# Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? 7 messages from 2012-03-09 to 2012-03-11. Participants: Frédéric Heitzmann, Junio C Hamano, Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, Jonathan Nieder. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/29902 ## Frédéric Heitzmann, 2012-03-09 22:51 Subject: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CALeToSUaPzdr%3Du7FfwHEtEanphVP5LZ09QdQXno52PLBTK0H-g%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi all, I want to set GIT_DIR to another path than /.git. Unfortunately, git add or git status failed with the following error: fatal: This operation must be run in a work tree Unless I also set GIT_WORK_TREE, git status|add|stash|clean|... always fail. git or git-config man pages does not state anything like this. Did I miss something ? #test-case : export GIT_DIR=$PWD/.gita && git init echo "file a" >> a.txt && git add a.txt #fail git status #fail export GIT_WORK_TREE=$PWD git status #pass git add a.txt && git commit -m'file a' #pass unset GIT_WORK_TREE git status #fail, it does not look like some bug related to a newly created, empty repository Note: that using --git-dir instead of GIT_DIR give the same errors. -- Fred ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2012-03-09 23:06 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: <7v4ntx4bol.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7v4ntx4bol.fsf%40alter.siamese.dyndns.org In-Reply-To: ``` Frédéric Heitzmann writes: Yes, to the question on the Subject line. But you can also say [core] worktree = /path/to/the/work/tree in $GIT_DIR/config. Make sure your $GIT_DIR/config does *NOT* say that the repository is a bare repository. > ... > Note: that using --git-dir instead of GIT_DIR give the same errors. Yes, that is the intended behaviour; the command line option and the environment variable should give you the same consistent effect). ``` ## Frédéric Heitzmann, 2012-03-10 13:23 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: <4F5B55E8.4080000@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4F5B55E8.4080000%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: <7v4ntx4bol.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> ``` Le 10/03/2012 00:06, Junio C Hamano a écrit : > Yes, to the question on the Subject line. But you can also say > > [core] worktree = /path/to/the/work/tree > > in $GIT_DIR/config. Make sure your $GIT_DIR/config does *NOT* say > that the repository is a bare repository. Thanks for clarification. However man git-config says : "If --git-dir or GIT_DIR is specified but none of --work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE and core.worktree is specified, the current working directory is regarded as the top level of your working tree." Some more context on my precise problem : I have a project, with source files managed with git. I also use some Makefiles that I would like to manage with git _in a separate repository_ $ GIT_DIR=/.git git add some_file.c ... $ GIT_DIR=/.git_mk git add Makefile ... Setting worktree in each GIT_DIR/config will fix that but I can't figure out why current git implementation actually needs this. -- Fred ``` ## Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy, 2012-03-10 14:05 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CACsJy8AUo3%2BECdxfnyfYGA-mAtHB8KBOUrie3_Qo3cyfshZmAA%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <4F5B55E8.4080000@gmail.com> ``` 2012/3/10 Frédéric Heitzmann : > However man git-config says : > > "If --git-dir or GIT_DIR is specified but none of --work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE > and core.worktree is specified, the > current working directory is regarded as the top level of your working > tree." > > Some more context on my precise problem : > I have a project, with source files managed with git. > I also use some Makefiles that I would like to manage with git _in a > separate repository_ > > $ GIT_DIR=/.git git add some_file.c ... > $ GIT_DIR=/.git_mk git add Makefile ... > > Setting worktree in each GIT_DIR/config will fix that but I can't figure out > why current git implementation actually needs this. Historical reason: before separate worktree feature was introduced, git assumed worktree was at $GIT_DIR's parent directory. Old scripts may rely on that behavior. -- Duy ``` ## Jonathan Nieder, 2012-03-10 14:11 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: <20120310141119.GA11178@burratino> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20120310141119.GA11178%40burratino In-Reply-To: ``` Hi, Frédéric Heitzmann wrote: > export GIT_DIR=$PWD/.gita && > git init This is where the recipe goes wrong. It creates a bare repository. Using vi or "git config" to edit its configuration to set the "[core] bare" setting to false would change that. The git-config(1) manpage says: By default a repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare = false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare = true). and the logic in builtin/init-db.c seems to agree. Maybe there is a better place to document this. Improvements welcome. Thanks, Jonathan ``` ## Junio C Hamano, 2012-03-10 21:20 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: <7vsjhg17bh.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7vsjhg17bh.fsf%40alter.siamese.dyndns.org In-Reply-To: ``` Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy writes: > Historical reason: before separate worktree feature was introduced, > git assumed worktree was at $GIT_DIR's parent directory. Isn't the rule that the current directory becomes the root of the working tree if you did not have GIT_WORK_TREE? In any case, the way I read Frédéric is that the other repository's files will be accessed only from the root of the working tree, so as long as the GIT_DIR/config says it is not a bare repository, it should be OK. ``` ## Frédéric Heitzmann, 2012-03-11 21:13 Subject: Re: Need to set GIT_WORK_TREE when setting GIT_DIR !? Message-ID: <4F5D1590.9050306@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4F5D1590.9050306%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` Hi all, My initial mistake was that I unintenionnaly created a bare repo (which is really not what I want to do). If I change that - GIt_DIR=.gita git init --no-bare - everything runs fine. Lessons learned : 1/ the kind of repo - bare or not bare - that git init creates depends on GIT_DIR. This _is_ documented - I should have read more carefully - but it is surprising for someone not aware of the history of GIT_DIR, GIT_WORK_TREE, and so on. Don't know if it 's worth changing this semantic though. I let more experienced git hackers decide on this. 2/ Calling a git command that needs a working tree (add, status, commit, ...) in a bare repo should probably trigger a more explicit message. Using the current directory if GIT_WORK_TREE is not set would actually hide a potential configuration problem. Thanks for your help, -- Fred ```