From: Thomas Braun <thomas.braun@virtuell-zuhause.de>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 19:02:58 GMT
Subject: describe with --git-dir and --dirty outside of the repo always says dirty
Message-ID: <99f2ba7e-cc5f-4ef5-9b09-85896563346f@virtuell-zuhause.de>

When I do

git describe --dirty

in clean repo of git.git I get

v2.53.0-522-g67006b9db8

but when I do it from outside of the repo

cd ..
git --git-dir=git/.git describe --dirty

I get

v2.53.0-522-g67006b9db8-dirty

Curiously I can workaround the issue by directly passing the work-tree

git --work-tree=git --git-dir=git/.git describe --dirty

I suspect 2ed5c8e174 (describe: setup working tree for --dirty, 
2019-02-03) has something to do with that.

Where should I start digging for a fix?