If you work with git on the Mac platform, chances are high that you’ve encountered DS_Store files within a git repository. These files can be bothersome and fill up a git repository, and there’s a possibility you might face unnecessary conflicts because of .DS_Store files being tracked in git repositories, potentially leading to error messages such as "The files .DS_Store and .DS_Store had a tree conflict". Since .DS_Store files are generally unnecessary for most git repositories and usually just cause problems, it makes sense to remove .DS_Store files from git repositories.

To start with, if you're curious about what a DS_Store file is, it essentially serves as a file that holds folder-specific metadata on a Mac. Therefore, a .DS_Store file encompasses details like metadata regarding view type, file/folder size, thumbnail data, folder arrangement, and any Finder-level customizations for a specific folder on the Mac. Given that .DS_Store files have a . prefix in their filenames, they remain unseen by the Finder (effectively turning them into hidden files), though they do appear in the command line, and with command-line tools or repository management systems like git that typically include every single file, including hidden ones, in a directory.

Even though .DS_Store files serve a purpose for the Finder, they are not beneficial to have in a git repository. We’ll now explore how to eliminate all DS_Store files from a git repository and also ensure they don’t get stored in future git repositories.

Method to Eliminate Current .DS_Store Files from Git Repository

1. Launch the Terminal, and move to the git repository directory where you want to purge .DS_Store files.
2. Input the following command sequence: find . -name .DS_Store -print0 | xargs -0 git rm -f --ignore-unmatch

This will detect and delete .DS_Store files.

If you prefer to take it a step further, you can actually remove all DS_Store files from a Mac using an alternative version of the find command, but note that this action will erase any and all Finder window and folder customizations, so it's not particularly suggested to proceed that way.

How to Exclude .DS_Store Files from git

Next, let’s proceed to stop git from keeping and committing DS_Store files initially, and instead disregard them entirely. This is accomplished by editing (or generating) the .gitignore file in the current repository directory:

echo .DS_Store >> .gitignore

You’ll then want to incorporate the .gitignore file into your repository and finalize the change.

git add .gitignore

git commit -m 'Excluding .DS\_Store Files'

–

It’s worth mentioning that it’s not solely git that could encounter problems with .DS_Store file generation or clutter, or that might gain from ignoring them; you can also exclude DS_Store files from zip archives created on a Mac, which can aid in reducing clutter (and prevent machine-specific metadata) from being included in a zip file. Additionally, you might find .DS_Store files irritating in network environments, but a defaults command can stop DS_Store file creation for network volumes if required.

The above is the detailed content of How to Remove DS_Store Files from Git Repository. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!