Re: describe with --git-dir and --dirty outside of the repo always says dirty

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 13, 2026, 20:29 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq8qbv4gnq.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <99f2ba7e-cc5f-4ef5-9b09-85896563346f@virtuell-zuhause.de>

Thomas Braun <thomas.braun@virtuell-zuhause.de> writes:

Show 12 quoted lines

> 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

"--git-dir" tells git "I am at the root of the working tree, but the git directory that you usually find at ".git" (or a parent directory of where we are) is not where you expect but somewhere else, so I am telling you where it is with this argument.

So if you are not at the root of the working tree for that working tree, "git --git-dir=git/.git diff" would report that you have a ton of changes to working tree files, and "describe" would report that your working tree is dirty.

In other words, working as intended.

You can tell where the working tree is (instead of telling the command that you are at the root of the working tree, when you are not), with the "--work-tree" option.

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

> Where should I start digging for a fix?

Between the keyboard and the chair ;-)?

Perhaps documentation for "--git-dir", GIT_DIR, "--work-tree", and GIT_WORK_TREE should be studied, and if you find that they are lacking, that is something we can fix.

Thanks.