Force git to add dotfiles to repository

Question

How can I add files starting with dot (hidden files) in git repo? Git seems to always ignore those.

When I type git add ., dotfiles in GIT_DIR are added, but not from subdirectories. On the other hand, git add subdir/.dotfile won't work.

I tried git add -f and putting !.* in GIT_DIR/.git/info/exclude. No luck.

Answer 1

git add . and git add dir/.dot work fine for me with the unadorned 1.6.6.1 and 1.7.0 versions of Git that I have handy right now.

% git --version
git version 1.6.6.1
% git ls-files -o
.baz/baz
.foo
bar/.bar
quuux/quuux
quux
% git add .
% git ls-files -o
% git ls-files 
.baz/baz
.foo
bar/.bar
quuux/quuux
quux

What version of Git are you using? Are your subdirs actually submodules (which are managed independently)?

“dot files” are not excluded by default, but maybe some bit of configuration on your system, repository, or working tree has them set that way. If they show up in git ls-files --exclude-standard -oi then they are being ignored and "!.*" is the right way to ‘unignore’ them. But to be effective, that pattern has to be in the right place. Ignores are processed in this order:

• .gitignore of the immediately containing directory, then
• .gitignore of the parent directory (each parent, up to the repository root), then
• $GIT_DIR/info/exclude, then
• the file reported by git config core.excludesfile (which could be set by
  • $GIT_DIR/config,
  • $HOME/.gitconfig, or
  • the system config file (try GIT_EDITOR=echo git config --system --edit to get its pathname)).

When a pathname matches a pattern in one file, subsequent files are not consulted. The last match in each file “wins”. A pattern in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude can never override a pattern in a .gitignore file. So, if the files are being ignored (per git ls-files --exclude-standard -oi) and if "!.*" in $GIT_DIR/info/exclude is ineffective, then check all the applicable .gitignore files for the culprit.