git add . - still "nothing to commit" with new files

Question

I am struggling with Git, I can't seem to add my files. I ran `ls` to show that the files are in the current directory, then ran `git add .` then `git status` which showed "nothing to commit". ``` JJ-Computer:first_app JJ$ git init Reinitialized existing Git repository in /Users/JJ/rails_projects/first_app/.git/ JJ-Computer:first_app JJ$ ls Diary.txt README.rdoc config.ru log tmp Gemfile Rakefile db public vendor Gemfile.lock app doc script README config lib test JJ-Computer:first_app JJ$ git add . JJ-Computer:first_app Jenn$ git status # On branch master nothing to commit (working directory clean) JJ-Computer:first_app JJ$ ```

Accepted Answer

Your commands look correct (I've done them many times that way).

First try

```
git add --all
```

and then try `git status`. I don't think that will solve it, but worth trying next.

Next try looking at your .gitignore file, if you have one (in the top level where you did `git init`).

```
cat .gitignore
```

Remove any listings there that are causing your files to be ignored. For example is there an entry with just `*`?

Next try:

```
git add --force
```

and then try `git status`.

If none of those work, I notice that your output from `git init` says "reinitialized" rather than "initialized", so something may have gotten messed up. If you've just initialized it and don't mind losing history, start over by removing the .git dir:

```
rm -rf .git
```

And then reexecute your same commands above. If that doesn't work, some more information about your setup will be required. For example, you might have a global .gitignore file: `~/.gitignore_global` that needs to edited (or removed if you don't want it).

git add . -> still "nothing to commit" with new files

Solution

Problem