Exporting a tree from a repository

    Hello all!

    I am a new GIT user, I like it, so I started playing with it for
different projects I work on.

    Currently I am playing with "Linux from Scratch", and I have
written some scripts to automatize the build process -- kind of
install scripts...

    For this I use GIT to store all the source packages -- each inside
it's own branch :).

    My question is the following: How can I export an entire tree
without using a working directory, or cloning the repository. (Because
from what I have seen so far there is no way to use the same
repository with many working directories...)

    Now I know that I can use "git archive | tar -x"... I am looking
for the same functionality but without the intermediary file... Maybe
something like "git archive --format=tree <branch>"...

    Also there is also a possible drawback by using git archive with
tar format, that is if I decide to make the repository available to
the public then it would be nice to have this export functionality...
I think this could be also used for kernel sources as an alternative
to downloading the tar.bz2 file or copying the entire tree...

    Thank you all for your feedback!
    Ciprian Craciun.