[idea] separate .git dir and the working tree

First please shout if this is a known feature :-)

I think separating the .git directory from its working tree could increase the safety of the data to one more level higher.

We might have a git variable set to specify (a shared place) where to put the .git directories (or the data inside it), then use "/path/to/working/tree" as (or the seed to calculate) a hash key to map from the (.git directory in the) shared place to the working tree directory.

Or we may have just a few data (that can be re-created) stored in the .git directory along with the working tree, and most of the revision history stored in the shared place.

On Sat, Feb 05, 2011 at 10:53:58AM +0800, redstun wrote:

GIT_DIR and GIT_WORK_TREE might be what you are looking for. Explanation of usage in 'man git'

HTH Mike

(restoring cc list; please do not cull cc's)

Mike Gant wrote:

[...]

The .git directory is allowed to be a symlink.  Or a file like so

	gitdir: /path/to/git/repo

for symlink-challenged operating systems. See gitrepository-layout(7) for details.

Cheers, Jonathan

Making .git a symbol link is nice.

Regarding the GIT_DIR variable, looks like it needs to be paired with the GIT_WORK_TREE variable, does this mean that I can only have one local git repository?

what I wanted is, I may have multiple git working tree in my $HOME, like: $HOME/proj1 $HOME/proj2,

I then wanted their .git directories respectively located at /safe/disk/.git_proj1 /safe/disk/.git_proj2

How can I get this? I tried to read the doc but didn't have much luck.

Thanks

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 9:27 PM, Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> wrote:

redstun wrote:

By making .git in $HOME/proj1 a symlink to /safe/disk/.git_proj1 and making $HOME/proj2/.git a symlink to /safe/disk/.git_proj2. GIT_DIR should be left unset for this to work.

The GIT_DIR variable is for more complicated use cases in which you do not want a .git directory, file, or symlink in the worktree at all.

One uses it as follows:

	GIT_DIR=/somewhere/else/.git git <command> ...

The top level of the work tree is inferred to be the current working directory and git metadata is taken from somewhere else.

Sometimes a person does not only want to work in the top level of the working tree. To tell git where the top level is, use the GIT_WORK_TREE variable:

	(
		GIT_DIR=/somewhere/else/.git; export GIT_DIR
		GIT_WORK_TREE=$(pwd); export GIT_WORK_TREE

		cd sub/directory
		git <command>...

		cd ../other/directory
		git <other command>...
	)

These are not variables for your .profile, since as you mentioned, a person typically will work with one git repo and worktree sometimes, another git repo and work tree another time.

Hope that helps, Jonathan

Side note: I don't think you mentioned wanting it, but for reference, there is a nice tool for sharing objects between multiple worktrees in contrib/worktree. It comes with some sharp edges, as described in [1].

[1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/150559

On Sat, Feb 05, 2011 at 07:27:08AM -0600, Jonathan Nieder wrote:

My apologies, but I didn't see a cc list in the original. Please explain.

-Mike

On Sat, Feb 05, 2011 at 05:20:09PM -0700, Mike Gant wrote:

Never mind, I think I understand.

So does anyone use Mutt? And do they know a recipe to move the sender address to the cc list? If not, I'll figure it out.

Thanks, -Mike

On Sat, 2011-02-05 at 17:40 -0700, Mike Gant wrote:

When I used Mutt, if I remember correctly, L did the job (list reply).

On Sat, Feb 05, 2011 at 08:00:15PM -0500, Jared Hance wrote:

Also "g" is "group reply" -- it simply replies to all e-mails mentioned in the mail which is being replied to.

The 05/02/11, Mike Gant wrote:

g (group answer).

On Sun, Feb 06, 2011 at 11:55:10AM +0100, Nicolas Sebrecht wrote:

Thanks. I knew about L (list reply) and g (group reply). L only replies to the list address, git@vger.kernel.org, in this case. Certainly, g is the closest behavior as long as it is acceptable to have the sender name in the To: header along with the list address (as in this response).

On the other hand, if it is only acceptable to have the list address in the To: header and all others in the cc list then I don't know of any command to do that.

-Mike

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 00:40, Mike Gant <mike@gantsfort.com> wrote:

Your `To:' header should list the sender (usually what's listed in the `From:' header); the `Cc:' header should list everything else (including the mailing list(s) in question).