Re: GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY

["Jörn Engel" <joern@wohnheim.fh-wedel.de>]

On Tue, 18 April 2006 11:47:53 -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Apr 2006, Jörn Engel wrote:
> > 
> > But it appears as if I could "cp -lr" the git tree and work with that.
> 
> That should work. I just personally fear cowlinks, because some things 
> will edit the files in place, and then you're screwed.

s/cowlinks/hardlinks/ ?

The reason for me to write the cowlink patches was exactly the fear
you are talking about.  With those patches, links are broken whenever
such a thing happens.

> I _think_ it should be ok for the .git subdirectory, but quite frankly, 
> I'm not going to guarantee it. Also, you will break the cow-linking when 
> you ever re-pack either the source or the destination, so you'd actually 

In that case, cowlinks should still turn a blatant bug into some
wasted space - which is a hell of a lot better.

> 	# cow-link the checked-out state

And this happens to be a problem.  Creating the links when the copy is
created is simple.  Detecting identical files and linking them after
the fact is racy, complicated, racy and, well, racy.  I wouldn't want
to touch it with a ten foot pole.  Not without kernel support.

Jörn

-- 
Linux is more the core point of a concept that surrounds "open source"
which, in turn, is based on a false concept. This concept is that
people actually want to look at source code.
-- Rob Enderle