"git add" and absolute paths

I was somewhat surprised the other day to see that you can't pass absolute paths to "git add":

$ cd /tmp $ mkdir foo $ cd foo $ git init Initialized empty Git repository in .git/cuzco:foo $ echo "content" > file $ git add /tmp/foo/file fatal: unable to add /tmp/foo/file to index $ git add file

I understand that you can't add arbitrary paths outside of your worktree, but if the absolute path specifies something _inside_ your worktree then it seems that this is either a bug or a "usability shortcoming" if you prefer to avoid the term "bug".

I also understand that providing a relative path is by far the most common operation, but there are real use cases where it's easier to pass an absolute path. For example: you're working at the console inside the work tree but you also have a GUI file browser open alongside. Sometimes it is simpler to drag-and-drop the file from the GUI to the console window (thus inserting the absolute path to the file) rather than typing out the relative path, even with autocompletion.

Out of curiosity I went back and looked at the last version of Git before "add" became a built-in (1.3.3). It also barfs for absolute paths:

$ git add file Ignoring path /tmp/foo/file

So I suspect it's always been this way. Do people agree that this issue is worth addressing?

Cheers, Wincent