What is the status of this? I read through the referenced email thread (now at http://markmail.org/message/mcgftdni6cvpca7v) which seemed to end with agreement on the feature but issues with backwards compatibility.

Does this functionality anytime implemented, as I see this issue is being reopened.

Can't this option just call the same function as the "Wipe Out Workspace" feature? If the SCM plugin supports it, then everything will be fine. If it doesn't then it simply won't delete the workspace.

I like Kohsuke's proposal of providing an 'extension point in core to abstract away various "clean" logic'.
http://n4.nabble.com/attention-all-subversion-users-tp393646p393656.html

Code changed in jenkins
User: Kohsuke Kawaguchi
Path:
core/src/main/java/hudson/scm/NoCleaner.java
core/src/main/java/hudson/scm/RmRfCleaner.java
core/src/main/java/hudson/scm/WorkspaceCleaner.java
core/src/main/java/hudson/scm/WorkspaceCleanerDescriptor.java
core/src/main/resources/hudson/scm/SCM/configure-workspaceCleaner.jellytag
core/src/main/resources/hudson/scm/WorkspaceCleaner/config.jelly
http://jenkins-ci.org/commit/jenkins/07c6c4f1dc9c41a2cf8fc1ee9a8935310ca9afb0
Log:
JENKINS-3966 added a new extension point for workspace cleaner

It would be a user friendly enhancement to add the ability to select a list (possibly based on pattern) of directory to wipe out (or not).

(I've been wiping out specific directories by adding ant tasks into the my jobs.)

Hey guys, thanks for enhancing this section of Jenkins. The clean selections in Jenkins 1.414 work great for me: both the delete-workspace and the other varieties of cleaning.

I think this issue has been addressed by this new-ish plugin https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Workspace+Cleanup+Plugin

Workspace Cleanup Plugin would delete the entire workspace. For most purposes you would rather just delete unversioned files (typically build products), as well as reverting any local modifications to versioned files, since a full checkout/clone/etc. is likely to be a lot more expensive than an incremental update.

The mentioned plugin should be used; or many SCM plugins now offer the option of deleting unversioned files.