Change default .airflowignore syntax to glob

airflow/config_templates/config.yml

@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ core:
       version_added: 2.3.0
       type: string
       example: ~
-      default: "regexp"
+      default: "glob"
     default_task_retries:
       description: |
         The number of retries each task is going to have by default. Can be overridden at dag or task level.

airflow/utils/file.py

@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ def _find_path_from_directory(
 def find_path_from_directory(
     base_dir_path: str | os.PathLike[str],
     ignore_file_name: str,
-    ignore_file_syntax: str = conf.get_mandatory_value("core", "DAG_IGNORE_FILE_SYNTAX", fallback="regexp"),
+    ignore_file_syntax: str = conf.get_mandatory_value("core", "DAG_IGNORE_FILE_SYNTAX", fallback="glob"),
 ) -> Generator[str, None, None]:
     """
     Recursively search the base path for a list of file paths that should not be ignored.
@@ -232,9 +232,9 @@ def find_path_from_directory(
 
     :return: a generator of file paths.
     """
-    if ignore_file_syntax == "glob":
+    if ignore_file_syntax == "glob" or not ignore_file_syntax:
         return _find_path_from_directory(base_dir_path, ignore_file_name, _GlobIgnoreRule)
-    elif ignore_file_syntax == "regexp" or not ignore_file_syntax:
+    elif ignore_file_syntax == "regexp":
         return _find_path_from_directory(base_dir_path, ignore_file_name, _RegexpIgnoreRule)
     else:
         raise ValueError(f"Unsupported ignore_file_syntax: {ignore_file_syntax}")

docs/apache-airflow/administration-and-deployment/modules_management.rst

@@ -125,14 +125,7 @@ for the paths that should be ignored. You do not need to have that file in any o
 In the example above the DAGs are only in ``my_custom_dags`` folder, the ``common_package`` should not be
 scanned by scheduler when searching for DAGS, so we should ignore ``common_package`` folder. You also
 want to ignore the ``base_dag.py`` if you keep a base DAG there that ``my_dag1.py`` and ``my_dag2.py`` derives
-from. Your ``.airflowignore`` should look then like this:
-
-.. code-block:: none
-
-   my_company/common_package/.*
-   my_company/my_custom_dags/base_dag\.py
-
-If ``DAG_IGNORE_FILE_SYNTAX`` is set to ``glob``, the equivalent ``.airflowignore`` file would be:
+from. Your ``.airflowignore`` should look then like this (using the default ``glob`` syntax):
 
 .. code-block:: none
 

docs/apache-airflow/core-concepts/dags.rst

@@ -712,19 +712,9 @@ configuration parameter (*added in Airflow 2.3*): ``regexp`` and ``glob``.
 
 .. note::
 
-    The default ``DAG_IGNORE_FILE_SYNTAX`` is ``regexp`` to ensure backwards compatibility.
+    The default ``DAG_IGNORE_FILE_SYNTAX`` is ``glob`` in Airflow 3 or later (in previous versions it was ``regexp``).
 
-For the ``regexp`` pattern syntax (the default), each line in ``.airflowignore``
-specifies a regular expression pattern, and directories or files whose names (not DAG id)
-match any of the patterns would be ignored (under the hood, ``Pattern.search()`` is used
-to match the pattern). Use the ``#`` character to indicate a comment; all characters
-on lines starting with ``#`` will be ignored.
-
-As with most regexp matching in Airflow, the regexp engine is ``re2``, which explicitly
-doesn't support many advanced features, please check its
-`documentation <https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax>`_ for more information.
-
-With the ``glob`` syntax, the patterns work just like those in a ``.gitignore`` file:
+With the ``glob`` syntax (the default), the patterns work just like those in a ``.gitignore`` file:
 
 * The ``*`` character will match any number of characters, except ``/``
 * The ``?`` character will match any single character, except ``/``
@@ -738,15 +728,18 @@ With the ``glob`` syntax, the patterns work just like those in a ``.gitignore``
   is relative to the directory level of the particular .airflowignore file itself. Otherwise the
   pattern may also match at any level below the .airflowignore level.
 
-The ``.airflowignore`` file should be put in your ``DAG_FOLDER``. For example, you can prepare
-a ``.airflowignore`` file using the ``regexp`` syntax with content
-
-.. code-block::
+For the ``regexp`` pattern syntax, each line in ``.airflowignore``
+specifies a regular expression pattern, and directories or files whose names (not DAG id)
+match any of the patterns would be ignored (under the hood, ``Pattern.search()`` is used
+to match the pattern). Use the ``#`` character to indicate a comment; all characters
+on lines starting with ``#`` will be ignored.
 
-    project_a
-    tenant_[\d]
+As with most regexp matching in Airflow, the regexp engine is ``re2``, which explicitly
+doesn't support many advanced features, please check its
+`documentation <https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax>`_ for more information.
 
-Or, equivalently, in the ``glob`` syntax
+The ``.airflowignore`` file should be put in your ``DAG_FOLDER``. For example, you can prepare
+a ``.airflowignore`` file with the ``glob`` syntax
 
 .. code-block::
 

docs/apache-airflow/howto/dynamic-dag-generation.rst

@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ Then you can import and use the ``ALL_TASKS`` constant in all your DAGs like tha
             ...
 
 Don't forget that in this case you need to add empty ``__init__.py`` file in the ``my_company_utils`` folder
-and you should add the ``my_company_utils/.*`` line to ``.airflowignore`` file (if using the regexp ignore
+and you should add the ``my_company_utils/*`` line to ``.airflowignore`` file (using the default glob
 syntax), so that the whole folder is ignored by the scheduler when it looks for DAGs.
 
 

newsfragments/42436.significant.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Default ``.airflowignore`` syntax changed to ``glob``
+
+The default value to the configuration ``[core] dag_ignore_file_syntax`` has
+been changed to ``glob``, which better matches the ignore file behavior of many
+popular tools.
+
+To revert to the previous behavior, set the configuration to ``regexp``.

tests/dags/.airflowignore

@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-.*_invalid.*  # Skip invalid files
-subdir3       # Skip the nested subdir3 directory
-# *badrule      # This rule is an invalid regex. It would be warned about and skipped.
+*_invalid_*  # Skip invalid files
+subdir3      # Skip the nested subdir3 directory

tests/dags/subdir1/.airflowignore

@@ -1 +1 @@
-.*_ignore_this.py  # Ignore files ending with "_ignore_this.py"
+*_ignore_this.py  # Ignore files ending with "_ignore_this.py"

tests/plugins/test_plugin_ignore.py

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def test_find_not_should_ignore_path_regexp(self, tmp_path):
             "test_load_sub1.py",
         }
         ignore_list_file = ".airflowignore"
-        for file_path in find_path_from_directory(plugin_folder_path, ignore_list_file):
+        for file_path in find_path_from_directory(plugin_folder_path, ignore_list_file, "regexp"):
             file_path = Path(file_path)
             if file_path.is_file() and file_path.suffix == ".py":
                 detected_files.add(file_path.name)