Can the .git folder be outwith of the repository ?

[Sean Cull]

I am using Sourcetree for Windows with IBM Notes.

When starting from a repository clone I need to add the source files into Eclipse. The problem I have is the older version of eclipse that i need to use has no filter capability so it imports the .git folder and then all sorts of weird recursion issues start as both Sourcetree and Eclipse want to manage the .git folder.

Can I put the .git folder somewhere else ? I have tried to use

=>mkdir somefolder

=>mv * somefolder

and then import the somefolder to eclipse but then in the repository the files are all in a folder called somefolder which causes other confusion.

So -- is it possible to have the .git folder outwith of the repository ?

Thanks

[Felipe Kraemer]

Hi Sean,

This can be done, by running a command similar to this:

git --git-dir=../repo --work-tree=. add foo

This, however, is not a good idea because you'd need to specify it with every git command you ever use.

You can also export GIT_WORK_TREE=. and GIT_DIR=../new_location and Git will pick them up on each command. That will only allow you to work in a single repository per shell, though.

I think your best option is to symlink the .git directory to somewhere else, or creating a symlink to the .git directory from the directory you've chosen.