Using a git repository on the root directory

Hi,

Is it possible with git to use a git repository on the root directory? I'm trying to replace subversion doing this. I have a populated repository elsewhere, I can clone this to an empty directory and then move .git to / to work around the demand that the target directory is empty and at the same time avoid overwriting files. I used this method before to get my home directory versioned with success, so far.

When I'm on the root directory, things seem to work minimally. I do git status, etc, and get the expected results. However, if I change say to /etc, or any other directory, for that matter, then git status tells me that every file in the repository is deleted. Adding files doesn't work, nothing works at all.

I know this is an unforeseen use of git, however, unforeseen might not imply forbidden. I'm pretty disappointed I couldn't get it working.

So the motivation for this posting is twofold:
- Is this possible in some other way, or did I do something wrong (I'm
new to git) ?
- I find the resulting behaviour pretty curious, maybe someone who
knows how git works can explain why this is the resulting behaviour.

Thanks,