Re: Keep directory in working tree, but exclude from foo.diff.gz

[Felipe Sateler <fsateler@gmail.com>]

Ben Finney wrote:

> Felipe Sateler <fsateler@gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> Ben Finney wrote:
>>  
>> > What would be the best way to keep such a directory in place, but
>> > exclude the directory from the Debian source and binary packages?
>> 
>> dpkg-source -i"regexp"?
> 
> Thanks. That looks like the right functionality, indeed.
> 
> However:
> 
> =====
> $ man dpkg-source
> [...]
>        -i[regexp]
>               You may specify a perl regular expression to match files
>               you want filtered out of the list of files for the diff.
>               [...] There can only be one active regexp, of multiple
>               -i options only the last one will take effect.
> [...]
> 
> $ dpkg-source --help
> [...]
>   -i[<regexp>]             filter out files to ignore diffs of
>                              (defaults to:
>                              '(?:^|/).*~$|(?:^|/)\.#.*$|(?:^|/)\..*\.swp$
(?:^|/),,.*(?:$|/.*$)|(?:^|/)(?:DEADJOE|\.cvsignore|\.arch-inventory
\.bzrignore|\.gitignore)$|(?:^|/)(?:CVS|RCS|\.deps|\{arch\}|\.arch-ids|\.svn
\.hg|_darcs|\.git|\.shelf|_MTN|\.bzr(?:\.backup|tags)?)(?:$|/.*$)').
> [...]
> =====
> 
> Yikes. So, in order to filter out an additional pattern, I can't just
> say "ignore this pattern as well as the defaults". I have to construct
> a *single* regexp that contains the default pattern *plus* mine, and
> forever diverge from any future changes to the default regexp.
> 
> Am I reading it wrong, or is this dpkg-source option really that
> awful?

Apparently it is. Note though that most of that regex is to match stuff you
won't use (eg, every VCS in common use, you probably use only one).

BTW, why are there files useful to you but not other developers?

-- 

  Felipe Sateler