Re: [PATCH 4/4] gitfaq: add entry about syncing working trees

> Users very commonly want to sync their working tree across machines,
> often to carry across in-progress work or stashes.  Despite this not
> being a recommended approach, users want to do it and are not dissuaded
> by suggestions not to, so let's recommend a sensible technique.
> [...]
> Signed-off-by: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
> ---
> diff --git a/Documentation/gitfaq.txt b/Documentation/gitfaq.txt
> @@ -185,6 +185,45 @@ Then, you can adjust your push URL to use `git@example_author` or
> +[[sync-working-tree]]
> +How do I sync a working tree across systems?::
> +       First, decide whether you want to do this at all.  Git usually works better
> +       when you push or pull your work using the typical `git push` and `git fetch`
> +       commands and isn't designed to share a working tree across systems.  Doing so
> +       can cause `git status` to need to re-read every file in the working tree.
> +       Additionally, Git's security model does not permit sharing a working tree
> +       across untrusted users, so it is only safe to sync a working tree if it will
> +       only be used by a single user across all machines.
> ++
> +Therefore, it's better to push your work to either the other system or a central
> +server using the normal push and pull mechanism.  However, this doesn't always
> +preserve important data, like stashes, so some people prefer to share a working
> +tree across systems.
> ++
> +It is important not to use a cloud syncing service to sync any portion of a Git
> +repository, since this can cause corruption, such as missing objects, changed
> +or added files, broken refs, and a wide variety of other corruption.  These
> +services tend to sync file by file and don't understand the structure of a Git
> +repository.  This is especially bad if they sync the repository in the middle of
> +it being updated, since that is very likely to cause incomplete or partial
> +updates and therefore data loss.
> ++
> +The recommended approach is to use `rsync -a --delete-after` (ideally with an
> +encrypted connection such as with `ssh`) on the root of repository.  You should
> +ensure several things when you do this:
> [...]
> +Be aware that even with these recommendations, syncing in this way is
> +potentially risky since it bypasses Git's normal integrity checking for
> +repositories, so having backups is advised.