git pull keeping local changes

Question

How can I safely update (pull) a git project, keeping specific files untouched, even if there's upstream changes?

myrepo/config/config.php

Is there a way, of, even if this file was being changed on remote, when I git pull, everything else is updated, but this file is unchanged (not even merged)?

PS. I need to do what I am asking because I'm only writing git-based deploy scripts. I cannot change config files to templates.

so, I need way to write update scripts that does not lose what was locally changed. I was hoping for something as simple as:

git assume-remote-unchanged file1 git assume-remote-unchanged file2 

then git pull

Answer 1

There is a simple solution based on Git stash. Stash everything that you've changed, pull all the new stuff, apply your stash.

git stash git pull git stash pop 

On stash pop there may be conflicts. In the case you describe there would in fact be a conflict for config.php. But, resolving the conflict is easy because you know that what you put in the stash is what you want. So do this:

git checkout --theirs -- config.php 

Answer 2

If you have a file in your repo that it is supposed to be customized by most pullers, then rename the file to something like config.php.template and add config.php to your .gitignore.