always be the same, as "*" is a shell thing and it's up
>> >to the shell to return us the same as . would do (for example, I could
>> >have a shell that has an option somewhere to never include a
>> >*.my_extension file in the * expansion).
>> 
>> Most shells already distinguish these.  "*" in the shell doesn't include  
>> filenames that start with a '.'.
>
> Yes, but just because there's a subtle technical difference doesn't
> mean that people don't expect them to work the same, and won't
> make mistakes, experience confusion, etc. if they don't...

I think it's safe to assume your users have a basic knowledge of shell
expansion. E.g. the same applies to find . -name * vs. find . -name "*",
which people still have to somehow understand.

>
> Also, the difference here is in the other direction -- "*" would
> potentially include lots of things that _aren't_ included by ".".
> Which really is a bit surprising, no?

No. That's the feature you were talking about. Just document it.

Regards, Bruno.