Re: Git does not recognise directory named '${sys:DATA_ROOT_DIR}'

[Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>]

Hi,

On Tue, Sep 03, 2019 at 03:44:14PM +0300, Σταύρος Ντέντος wrote:
> Hello there,
>
> While the name is obviously a mistake, git refuses to even acknowledge
> the directory.
>
> ```
> u@h:~/$ mkdir init-test
> u@h:~/$ cd init-test
> u@h:~/init-test$ git init
> Initialized empty Git repository in /home/u/init-test/.git/
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #) mkdir \$\{sys\:DATA_ROOT_DIR\}/
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #) git status
> On branch master
>
> No commits yet
>
> nothing to commit (create/copy files and use "git add" to track)
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #) git add
> .git/                    ${sys:DATA_ROOT_DIR}/
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #) git add \$\{sys\:DATA_ROOT_DIR\}/
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #) git commit --signoff -m'a'
> On branch master
>
> Initial commit
>
> nothing to commit
> u@h:~/init-test$ (master #)
> ```
>
> Is that expected?

Git does not track empty trees; that is to say 'git add' on an empty
directory does not change the status of the index.

Try for example:

  $ git init repo && cd repo
  $ mkdir -p dir
  $ git add dir
  $ git status

And note that 'git status' says there are no changes.

On the other hand, 'git add' performs fine even in a directory named
'${sys:DATA_ROOT_DIR}'; simply create a file (even an empty one) within
that directory and then run 'git add'. It will stage your "changes" as
expected.

If you wish to keep this directory "empty", but stored in Git, a common
convention is to create an empty '.gitkeep' file in the directory. This
file is not special in any way to Git, rather it serves as _a_ file to
keep the directory non-empty.

Hope this helps.

> Ντέντος Σταύρος

Thanks,
Taylor