I am on git version 2.20.0
$ git remote
does not show remotes configured in named files in $GIT_DIR/remotes/
I do not think that this is the intended behavior.
In particular:
$ git init --bare test.git
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/guraltsev/admin/test/git/test.git/
$ cd test.git
$ mkdir -p remotes
mkdir: created directory 'remotes'
$ echo -e "URL: /testremote.git \n Push: *:* \n Pull:
refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/testremote/* " > remotes/testremote
$ git remote
$ git remote show testremote
fatal: '/testremote.git' does not appear to be a git repository
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
The second to last command should show testremote as a remote.
Best,
Gennady