RE: new file leaked onto release branch

I pointed out one anomaly which is the commit should never have
been created because it was not even a fast forward but already
up-to-date case, and it was followed up with exchange of a few
messages between Linus and you.  But even if we got that mixed
up, the resulting merge should not have contained the file
neither parents had.  That part worries me the most.

One question.  You mentioned these in your message, you have
a "git.commit wrapper" that contains these lines:

   git-update-index --add --remove `quilt files`
   git commit

I am not familiar with 'quilt', but is "quilt files" the command
to show the list of files with patches applied to the working
tree?

yes, but only by the last applied "on the top of the stack."
When I do a commit, there is only 1 patch applied so this works okay.
(then I push the next patch after the commit and repeat...)

If so, the above do tell git about the modified (including added
or removed) files that the applied quilt patches touch, which
sounds like the correct thing to do.

But the resulting commit from that procedure would not be a
merge commit, and the commit in question that had the rsinfo
file magically appeared from nowhere is a merge, so this does
not seem to have much to do with the current problem...

Still puzzlled, sorry.

I'm not stuck by this problem, since I created a new release
branch based before the funny merge and it seems to be
working properly.  I'm sorry I can't re-create the problem
again.  Next time something like this happens and I notice it
I'll be sure to keep the ingredients for the failure on hand.

thanks,
-Len