Difficulty adding a symbolic link, part 2

Difficulty adding a symbolic link, part 2

[Dale R. Worley]

Here's a slightly simpler test case for adding a symbolic link.  This
test exploits the fact that on my system, /bin/awk is a symbolic link
to "gawk".  As you can see, the behavior of Git differs if the link's
path is given to "git add" as an absolute path or a relative path.

Here is the test script:
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#! /bin/bash

# Illustrates a problem with applying "git add" to a symbolic link.

set -x

# To be run from a directory one step below the root directory.  E.g.,
# "/git-add-link".
# Exploits the fact that /bin/awk is a symbolic link to "gawk".

# Show the Git version.
git version

# Make a test directory and cd to it.
DIR=temp.$$
mkdir $DIR
cd $DIR

# Create a Git repository.
git init
# Set the worktree to be /
git config core.worktree /
# Create an empty commit.
git commit --allow-empty -m Empty.

# Add the symbolic link using its absolute name.
ABSOLUTE=/bin/awk
ls -l $ABSOLUTE
git add $ABSOLUTE
# Notice that the target of the link is added, not the link itself.
git status -uno

# Reset the index.
git reset

# Add the symbolic link using its relative name.
# Remember that we are two directory levels below the root directory now.
RELATIVE=../..$ABSOLUTE
ls -l $RELATIVE
git add $RELATIVE
# Notice that now the link itself is added.
git status -uno
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Here is the output of the script:
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+ git version
git version 1.7.7.6
+ DIR=temp.22366
+ mkdir temp.22366
+ cd temp.22366
+ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /git-add-link/temp.22366/.git/
+ git config core.worktree /
+ git commit --allow-empty -m Empty.
[master (root-commit) fb232e5] Empty.
+ ABSOLUTE=/bin/awk
+ ls -l /bin/awk
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4 Nov  2  2012 /bin/awk -> gawk
+ git add /bin/awk
+ git status -uno
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#	new file:   ../../bin/gawk
#
# Untracked files not listed (use -u option to show untracked files)
+ git reset
+ RELATIVE=../../bin/awk
+ ls -l ../../bin/awk
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 4 Nov  2  2012 ../../bin/awk -> gawk
+ git add ../../bin/awk
+ git status -uno
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#	new file:   ../../bin/awk
#
# Untracked files not listed (use -u option to show untracked files)
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I can't see any principle of operation of Git that would cause "git
add /bin/awk" and "git add ../../bin/awk" to be handled differently.

Dale