GNU bug report logs - #79999
31.0.50; vc-dir-clean-files fails to unlist deleted files

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Paul D. Nelson" <ultrono <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 31.0.50; vc-dir-clean-files fails to unlist deleted files
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 14:20:51 +0100

To reproduce:

- Create an untracked file in a git repo (e.g., test.txt in Emacs/src).
- C-x p v (vc-dir), navigate to the file, hit d (vc-dir-clean-files).

Expect the file to disappear from the listing.  Observe that it does not
(and pressing x, or doing revert-buffer, still doesn't hide it).

The issue seems to be that vc-git-dir-status-goto-stage calls "git add
--refresh" on files that may be untracked, in which case it returns an
error status 128.  That error was previously ignored, but is now fatal
due to the (vc-run-delayed-success 1 ...) wrapper introduced in
0391b3f94ecf57536c068611c12ae776d7382962.  As a result,
vc-dir-refresh-files never reaches the ewoc-filter that drops the files
from the listing.

I experimented with filtering to tracked files, like so:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
diff --git a/lisp/vc/vc-git.el b/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
index ad70202724e..e79c85b527d 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/vc-git.el
@@ -716,6 +716,12 @@ vc-git-after-dir-status-stage
 ;; Follows vc-exec-after.
 (declare-function vc-set-async-update "vc-dispatcher" (process-buffer))
 
+(defun vc-git--tracked-files (files)
+  "Return the subset of FILES that Git currently tracks."
+  (with-temp-buffer
+    (when (zerop (apply #'vc-git--call nil t "ls-files" "-z" "--" files))
+      (split-string (buffer-string) "\0" t))))
+
 (defun vc-git-dir-status-goto-stage (git-state)
   ;; TODO: Look into reimplementing this using `git status --porcelain=v2'.
   (let ((files (vc-git-dir-status-state->files git-state)))
@@ -723,7 +729,9 @@ vc-git-dir-status-goto-stage
     (pcase (vc-git-dir-status-state->stage git-state)
       ('update-index
        (if files
-           (vc-git-command (current-buffer) 'async files "add" "--refresh" "--")
+           (when-let* ((tracked (vc-git--tracked-files files)))
+             (vc-git-command (current-buffer) 'async tracked
+                             "add" "--refresh" "--"))
          (vc-git-command (current-buffer) 'async nil
                          "update-index" "--refresh")))
       ('ls-files-added
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

This sidesteps the issue, but violates the asynchronous contract of
'vc-dir-status-files' and does not propagate errors.

Using a recent master (fcbb9066bea0f1fb3a2185b8257e54083e6e39c9) and Git
version 2.50.1.

Message #8 received at 79999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Sean Whitton <spwhitton <at> spwhitton.name>
To: "Paul D. Nelson" <ultrono <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 79999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79999: 31.0.50; vc-dir-clean-files fails to unlist deleted
 files
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 14:14:44 +0000

Hello,

On Sat 13 Dec 2025 at 02:20pm +01, Paul D. Nelson wrote:

> To reproduce:
>
> - Create an untracked file in a git repo (e.g., test.txt in Emacs/src).
> - C-x p v (vc-dir), navigate to the file, hit d (vc-dir-clean-files).
>
> Expect the file to disappear from the listing.  Observe that it does not
> (and pressing x, or doing revert-buffer, still doesn't hide it).
>
> The issue seems to be that vc-git-dir-status-goto-stage calls "git add
> --refresh" on files that may be untracked, in which case it returns an
> error status 128.  That error was previously ignored, but is now fatal
> due to the (vc-run-delayed-success 1 ...) wrapper introduced in
> 0391b3f94ecf57536c068611c12ae776d7382962.  As a result,
> vc-dir-refresh-files never reaches the ewoc-filter that drops the files
> from the listing.

I have been seeing a similar problem but didn't have a reproducer; thank
you for tracking it down.

I think the fix is just to accept exit 128 from that particular command
(though I'm not sure why we run git-add at all, instead of passing FILES
to git-update-index).

I've implemented that; let me know if you can still see the problem.

-- 
Sean Whitton

Message #11 received at 79999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Paul D. Nelson" <ultrono <at> gmail.com>
To: Sean Whitton <spwhitton <at> spwhitton.name>
Cc: 79999 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79999: 31.0.50; vc-dir-clean-files fails to unlist deleted
 files
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2025 16:08:22 +0100

> I think the fix is just to accept exit 128 from that particular command
> (though I'm not sure why we run git-add at all, instead of passing FILES
> to git-update-index).

Thanks, this indeed addresses the problem.  The one thing I worried
about with that approach is that if 'git add --refresh' is called with
some mixture of untracked and tracked files, then it will error on the
untracked ones and fail to refresh the index stats for the tracked ones.
I don't have a clear enough global picture of vc-dir to see exactly what
this might spoil, and as you say, perhaps git-update-index would work
better here anyway.

Message #16 received at 79999-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Sean Whitton <spwhitton <at> spwhitton.name>
To: "Paul D. Nelson" <ultrono <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 79999-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#79999: 31.0.50; vc-dir-clean-files fails to unlist deleted
 files
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 10:43:41 +0000

Version: 31.1

Hello,

On Sat 13 Dec 2025 at 04:08pm +01, Paul D. Nelson wrote:

>> I think the fix is just to accept exit 128 from that particular command
>> (though I'm not sure why we run git-add at all, instead of passing FILES
>> to git-update-index).
>
> Thanks, this indeed addresses the problem.  The one thing I worried
> about with that approach is that if 'git add --refresh' is called with
> some mixture of untracked and tracked files, then it will error on the
> untracked ones and fail to refresh the index stats for the tracked ones.
> I don't have a clear enough global picture of vc-dir to see exactly what
> this might spoil, and as you say, perhaps git-update-index would work
> better here anyway.

Well, we have been ignoring the exit status for eons and people haven't
noticed any inconsistencies, so overall I'm not too worried.

There is an option --ignore-errors we could consider passing to git-add.

-- 
Sean Whitton

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