[add] -- prompt if trying to add changes to existing file

[laur89]

I'm coming from the symlink-managed dotfile managers, and the issue I have with chezmoi is not having clear understanding of which files are already managed. Oftentimes come across a file I can't recall having already tracked, so run chezmoi add <file> on it, which simply re-adds inbetween modifications to the file.

Could there be an option for add or perhaps a new command like add-or-prompt that adds a non-tracked file, and prompts whether changes for already-tracked file should be updated in the chezmoi git index?

[halostatue]

chezmoi unmanaged can help here.

[laur89]

Ah nice. So I guess create a shell function facade that will replace the add command for my use-case.
Just yesterday discovered there's also re-add command. What are the differences between the two in practical terms? Neither seem to handle templated files.

[halostatue]

I don't use re-add, so I can't answer that. I mostly use add and chezmoi merge-all.

[laur89]

Yet another command I haven't used. Do you use merge-all as opposed to (re-)adding files, and committing the target-side changes directly?

[halostatue]

Yes. Because I see a diff3 between the current state, the source (which might be a template) and the generated target.

[ShreeChaturvedi]

re-add is the one you want. It only touches files that are already managed and modified, it won't overwrite templates, and it preserves encrypted_ attributes. add on a managed file replaces the source state with whatever is in the target right now, which is the clobber you keep hitting.

For the "is this tracked already" part, chezmoi managed answers it per path:

cza() {
  local managed; managed=$(chezmoi managed --path-style=absolute)
  for f in "$@"; do
    f=$(readlink -f "$f")
    if grep -qxF "$f" <<<"$managed"; then
      chezmoi diff "$f"
      read -rp "re-add $f? [y/N] " a && [[ $a == [yY] ]] && chezmoi re-add "$f"
    else
      chezmoi add "$f"
    fi
  done
}

Templates are out of scope for both on purpose. re-add skips them and add refuses without --force, because you can't reconstruct a template from its rendered output. chezmoi merge <file> is the route for those.

[twpayne]

I blocked this user for posting AI slop.