Re: [RFC/PATCH 4/4] Disallow working directory commands in a bare repository.

Hi,

On Sun, 31 Dec 2006, Theodore Tso wrote:

On Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 12:01:01AM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:

quoted

quoted

Why not just tell these users to setup the working directories with
local .git directories and not use GIT_DIR?

suggest that we might want to bite the bullet and declare that
these things are not supported anymore in v1.5.0.

While we're talking about potentially deprecating GIT_DIR for users,
out of curiosity, what valid workflows would cause users to want to
use GIT_INDEX_FILE and GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY?  Seems like they would
cause more confusion and support problems than anything else.  

Easy, guys.

It is a valid -- indeed, useful -- thing to be able to script nice 
helpers. For example, in one project I track tar balls. So, I wrote a 
script which will unpack the tar ball in a directory, build a new index 
from it, and commit the corresponding tree on top of the tracking branch. 
This setup relies _heavily_ on being able to redirect GIT_INDEX_FILE and 
GIT_DIR.

So, these things are _useful_. Please don't break them.

As for the presence of "index" in a bare repo: I think this is not a 
problem, _as long_ as things continue to work as before, i.e.

	$ GIT_DIR=$(pwd) git log

and

	$ git --bare log

do _not_ complain if "index" is there. Now, if somebody starts git in a 
bare repo, where "index" is present, it could die with a helpful message 
like

	It seems that this is a bare git repository, but there is an index 
	file present, which contradicts that assumption. If the repository
	is indeed bare, please remove the index file.

Ciao,
Dscho