Retain specific files when using `--cleanDestinationDir`

[ilovelinux]

Usecase

I'm using Codeberg Pages to host my website, you can find the repostitory at https://codeberg.org/ilovelinux/pages

I have two branches:

• main: hugo project
• pages: hugo build (output of public/)

Since I'm using Codeberg Pages with a custom domain, I also need a .domains file¹ to be pushed in the pages branch.

When I

• Have files in the static/ directory.
• Switch to main branch.
• Create the public/ folder using a git worktree of the pages branch.
• Run hugo build --cleanDestinationDir.

I need

• To remove outdated content
• To retain:
  • .git file created by git worktree².
  • .domains file used by Codeberg Pages in order to allow custom domains¹.
  • _redirects file for redirects (however I'm not using it yet)³.

Instead

• The files I need to be retained are deleted.

Proposal

Add a configuration field to list relative file paths to public/ that should be retained when using --cleanDestinationDir.

Example

 filesToRetain:
  - .git
  - .domains
  - _redirects
  - foo/bar/.mysecretfile

Files retained:

• public/.git
• public/.domains
• public/_redirects
• public/foo/bar/.mysecretfile

Note

I'm not suggesting to use filesToRetain as configuration field, but I couldn't think of a better name.

Notes

Important

--cleanDestinationDir does nothing when when the static/ directory doesn't exist since its value is used inside the copyStaticTo function.

hugo/commands/hugobuilder.go

Line 481 in c4bbc28

syncer.Delete = conf.configs.Base.CleanDestinationDir

Workaround

Warning

This approach is error-prone.

I implemented a workaround in my Makefile that:

• Repairs the worktree folder, as suggested in Keep ".git" file in in --cleanDestinationDir #6261 (comment).
• Restores the .domains file.

Related issues & PR

• Ignore "." dirs in hugo --cleanDestinationDir  #3202 was about .git folder being deleted.
  Fixed thanks to:
  • Added function to filter deletion of files in destination folder spf13/fsync#10
  • commands: Added new option cleanDestinationDirKeepDotFolder #3210.
• Options "--cleanDestinationDir" and "--cleanDestinationDirKeepDotFolders" #4546 was about .git file of a submodule⁴ being deleted. Closed because it was considered a discussion.
• Keep ".git" file in in --cleanDestinationDir #6261 was introducing a fix for the .git file in order to work correctly with git worktrees and submodules. Closed because of the Stale bot but it looks like it was still kept into consideration since @bep kept moving it among milestones after that.
  However this wouldn't solve my issue since .domains and _redirects files would still be deleted.

Footnotes

1. https://docs.codeberg.org/codeberg-pages/using-custom-domain/ ↩ ↩²

2. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree#_details ↩

3. https://docs.codeberg.org/codeberg-pages/redirects/ ↩

4. https://git-scm.com/docs/git-submodule#Documentation/git-submodule.txt-absorbgitdirs ↩