Re: project-find-file: switch to include non-tracked files

[Dmitry Gutov]

On 04.05.2021 17:55, Manuel Uberti wrote:
> On 04/05/21 16:16, Dmitry Gutov wrote:
> > The current behavior is to include the untracked files (unless they are in
> > .gitignore). And you can specify additional ignores through the
> > project-vc-ignores variable.
> >
> > If that is not enough, please outline your usage scenario(s).
>
> Sure, I'll try to explain myself better. I have Git-versioned projects where I
> usually track an .envrc.sample file for everyone to use as a starting point on
> their own machines. Developers are instructed to copy that file to a local
> (i.e., untracked) .envrc file. Since there could (and usually will) be
> information we don't want to be tracked on Git (e.g., one's own system-related
> customizations), .envrc is listed in .gitignore.
>
> Every now and then, I need to open that .envrc file and add something, but
> because it is listed in .gitignore, the file doesn't show up in 
> project-find-file.

Aha! So you want to open an _ignored_ file (which is also untracked, of 
course).

There are two ways to solve this:

- Add "whitelisting" syntax to project-vc-ignores and the 
project-ignores method. Then you edit the value of this variable, 
whitelisting .envrc in the given project (or globally), and 
project-find-file will always include it.

- We add an arg like NO-PROJECT-IGNORES to the project-files method. 
Then project-find-file could use it in (some?) circumstances.

> What helm-ls-git offers is the possibility to hit C-c i and showing the
> untracked files.

Patches or even plain suggestions welcome for the GUI side of this, at 
least. I'm not sure how to add a behavior like this on 'C-c i' to the 
default completing-read interface, which is what project-find-file 
ultimately calls (and can dispatch to alternative UIs like Ivy)

We can add this behavior when a prefix argument is used (like
C-u C-x p f'), but that's no dynamic switching.