Question

How could I avoid git of downloading specified some files from main repository? I would like to exclude some javascript files that I don’t want to be on the webserver.

Is there any “gitignore” that prevents download of specific files?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do this with the “sparse checkout” feature.

git config core.sparsecheckout true

Edit the .git/info/sparse-checkout file and add:

*
!invisible.js

Then:

git read-tree  -m -u HEAD

This should make the invisible.js file disappear from the working directory (and it won’t come back on an update).

See the “Sparse checkout” section of the git read-tree documentation for more information.