How can I deal with a git repo containing symlinks on windows

Question

As part of our code repository, we have a symlink which is internal to the working tree.

Zend -> ZendFramework1.10/library/Zend

This works fine for all the developers running Linux or OS X, but we're now getting some people trying to use the repository on Windows.

The functionality of the symlink can be replicated by deleting the link git creates, and using mklink to create the equivalent directory junction.

However, git now sees this as the deletion of the symbolic link, and the addition of a proper directory.

I'm looking for a way to have the two co-exist, is there a way to tell the Windows machines to ignore the Zend directory, even though it's technically versioned. If this breaks when the files in that directory change then so be it, but it'd be nice to be able to work with the rest of the repo without having to worry about the link.

duplicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5190170/ignoring-symlinks-in-git — Philip Durbin, May 04 '11 at 19:56

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 04 '11 at 20:15

3

You can use git-update-index to tell git to ignore changes to the file:

git update-index --assume-unchanged Zend

answered May 04 '11 at 20:15

Josh Lee

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 04 '11 at 19:44

2

You could probably use cygwin on the machines running windows.

answered May 04 '11 at 19:44

rtn

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

As Magnus Skog has suggested, git under cygwin copes correctly with the symlinks. I switched away from Git for Windows for this reason alone. However you need to weigh up this advantage against the overhead of setting up the cygwin environment for your Windows users (particularly for those unfamiliar with *nix and the command line; for example there are a number of outstanding issues when trying to use Cygwin and TortoiseGit.)

How can I deal with a git repo containing symlinks on windows

3 Answers3