# bug: for-each-repo malfunctions in worktree due to GIT_DIR 2 messages from 2026-02-23 to 2026-02-24. Participants: Matthew Gabeler-Lee, Derrick Stolee. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/65063 ## Matthew Gabeler-Lee, 2026-02-23 22:58 Subject: bug: for-each-repo malfunctions in worktree due to GIT_DIR Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CABpCjbY%3DwpStuhxqRJ5TSNV3A-CmN-g-xZGJOQGSSv3GYhs2fQ%40mail.gmail.com ``` I noticed some scripts I have that utilize `git for-each-repo` don't work if I run them from within a git worktree, but they do work fine from within other directories, including the parent git clone of those worktrees. The symptom is that the command I pass to `for-each-repo` is run as if from within the worktree each time, instead of the repos fetched from the corresponding config entry. After a bit of sleuthing with strace, I think I identified the cause: $GIT_DIR is set in the `git for-each-repo` process, and gets passed to the child git invocations it launches. And thus, from within that worktree, `git for-each-repo --config=foo.bar -- branch` becomes the equivalent of: GIT_DIR=/worktree-parent/.git git -C /unrelated-repo branch Which of course is not what the `for-each-repo` invocation would be expected to do. Observed with git 2.51.0 from Ubuntu 25.10. I haven't tested explicitly with latest, but I took a quick look at git.c and for-each-repo.c changes between there and master and didn't see anything that looked like it would affect this behavior. PS: please CC me on replies ``` ## Derrick Stolee, 2026-02-24 01:52 Subject: Re: bug: for-each-repo malfunctions in worktree due to GIT_DIR Message-ID: <1d4d795d-3a0b-47c5-864f-56f3c7601d39@gmail.com> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1d4d795d-3a0b-47c5-864f-56f3c7601d39%40gmail.com In-Reply-To: ``` On 2/23/26 5:58 PM, Matthew Gabeler-Lee wrote: > I noticed some scripts I have that utilize `git for-each-repo` don't > work if I run them from within a git worktree, but they do work fine > from within other directories, including the parent git clone of those > worktrees. The symptom is that the command I pass to `for-each-repo` > is run as if from within the worktree each time, instead of the repos > fetched from the corresponding config entry. > > After a bit of sleuthing with strace, I think I identified the cause: > $GIT_DIR is set in the `git for-each-repo` process, and gets passed to > the child git invocations it launches. > > And thus, from within that worktree, `git for-each-repo > --config=foo.bar -- branch` becomes the equivalent of: > > GIT_DIR=/worktree-parent/.git git -C /unrelated-repo branch > > Which of course is not what the `for-each-repo` invocation would be > expected to do. You're absolutely right on this. It's a subtle oversight, as it's not one of the worktree-specific variables, but GIT_DIR is being set by the worktree logic. I have a test and a fix on the way in [1]. You'll be CC'd when I send the patches after a CI run. [1] https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2056 Thanks, -Stolee ```