Re: [RFC] introduce GIT_WORK_DIR environment variable

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Mar 11, 2007, 05:34 UTC
Message-ID: <7vabykxs15.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <20070311043250.GA21331@moooo.ath.cx>

Matthias Lederhofer <matled@gmx.net> writes:

> Missing:
> Documentation update but if this feature should not get accepted..
> therefore I'll wait for feedback first.

Did I say something about a comment like this in the past? But I'll let this pass this time...

Show 8 quoted lines

> Idea:
> Add some way to configure tho working directory for one repository
> and set GIT_WORK_DIR automatically when GIT_DIR is used.  I think of:
>  * a subdirectory in the repository directory
>    e.g. .git/work_dir which is supposed to be a symlink (or a textfile
>    containing the path for windows compatibility?)
> or
>  * a configuration variable

I am not sure why you bother. Obviously I am missing a few useful use cases you and Nguyen have in mind.

One very typical use of GIT_DIR to have the repository somewhere other than the usual $GIT_TOP_DIR/.git is to do an initial import from an extracted tarball into a bare repository (and then wipe away the temporary directory that contains extracted tarball), and that use case I understand well.

But either .git/work_dir or a configuration means you are linking a repository with a _single_ working tree, permanently. If you are permanently linking one repository with a _single_ working tree, is it too much bother to have that repository at the usual $GIT_TOP_DIR/.git like everybody else?

If storage space is the issue, then doing

	$ln -s $else_where/.git .git

would be sufficient.

What's the real motivation behind all this?

I've heard read-only working tree in the past, but that cannot be it. If the working tree is read-only and if you are telling git to always use that read-only working tree when using that particular repository, what useful git operations are you doing while in that working tree?