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

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

[Σταύρος Ντέντος]

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?

Ντέντος Σταύρος

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

[Taylor Blau]

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

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

[Σταύρος Ντέντος]

Hey Taylor,

This was happening on a (much) more massive repository; I simply tried
to dumb down the example.

The original folder did had a folder structure 3 levels deep.
Unfortunately, I don't remember if the leaves were files (or
directories themselves). However, since I "replicated" it, I went
ahead and cleaned up my main repo (sigh).

Thank you for reminding me of the empty-tree case :-)

(Reply-all missed the list)
-- 
Until next time,
Ντέντος Σταύρος

On Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 4:34 PM Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> wrote:
>
> 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

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

[Philip Oakley]

On 03/09/2019 15:11, Σταύρος Ντέντος wrote:
> The original folder did had a folder structure 3 levels deep.
> Unfortunately, I don't remember if the leaves were files (or
> directories themselves). However, since I "replicated" it, I went
> ahead and cleaned up my main repo (sigh).
>
> Thank you for reminding me of the empty-tree case :-)
Makes me wonder if git status could maybe warn about empty trees as 
'untracked'?

Philip

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

[Junio C Hamano]

Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:

> 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.

Hmph, I thought the common convention was to create a ".gitignore"
file in the directory with catch-all pattern, so that no matter what
cruft you had there "git add" will not add anything from it, if you
wish to keep this directory "empty".

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

[Σταύρος Ντέντος]

> Makes me wonder if git status could maybe warn about empty trees as 'untracked'?

Well, I "suppose" git-add could warn you that you are adding an empty
tree (and I'd like if that happened, implicit vs explicit action i.e.
ignoring).
However, I assume the no-empty-tree case was a design decision; hence,
it's been 2.2# versions without such warning.

I doubt it would be considered to be added now.


On Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 10:08 PM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
>
> Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com> writes:
>
> > 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.
>
> Hmph, I thought the common convention was to create a ".gitignore"
> file in the directory with catch-all pattern, so that no matter what
> cruft you had there "git add" will not add anything from it, if you
> wish to keep this directory "empty".

I believe Taylor is talking about explicitly keeping a directory
empty, that may or may not, in the future, contain files (that will be
tracked) [1].
You are infering that, regardless if there are files or will be added
in the future, you don't want to check anything in.

While [1] is a very niche corner case (and maybe it doesn't make sense
to the most of us, true), there is a "debian-equivalent" behavior
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=812223

(I cannot find the definition of this behavior, but you can see an
example usecase)