Re: [idea] separate .git dir and the working tree

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Feb 5, 2011, 18:04 UTC
Message-ID: <20110205180425.GA18961@elie>
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinYMuXSvKjgtpSCbJPuo=PHDGR_OgOkwtV4Azmz@mail.gmail.com>

redstun wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> what I wanted is, I may have multiple git working tree in my $HOME, like:
> $HOME/proj1
> $HOME/proj2,
> 
> I then wanted their .git directories respectively located at
> /safe/disk/.git_proj1
> /safe/disk/.git_proj2
> 
> How can I get this? I tried to read the doc but didn't have much luck.

By making .git in $HOME/proj1 a symlink to /safe/disk/.git_proj1 and making $HOME/proj2/.git a symlink to /safe/disk/.git_proj2. GIT_DIR should be left unset for this to work.

The GIT_DIR variable is for more complicated use cases in which you do not want a .git directory, file, or symlink in the worktree at all.

One uses it as follows:

	GIT_DIR=/somewhere/else/.git git <command> ...

The top level of the work tree is inferred to be the current working directory and git metadata is taken from somewhere else.

Sometimes a person does not only want to work in the top level of the working tree. To tell git where the top level is, use the GIT_WORK_TREE variable:

	(
		GIT_DIR=/somewhere/else/.git; export GIT_DIR
		GIT_WORK_TREE=$(pwd); export GIT_WORK_TREE

		cd sub/directory
		git <command>...

		cd ../other/directory
		git <other command>...
	)

These are not variables for your .profile, since as you mentioned, a person typically will work with one git repo and worktree sometimes, another git repo and work tree another time.

Hope that helps, Jonathan

Side note: I don't think you mentioned wanting it, but for reference, there is a nice tool for sharing objects between multiple worktrees in contrib/worktree. It comes with some sharp edges, as described in [1].

[1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/150559