Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Frédéric Heitzmann]

Hi all,

I want to set GIT_DIR to another path than <project_dir>/.git.
Unfortunately, git add or git status failed with the following error:

fatal: This operation must be run in a work tree

Unless I also set GIT_WORK_TREE, git status|add|stash|clean|... always fail.

git or git-config man pages does not state anything like this.
Did I miss something ?

#test-case :

export GIT_DIR=$PWD/.gita &&
git init
echo "file a" >> a.txt &&
git add a.txt			#fail
git status 			#fail

export GIT_WORK_TREE=$PWD
git status			#pass
git add a.txt &&
git commit -m'file a'		#pass

unset GIT_WORK_TREE
git status			#fail, it does not look like some bug related to a newly
created, empty repository

Note: that using --git-dir instead of GIT_DIR give the same errors.

--
Fred

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Junio C Hamano]

Frédéric Heitzmann  <frederic.heitzmann@gmail.com> writes:

Yes, to the question on the Subject line.  But you can also say 

    [core] worktree = /path/to/the/work/tree

in $GIT_DIR/config.  Make sure your $GIT_DIR/config does *NOT* say
that the repository is a bare repository.

> ...
> Note: that using --git-dir instead of GIT_DIR give the same errors.

Yes, that is the intended behaviour; the command line option and the
environment variable should give you the same consistent effect).

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Frédéric Heitzmann]

Le 10/03/2012 00:06, Junio C Hamano a écrit :
> Yes, to the question on the Subject line.  But you can also say
>
>      [core] worktree = /path/to/the/work/tree
>
> in $GIT_DIR/config.  Make sure your $GIT_DIR/config does *NOT* say
> that the repository is a bare repository.

Thanks for clarification.
However man git-config says :

"If --git-dir or GIT_DIR is specified but none of --work-tree, 
GIT_WORK_TREE and core.worktree is specified, the
current working directory is regarded as the top level of your working 
tree."

Some more context on my precise problem :
I have a project, with source files managed with git.
I also use some Makefiles that I would like to manage with git _in a 
separate repository_

$ GIT_DIR=<project_path>/.git git add some_file.c ...
$ GIT_DIR=<project_path>/.git_mk git add Makefile ...

Setting worktree in each GIT_DIR/config will fix that but I can't figure 
out why current git implementation actually needs this.

--
Fred

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy]

2012/3/10 Frédéric Heitzmann <frederic.heitzmann@gmail.com>:
> However man git-config says :
>
> "If --git-dir or GIT_DIR is specified but none of --work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE
> and core.worktree is specified, the
> current working directory is regarded as the top level of your working
> tree."
>
> Some more context on my precise problem :
> I have a project, with source files managed with git.
> I also use some Makefiles that I would like to manage with git _in a
> separate repository_
>
> $ GIT_DIR=<project_path>/.git git add some_file.c ...
> $ GIT_DIR=<project_path>/.git_mk git add Makefile ...
>
> Setting worktree in each GIT_DIR/config will fix that but I can't figure out
> why current git implementation actually needs this.

Historical reason: before separate worktree feature was introduced,
git assumed worktree was at $GIT_DIR's parent directory. Old scripts
may rely on that behavior.
-- 
Duy

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Jonathan Nieder]

Hi,

Frédéric Heitzmann wrote:

> export GIT_DIR=$PWD/.gita &&
> git init

This is where the recipe goes wrong.  It creates a bare repository.
Using vi or "git config" to edit its configuration to set the "[core]
bare" setting to false would change that.

The git-config(1) manpage says:

	By default a repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be
	not bare (bare = false), while all other repositories are
	assumed to be bare (bare = true).

and the logic in builtin/init-db.c seems to agree.

Maybe there is a better place to document this.  Improvements
welcome.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Junio C Hamano]

Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com> writes:

> Historical reason: before separate worktree feature was introduced,
> git assumed worktree was at $GIT_DIR's parent directory.

Isn't the rule that the current directory becomes the root of the
working tree if you did not have GIT_WORK_TREE?

In any case, the way I read Frédéric is that the other repository's
files will be accessed only from the root of the working tree, so as
long as the GIT_DIR/config says it is not a bare repository, it
should be OK.

Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !?

[Frédéric Heitzmann]

Hi all,

My initial mistake was that I unintenionnaly created a bare repo (which 
is really not what I want to do).
If I change that  - GIt_DIR=.gita git init --no-bare - everything runs fine.

Lessons learned :

1/ the kind of repo  - bare or not bare - that git init creates depends 
on GIT_DIR.
This _is_ documented - I should have read more carefully - but it is 
surprising for someone not aware of the history of GIT_DIR, 
GIT_WORK_TREE, and so on.
Don't know if it 's worth changing this semantic though.
I let more experienced git hackers decide on this.

2/ Calling a git command that needs a working tree (add, status, commit, 
...) in a bare repo should probably trigger a more explicit message. 
Using the current directory if GIT_WORK_TREE is not set would actually 
hide a potential configuration problem.

Thanks for your help,
--
Fred