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3.5 Reserved Files

A monotone working copy consists of control files and non-control files. Each type of file can be versioned or non-versioned. These classifications lead to four groups of files:

Control files contain special content formatted for use by monotone. Versioned files are recorded in a monotone database and have their state tracked as they are modified.

If a control file is versioned, it is considered part of the state of the working copy, and will be recorded as a manifest entry. If a control file is not versioned, it is used to manage the state of the working copy, but it not considered an intrinsic part of it.

Most files you manage with monotone will be versioned non-control files. For example, if you keep source code or documents in a monotone database, they are versioned non-control files. Non-versioned, non-control files in your working copy are generally temporary or junk files, such as backups made by editors or object files made by compilers. Such files are ignored by monotone.

Identifying control files

Control files are identified by their names. Non-control files can have any name except the names reserved for control files. The names of control files follow a regular pattern:

Versioned control files
Any file name beginning with .mt-
Non-versioned control files
Any file in the directory MT/

Existing control files

The following control files are currently used. More control files may be added in the future, but they will follow the patterns given above.

.mt-attrs
Contains versioned attributes of files, associated with the files' pathnames.
MT/revision
Contains the identity of the “base” revision of the working copy. Each working copy has a base revision. When the working copy is committed, the base revision is considered to be the ancestor of the committed revision.
MT/options
Contains “sticky” command-line options such as --db or --branch, such that you do not need to enter them repeatedly after checking out a particular working copy.
MT/work
Contains a list of additions, deletions, and renames which have occurred in the current working copy, relative to the base version.