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#### 28.1.10.1 The VC Directory Buffer

The VC Directory buffer contains a list of version-controlled files and their version control statuses. It lists files in the current directory (the one specified when you called `C-x v d`) and its subdirectories, but only those with a noteworthy status. Files that are up-to-date (i.e., the same as in the repository) are omitted. If all the files in a subdirectory are up-to-date, the subdirectory is not listed either. As an exception, if a file has become up-to-date as a direct result of a VC command, it is listed.

Here is an example of a VC Directory buffer listing:

                         ./
        edited           configure.ac
    *   added            README
        unregistered     temp.txt
                         src/
    *   edited           src/main.c

Two work files have been modified but not committed: `configure.ac` in the current directory, and `foo.c` in the `src/` subdirectory. The file named `README` has been added but is not yet committed, while `temp.txt` is not under version control (see Registering).

The ‘`*`’ characters next to the entries for `README` and `src/main.c` indicate that the user has marked out these files as the current VC fileset (see VC Directory Commands).

The above example is typical for a decentralized version control system like Bazaar, Git, or Mercurial. Other systems can show other statuses. For instance, CVS shows the ‘`needs-update`’ status if the repository has changes that have not been applied to the work file. RCS and SCCS show the name of the user locking a file as its status.

On CVS and Subversion, the `vc-dir` command normally contacts the repository, which may be on a remote machine, to check for updates. If you change the variable `vc-stay-local` or `vc-cvs-stay-local` (for CVS) to `nil` (see CVS Options), then Emacs avoids contacting a remote repository when generating the VC Directory buffer (it will still contact it when necessary, e.g., when doing a commit). This may be desirable if you are working offline or the network is slow.

The VC Directory buffer omits subdirectories listed in the variable `vc-directory-exclusion-list`. Its default value contains directories that are used internally by version control systems.

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