[PATCH v7 3/3] git-gui: handle GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE early

From

SMShroom Moo <egg_mushroomcow@foxmail.com>

Date

May 9, 2026, 13:37 UTC

Message-ID

<tencent_C4AD92361C8D7B76EB4C8A6F14EA33496805@qq.com>

In-Reply-To

<20260509133756.1367-1-egg_mushroomcow@foxmail.com>

Users expect these two invocations to be equivalent:

    GIT_WORK_TREE=/some/path GIT_DIR=/some/path/.git git gui
    git -C /some/path gui

Fix both issues:

- Introduce resolve_initial_environment, which is called before any
  repository detection.  When both GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE are
  set, it changes to the specified worktree, verifies that it is a
  valid worktree, and adopts the given GIT_DIR.  In this case, the
  subsequent automatic detection is skipped.  After successful
  validation, GIT_WORK_TREE is unset so that later steps do not
  inherit it.  Export the absolute GIT_DIR before changing directory
  to ensure Git commands see the intended repository.

- Introduce set_worktree_env and unset_worktree_env helper procedures
  to safely manage the GIT_WORK_TREE environment variable:
  set_worktree_env sets it only when $_gitworktree is non-empty,
  and unset_worktree_env removes the variable without error.
  Replace all direct manipulations of GIT_WORK_TREE with these
  helpers to avoid accidentally exporting an empty value or
  causing 'unset' errors.

- At the end of startup, use set_worktree_env instead of exporting
  GIT_WORK_TREE unconditionally.  This leaves the variable unset
  when no worktree exists (bare repository), fixing commands that
  would fail with an empty GIT_WORK_TREE.

Helped-by: Mark Levedahl <mlevedahl@gmail.com>
Helped-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
Signed-off-by: Shroom Moo <egg_mushroomcow@foxmail.com>
---
 git-gui/git-gui.sh | 103 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 79 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/git-gui/git-gui.sh b/git-gui/git-gui.sh
index ff022c5bbb..1123f9855b 100755
--- a/git-gui/git-gui.sh
+++ b/git-gui/git-gui.sh
@@ -1122,25 +1122,82 @@ unset argv0dir
 ##
 ## repository setup
 
+# Safely set/unset GIT_WORK_TREE
+proc set_worktree_env {} {
+    global _gitworktree
+    if {$_gitworktree ne {}} {
+        set ::env(GIT_WORK_TREE) $_gitworktree
+    }
+}
+
+proc unset_worktree_env {} {
+    catch {unset ::env(GIT_WORK_TREE)}
+}
+
+proc resolve_initial_environment {} {
+	global _gitdir env
+
+	# Only act if both GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE are set
+	if {[info exists env(GIT_DIR)] && [info exists env(GIT_WORK_TREE)]} {
+		# Validate GIT_DIR by resolving its absolute path
+		if {[catch {set _abs [git rev-parse --absolute-git-dir]} err]} {
+			catch {wm withdraw .}
+			error_popup [strcat [mc "Invalid GIT_DIR:"] "\n\n$err"]
+			exit 1
+		}
+		set env(GIT_DIR) $_abs
+
+		# Change current directory to GIT_WORK_TREE
+		if {[catch {cd $env(GIT_WORK_TREE)} err]} {
+			catch {wm withdraw .}
+			error_popup [strcat [mc "Cannot change to GIT_WORK_TREE:"] "\n\n$err"]
+			exit 1
+		}
+
+		# Verify that GIT_WORK_TREE is a valid Git worktree
+		if {[catch {git rev-parse --show-toplevel} err]} {
+			catch {wm withdraw .}
+			error_popup [strcat [mc "GIT_WORK_TREE is not a valid worktree:"] "\n\n$err"]
+			exit 1
+		}
+
+		# Use repository path specified by environment variables
+		set _gitdir $_abs
+		set ::_prefix {}
+
+		# Unset GIT_WORK_TREE to prevent it from being inherited by child processes
+		unset_worktree_env
+
+		return 1
+	}
+
+	# Other cases (only GIT_DIR, only GIT_WORK_TREE, or neither):
+	# Do nothing here and let the existing logic handle it later
+	return 0
+}
+set force_gitdir [resolve_initial_environment]
+
 set picked 0
-if {[catch {
-		set _gitdir $env(GIT_DIR)
-		set _prefix {}
-		}]
-	&& [catch {
-		# beware that from the .git dir this sets _gitdir to .
-		# and _prefix to the empty string; this is handled by
-		# the startup safety checks below
-		set _gitdir [git rev-parse --git-dir]
-		set _prefix [git rev-parse --show-prefix]
-	} err]} {
-	load_config 1
-	apply_config
-	choose_repository::pick
-	if {![file isdirectory $_gitdir]} {
-		exit 1
+if {!$force_gitdir} {
+	if {[catch {
+			set _gitdir $env(GIT_DIR)
+			set _prefix {}
+			}]
+		&& [catch {
+			# beware that from the .git dir this sets _gitdir to .
+			# and _prefix to the empty string; this is handled by
+			# the startup safety checks below
+			set _gitdir [git rev-parse --git-dir]
+			set _prefix [git rev-parse --show-prefix]
+		} err]} {
+		load_config 1
+		apply_config
+		choose_repository::pick
+		if {![file isdirectory $_gitdir]} {
+			exit 1
+		}
+		set picked 1
 	}
-	set picked 1
 }
 
 if {![file isdirectory $_gitdir]} {
@@ -1228,9 +1285,7 @@ if {[lindex $_reponame end] eq {.git}} {
 
 # Export the final paths
 set env(GIT_DIR) $_gitdir
-if {$_gitworktree ne {}} {
-	set env(GIT_WORK_TREE) $_gitworktree
-}
+set_worktree_env
 
 ######################################################################
 ##
@@ -2077,12 +2132,12 @@ proc do_gitk {revs {is_submodule false}} {
 			# by setting these to the appropriate values to allow gitk
 			# to skip the heuristics to find their proper value
 			unset env(GIT_DIR)
-			unset env(GIT_WORK_TREE)
+			unset_worktree_env
 		}
 		safe_exec_bg [concat $cmd $revs "--" "--"]
 
 		set env(GIT_DIR) $_gitdir
-		set env(GIT_WORK_TREE) $_gitworktree
+		set_worktree_env
 		cd $pwd
 
 		if {[info exists main_status]} {
@@ -2111,7 +2166,7 @@ proc do_git_gui {} {
 		# see note in do_gitk about unsetting these vars when
 		# running tools in a submodule
 		unset env(GIT_DIR)
-		unset env(GIT_WORK_TREE)
+		unset_worktree_env
 
 		set pwd [pwd]
 		cd $current_diff_path
@@ -2119,7 +2174,7 @@ proc do_git_gui {} {
 		safe_exec_bg [concat $exe gui]
 
 		set env(GIT_DIR) $_gitdir
-		set env(GIT_WORK_TREE) $_gitworktree
+		set_worktree_env
 		cd $pwd
 
 		set status_operation [$::main_status \

-- 
2.52.0.windows.1