threads / discuss / 22562

Unix root dir as a work tree

Subject: Unix root dir as a work tree

## tl;dr

4 messages between Feb 8, 2010 and Feb 8, 2010.

replies: 3people: 2as markdown or json

João Carlos Mendes Luís· Feb 8, 2010, 01:31 UTC · lore

Hi,

    Sorry if this is a FAQ, but I could not find any reference.

    I have been using CVS as a version control system for unix 
configuration files for a long time.  I know it has some limitations, 
and I know git also has its.  But I expect to work around all of them 
using etckeeper.

    The problem is that etckeeper was created with /etc only in mind, 
and I want to keep track of important files everywhere, not only below 
/etc (think /opt, /usr/local).  The obvious solution appear to create 
the repository at the system root, and not at /etc, but it did not 
work.  I think, because of a bug.

   Now, I have a patch that appears to work, but since I am a beginner 
to git, I don't know if this is the best way to implement it, if it has 
any side effects, or even if it works for other operating systems 
(probably they don't even have the bug).  Would any git wizard care to 
look at it, check if it is ok, and maybe commit in HEAD or give me any 
advice against my patch?

    Please, don't give me any answers like "don't use your root as a 
repo".  I am a system admin for a long time, and I know what I want and 
what are the risks and benefits involved.

    Thanks in advance,

       Jonny

--- a/setup.c	2010-02-07 22:50:40.000000000 -0200
+++ b/setup.c	2010-02-07 22:51:56.000000000 -0200
@@ -413,7 +413,12 @@
 	inside_git_dir = 0;
 	if (!work_tree_env)
 		inside_work_tree = 1;
-	git_work_tree_cfg = xstrndup(cwd, offset);
+	if ( cwd[0] == '/' && offset == 0 ) {
+		git_work_tree_cfg = xstrndup(cwd, 1);
+	}
+	else {
+		git_work_tree_cfg = xstrndup(cwd, offset);
+	}
 	if (check_repository_format_gently(nongit_ok))
 		return NULL;
 	if (offset == len)

Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy· Feb 8, 2010, 02:03 UTC · re: João Carlos Mendes Luís · lore

Re: Unix root dir as a work tree

2010/2/8 João Carlos Mendes Luís <jonny@jonny.eng.br>:

Show 19 quoted lines

> Hi,
>
>   Sorry if this is a FAQ, but I could not find any reference.
>
>   I have been using CVS as a version control system for unix configuration
> files for a long time.  I know it has some limitations, and I know git also
> has its.  But I expect to work around all of them using etckeeper.
>
>   The problem is that etckeeper was created with /etc only in mind, and I
> want to keep track of important files everywhere, not only below /etc (think
> /opt, /usr/local).  The obvious solution appear to create the repository at
> the system root, and not at /etc, but it did not work.  I think, because of
> a bug.
>
>  Now, I have a patch that appears to work, but since I am a beginner to git,
> I don't know if this is the best way to implement it, if it has any side
> effects, or even if it works for other operating systems (probably they
> don't even have the bug).  Would any git wizard care to look at it, check if
> it is ok, and maybe commit in HEAD or give me any advice against my patch?

How did you set GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE? What command failed?

-- 
Duy

João Carlos Mendes Luís· Feb 8, 2010, 12:17 UTC · re: Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy · lore

Re: Unix root dir as a work tree

Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy wrote:

Show 25 quoted lines

> 2010/2/8 João Carlos Mendes Luís <jonny@jonny.eng.br>:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>>   Sorry if this is a FAQ, but I could not find any reference.
>>
>>   I have been using CVS as a version control system for unix configuration
>> files for a long time.  I know it has some limitations, and I know git also
>> has its.  But I expect to work around all of them using etckeeper.
>>
>>   The problem is that etckeeper was created with /etc only in mind, and I
>> want to keep track of important files everywhere, not only below /etc (think
>> /opt, /usr/local).  The obvious solution appear to create the repository at
>> the system root, and not at /etc, but it did not work.  I think, because of
>> a bug.
>>
>>  Now, I have a patch that appears to work, but since I am a beginner to git,
>> I don't know if this is the best way to implement it, if it has any side
>> effects, or even if it works for other operating systems (probably they
>> don't even have the bug).  Would any git wizard care to look at it, check if
>> it is ok, and maybe commit in HEAD or give me any advice against my patch?
>>     
>
> How did you set GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE? What command failed?
>

Did not set any env special variable. I expect git to find those automatically.

Any command which needs a work tree fails.  git-add, git-status, etc.

It thinks that its root is "/.git", instead of "/".  Easy to repeat.

cd / git init git add etc/motd # this works cd etc git add resolv.conf # this does not work without my patch

Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy· Feb 8, 2010, 02:18 UTC · re: João Carlos Mendes Luís · lore

Re: Unix root dir as a work tree

2010/2/8 João Carlos Mendes Luís <jonny@jonny.eng.br>:

Show 5 quoted lines

>  Now, I have a patch that appears to work, but since I am a beginner to git,
> I don't know if this is the best way to implement it, if it has any side
> effects, or even if it works for other operating systems (probably they
> don't even have the bug).  Would any git wizard care to look at it, check if
> it is ok, and maybe commit in HEAD or give me any advice against my patch?

Hmm.. I guess you put .git at root directory so you needed your patch. I haven't tried it yet because I don't have root access here.

Anyway you may also need the below patch. Please report back if any Git operation that does not work under your setup.

diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 710e2f3..d31dcb8 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const char *prefix_path(const char *prefix, int len,
const char *path)
 		len = strlen(work_tree);
 		total = strlen(sanitized) + 1;
 		if (strncmp(sanitized, work_tree, len) ||
-		    (sanitized[len] != '\0' && sanitized[len] != '/')) {
+		    (len > 1 && sanitized[len] != '\0' && sanitized[len] != '/')) {
 		error_out:
 			die("'%s' is outside repository", orig);
 		}

-- 
Duy