Git - post-receive hook with git pull "Failed to find a valid git directory"

It's very weird but when setting a git repository and creating a post-receive hook with:

echo "--initializing hook--"
cd ~/websites/testing
echo "--prepare update--"
git pull
echo "--update completed--"

the hook runs indeed, but it never manage to run git pull properly:

6bfa32c..71c3d2a  master -> master
--initializing hook--
--prepare update--
fatal: Not a git repository: '.'
Failed to find a valid git directory.
--update completed--

so I'm asking myself now, how it's possible to make the hook update the clone with post-receive?

in this case the user running the processes is the same, and its everything inside the user folder so I really don't understand...because if if I go manually into

cd ~/websites/testing
git pull

it works without any problem...

any help on that would be pretty much appreciated

Thanks a lot

While the hook is running, GIT_DIR and (if the worktree was defined explicitly) GIT_WORK_TREE are set. That means your pull won't run with the second repository in the directory you changed to.

Try git --git-dir ~/websites/testing/.git --work-tree ~/websites/testing pull; or unset git's repo-local environment with this:

unset $(git rev-parse --local-env-vars)

More info on these environment variables in man 1 git.

One thing I experienced was that using the post-update hook '--git-dir' worked great but git was still complaining about a missing working tree (despite using '--work-tree')

In short, this did not work:

git --git-dir /path/to/websites/testing/.git --work-tree /path/to/websites/testing pull

whereas this worked:

cd /path/to/websites/testing
git --git-dir /path/to/websites/testing/.git pull

Doesn't this work?

cd /home/smb/websites/testing
env -i git pull

Edited

Better still

cd /home/smb/websites/testing
unset GIT_DIR
git pull