Use the `.gitignore` file as information to exclude files

[xiaguangbo]

Does rsync provide a file like .gitignore, so that it can be placed in some required directories to prevent synchronization?
Or simply use the .gitignore file as information to exclude files

[sudhackar]

https://stackoverflow.com/a/15373763/23707946 has a solution as

--filter=':- .gitignore'

[xiaguangbo]

@sudhackar thanks!

[Norlandz]

I have no idea where people get that answer from.
The documentation didnt mention anything about .gitignore .
It does work most of the time...

But, it doesnt work with negation, ie: the !imp.log after *.log.
rsync just ignore that ! negation.
I asked GPT, and I tested myself.
I have no idea where GPT get that answer from.
The documentation didnt mention anything about .gitignore and negation.

[Vinfall]

Of course not, because rsync only supports .cvsignore, not .gitignore. And these two ignore files use different syntax.

The suggested command above is just a simplified workaround and breaks all the time. A more sophisticated solution would be invoking the git cli via git ls-files but still, that would only work if git is installed and it's a git repo, which is not always the case.

Native support for rsync in .gitignore is still much appreciated. I think it's also perfectly fine to drop .csvignore support if required, as almost no one uses it now...

[Norlandz]

I did end up using git ls-files instead at that time.

[steadytao]

The --filter=':- .gitignore' workaround does not parse .gitignore syntax; it only interprets the file using rsync’s merge-filter rules. The overlap handles simple patterns but diverges on negation, anchoring and nested precedence. git ls-files is a valid external solution when Git is available but native .gitignore semantics remain a fairly reasonable feature request. If wanted, can we open a new feature request?

Any implementation would have to use an explicit option rather than silently treating every .gitignore as an rsync filter. It should define nested-file precedence, negation, anchored patterns, directory-only patterns and behaviour outside a Git worktree. Existing .cvsignore support should remain separate.

[xiaguangbo]

@steadytao It would be great to leverage the .gitignore file!