From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS53758 23.128.96.0/24 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-5.5 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE,SPF_HELO_PASS,SPF_PASS shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id D93C51F8C6 for ; Mon, 28 Jun 2021 02:24:58 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S231851AbhF1C1U (ORCPT ); Sun, 27 Jun 2021 22:27:20 -0400 Received: from lindbergh.monkeyblade.net ([23.128.96.19]:44880 "EHLO lindbergh.monkeyblade.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S231678AbhF1C1U (ORCPT ); Sun, 27 Jun 2021 22:27:20 -0400 Received: from act-MTAout5.csiro.au (act-mtaout5.csiro.au [IPv6:2405:b000:e00:257::7:42]) by lindbergh.monkeyblade.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D41B1C061574 for ; Sun, 27 Jun 2021 19:24:54 -0700 (PDT) IronPort-SDR: K9BPmIY9cmQkOnAj2wQIqf5sgAUTiXXB6KpRXx8XWAgjXsmj6EclfZz7xI45Xe51qu08izMFm2 mPhwpvQdHWCA== X-SBRS: 4.0 IronPort-HdrOrdr: =?us-ascii?q?A9a23=3AtenD1KN/jK+A9MBcTyb155DYdb4zR+YMi2?= =?us-ascii?q?TDiHofdfUFSKClfp6V8cjzjSWE8Ar5K0tQ4uxoWZPwC080kKQa3WB/B8bFYO?= =?us-ascii?q?CLghrKEGgA1/qu/9SDIVyGygc1784JGMIeaOEYZWIKyvoSizPIdurIteP3l5?= =?us-ascii?q?xA8t2uq0uFIzsaCZ1I3kNcMEK2A0d2TA5JCd4SD5yH/PdKoDKmZDA+ctm7Lm?= =?us-ascii?q?NtZZmOm/T70LbdJTIWDR8u7weDyRmy7qThLhSe1hACFxtS3LYZ93TfmQCR3N?= =?us-ascii?q?Ttjxj78G6T64bg1eUXpDLT8KoBOCVKsLlWFtzYsHfoWG2mYczGgNl6mpDq1L?= =?us-ascii?q?9gqqi3n/5pBbUP15qWRBDynfKl4Xid7B8+r3Dl0lOWmn3lvIjwQy87EdNIgc?= =?us-ascii?q?ZDfgLe8FdIhqAL7Etn5RPsi3NsN2K2oM093am6azh60k6v5XYym+8aiHJSFY?= =?us-ascii?q?MYdb9KtIQauEdYCo0JEi724J0uVLAGNrCV2N9GNVeBK3zJtGhmx9KhGnw1Ax?= =?us-ascii?q?edW0AH/siYySJfknx1x1YRgMYfgnAD/pQgTIQs3ZWMDk2prsA6ciYyV9M3OA?= =?us-ascii?q?4se7rHNoX9e2O/DIvJGyWYKEguAQO8l3fY2sRL2N2X?= X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: =?us-ascii?q?A2G+AQCzMdlgjA9OdpJagQmBV4MNbIU?= =?us-ascii?q?ziQSIOi0Dm06BfAsBAQEPQQQBAYRSAoJyJjQJDgIEAQEBEgEBBgEBAQEBBgQ?= =?us-ascii?q?CAhABAQEBKUOFOwEHMoZPAQIDIxUbNgsYAgImAgJXEwgBAYJtgwcBqxuBMoE?= =?us-ascii?q?BhGaDWIFjgRAqjWo3gVVEgTwPgm0+hRGCSoJkBIMVgRaBCG8RaC+eUVqcQiw?= =?us-ascii?q?HgyOBLgucRgYOBRYQlRqQbrUZhVOBVIIVMxofgz5PGQ6DPYgKgnGOQjRqAgY?= =?us-ascii?q?KAQEDCYwsAQE?= X-IPAS-Result: =?us-ascii?q?A2G+AQCzMdlgjA9OdpJagQmBV4MNbIUziQSIOi0Dm06Bf?= =?us-ascii?q?AsBAQEPQQQBAYRSAoJyJjQJDgIEAQEBEgEBBgEBAQEBBgQCAhABAQEBKUOFO?= =?us-ascii?q?wEHMoZPAQIDIxUbNgsYAgImAgJXEwgBAYJtgwcBqxuBMoEBhGaDWIFjgRAqj?= =?us-ascii?q?Wo3gVVEgTwPgm0+hRGCSoJkBIMVgRaBCG8RaC+eUVqcQiwHgyOBLgucRgYOB?= =?us-ascii?q?RYQlRqQbrUZhVOBVIIVMxofgz5PGQ6DPYgKgnGOQjRqAgYKAQEDCYwsAQE?= Received: from mail-server.pawsey.org.au (HELO prod-mail.pawsey.org.au) ([146.118.78.15]) by act-ironport-int.csiro.au with ESMTP/TLS/DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384; 28 Jun 2021 12:24:51 +1000 Received: from [192.168.42.112] (unknown [1.126.195.180]) by prod-mail.pawsey.org.au (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id D555531AFEBC for ; Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:24:50 +0800 (AWST) Subject: Re: Definition of "the Git repository" To: git@vger.kernel.org References: <7dd55e85-38eb-7346-ff10-7124102cd22b@pawsey.org.au> <435b0150-cd9f-32ce-7a07-3057ef20662a@iee.email> From: Kevin Buckley Message-ID: <12dd4f05-456f-c763-441e-5bb16634306a@pawsey.org.au> Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2021 10:24:44 +0800 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.11.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <435b0150-cd9f-32ce-7a07-3057ef20662a@iee.email> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Language: en-US Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org On 2021/06/26 04:48, Philip Oakley wrote: > > ... One can also include in the generic 'repository' the > various special .git* files that are [user] added to the main source > directory. > > But it gets worse. In the .git directory there is the 'objects' ... I don't believe it does get worse, indeed, I am not convinced that it is as bad as your observation on the semantics might suggest. Everything within the .git directory "belongs", in my way of thinking, to the "repository", that is, the directory that gets created when git is (init)ialised. For me, the 'objects", the 'ref/heads', the "staging area' and the like, also lie within the repository. As for any anciliary files, that control how the git commands actually process any data in the "working directory" beyond the defaults, some of them, eg the global commands, will typically exist outside of the working directory: below one's home directory, and, of course, there are the system-wide files, typically below /etc. Given then, that we can have Git-related files, for any given working directory, below /etc, below the user's home directory, and within the working directory itself, perhaps it is the whole "computer" which should be referred to as "the repository"? Furthermore, even in the case of anciliary files typically found within the working directory, and I'm thinking of .gitignore as the obvious example, even the directives in that can be overriden on the command line, as well as complemented by files outside of the working directory. I am tempted to say that even if the definition of a "repository" can't be agreed on, or rather, easily determined by inspection, then at least the corresponding working directory can be, however, the fact that one has access to EnvVars and corresponding command line arguments such as --git-dir=, --work-tree=, would suggest that it could be harder for the novice to get their head around things, however, as it is typicaly clear what the working directory is (the top level directory containing the files you are working on, under the control of Git), calling that same directory the "repository" seems, to me anyway, to add to any confusion, that a Git novice may have. Given the can of worms that this question has opened up, although I'm getting the feeling that it has long since been opened, I still maintain that it would be less confusing, at least for a novice, for the working directory to be identified and for a previously non-existent directory, that gets created by the 'git init', to be referred to as the repository, so as to make a distinction. Kevin