Can you "ignore" a file in Perforce?

Question

I sometimes use the feature 'Reconcile Offline Work...' found in Perforce's P4V IDE to sync up any files that I have been working on while disconnected from the P4 depot. It launches another window that performs a 'Folder Diff'.

I have files I never want to check in to source control (like ones found in bin folder such as DLLs, code generated output, etc.) Is there a way to filter those files/folders out from appearing as "new" that might be added. They tend to clutter up the list of files that I am actually interesting in. Does P4 have the equivalent of Subversion's 'ignore file' feature?

Answer 1

From the manual:

To exclude files from source control: in the directory where the files reside, create a text file named .p4ignore and enter the directories and file names you want to exclude. When you specify a directory, all its subdirectories are ignored. You cannot use wildcards in .p4ignore files.

Answer 2

Assuming you have a client named "CLIENT", a directory named "foo" (located at your project root), and you wish to ignore all .dll files in that directory tree, you can add the following lines to your workspace view to accomplish this:

-//depot/foo/*.dll //CLIENT/foo/*.dll
-//depot/foo/.../*.dll //CLIENT/foo/.../*.dll

The first line removes them from the directory "foo" and the second line removes them from all sub directories. Now, when you 'Reconcile Offline Work...', all the .dll files will be moved into "Excluded Files" folders at the bottom of the folder diff display. They will be out of your way, but can still view and manipulate them if you really need to.

You can also do it another way, which will reduce your "Excluded Files" folder to just one, but you won't be able to manipulate any of the files it contains because the path will be corrupt (but if you just want them out of your way, it doesn't matter).

-//depot/foo.../*.dll //CLIENT/foo.../*.dll

Answer 3

Will's suggestion of using .p4ignore only seems to work with the Websphere Studio (P4WSAD) plugin. I just tried it on my local windows box and any files and directories that I listed were not ignored.

Raven's suggestion of modifying your client spec is the correct way under Perforce. Proper organization of your code/data/executables and generated output files will make the process of excluding files from being checked in much easier.

As a more draconian approach, you can always write a submit trigger which will reject submission of changelists if they contain a certain file or files with a certain extension, etc.

Answer 4

but a solution that can be checked in (like .p4ignore or .svnignore files) would be better, since you have to do this once and all participating developers of that project would use the same filters, that can be changed and adjusted over time according to project evolution...

Answer 5

I tried to use this to ignore the "target" folders that maven generates when doing a "diff against" operation in P4V. It's almost working, but when I switch to "View as flat list" I still see all of the excluded files. The tree view seems to work, but without an "expand all" button it's a real pain in the butt to navigate.

-//depot/.../target/.../* //CLIENT/.../target/.../*

Anyone know if there's a way to tweak the list view or expand all the changes in tree view?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 6

If you are using the Eclipse Perforce plugin, then the plugin documentation lists several ways to ignore files.

Answer 7

If you want a solution that will apply to all workspaces without needing to be copied around, you (or your sysadmin) can refuse submission of those filetypes through using lines like the below in the p4 protect table:

write user * * -//.../*.suo
write user * * -//.../*.obj
write user * * -//.../*.ccscc

I remember doing this before, but I don't have the necessary permissions to test this here. Check out Perforce's Sysadmin guide and try it out

Answer 8

You can not write and check in a file that the server will use to make ignore rules; general glob or regex file pattern ignore in perforce.

Other answers have global server configurations that are global (and not per folder). The other answers show things that might work for you, if you want one line in your view per folder times number of extensions you want to ignore in that single folder, or that provide this capability in Websphere Studio plugins only, or provide capability for server administrators, but not available to users.

In short, I find Perforce really weak in this area. While I appreciate that those who use the Eclipse Plugin can use .p4ignore, and I think that's great, it leaves those of us that don't, out in the dark.