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browse: ensureStateDir appends .gstack/ to .gitignore when a file under .gstack/ is tracked

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
78/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
git, typescript
Domain
devtools

Research direction

Start with ensureStateDir() and isIgnoredByGit() in browse/src/config.ts, then reproduce the case using the .gitignore entries and commands in the issue. Check that running a $B command no longer appends .gstack/ when a tracked file under that directory is intentionally included. Confirm that the re-include rule for .gstack/pregate.json remains effective.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

What happens

ensureStateDir() in browse/src/config.ts appends .gstack/ to the project's .gitignore when the project already ignores the folder's contents with .gstack/* and tracks one file inside it (for example a shared .gstack/pregate.json, added with git add -f).

The check it relies on, git check-ignore -q -- .gstack/, exits 1 once any file under .gstack/ is tracked, so isIgnoredByGit returns false. The text check then looks for a literal .gstack/ line, doesn't find .gstack/*, and appends. Every $B start leaves a modified tracked .gitignore, and the appended .gstack/ line also cancels a !.gstack/pregate.json re-include for anyone who hasn't added the file yet.

This is a variant of #2385, which fixed the global-excludes case.

Repro

Git 2.54 (Windows 11, Git Bash), gstack 1.91.239.0:

git init -q repro && cd repro
printf '.gstack/*\n!.gstack/pregate.json\n' > .gitignore
mkdir .gstack && echo '{}' > .gstack/pregate.json
git add .gitignore && git add -f .gstack/pregate.json
git check-ignore -q -- .gstack/;                 echo $?   # 1  (what browse checks today)
git check-ignore -q -- .gstack/browse.json;      echo $?   # 0
git check-ignore -q --no-index -- .gstack/;      echo $?   # 0

Then run any $B command in that repo: .gitignore gains a .gstack/ line.

Suggested fix

Ask git about a path inside the state folder, which is what actually needs to stay out of commits:

// browse/src/config.ts, ensureStateDir()
if (isIgnoredByGit(config.projectDir, '.gstack/') ||
    isIgnoredByGit(config.projectDir, '.gstack/browse.json')) return;

(git check-ignore --no-index -- .gstack/ also answers 0 here.) The .gstack/.gitignore containing * that the function already writes keeps the contents out of commits either way, so skipping the append is safe.

Dominant language
TypeScript
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Merged PRs (30d)
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  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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