How can I make git commit files in a symlinked folder

I have two folders:

• /home/me/code/project/
• /srv/www/projectfiles/

In the /home/me/code/project folder, I have symlinked static to /srv/www/projectfiles/

i.e. /home/me/code/project/static/ -> /srv/www/projectfiles/

When I try to commit now, it doesn't see any of the files behind the symlink, and instead tries to commit the symlink itself as a file.

How do I commit a file (e.g. /srv/www/projectfiles/style.css)s that is behind the symlink?

Solution 1:

A workaround would be to have /srv/www/projectfiles be a symlink to /home/me/code/project/static so git sees no symlinks

Solution 2:

If you are using linux, I particularly like the solution provided by GitBLSR. It is a library that is loaded via LD_PRELOAD that transparently dereferences symlinks to files and folders outside a repository.

To install it for a local user account is simple:

git clone https://github.com/Alcaro/GitBSLR.git
cd GitBSLR
./install.sh

This will compile the library and create an alias like the following in ~/.bashrc:

alias git="LD_PRELOAD=/path/to/gitbslr.so git"

Using this alias enables the transparent link dereferencing.

Solution 3:

Consider using a mount point to mount the destination folder (which you presently symlink to) to appear in the location you want it beneath the git project. I've used this approach successfully.

Example:

#!/bin/sh
sudo mount --bind ./src_folder ./dst_folder

Solution 4:

Another workaround - the only one I found that works for directories too - is to change git working tree for the specific actions.

git --work-tree=/home/me/code/project/ add /home/me/code/project/static/
git --work-tree=/home/me/code/project/ commit /home/me/code/project/static/