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Flimzy
Asked: 2020-12-19 01:15:32 +0800 CST 2020-12-19 01:15:32 +0800 CST

Why is it not possible to store an empty directory in git?

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As the title says: Why is it not possible to store an empty directory in git?

For example, in a new repo:

$ mkdir foo
$ git add foo
$ git status
On branch master

Initial commit

nothing to commit (create/copy files and use "git add" to track)

The empty directory foo is not in the changelog.

git

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I found this in the Git FAQ (translated):

    Git's design currently only allows file listing. No one competent enough has bothered to make the necessary changes to allow management of empty directories.

    Directories are automatically created when files are added to that directory. This means that the directories are not registered by themselves.

    With the command "git add <dir>" the files in the directory will be added.

    If it is necessary to have a directory in your checkouts, it must contain at least one file. .gitignore can help you with this task by automating the work. You can leave it empty or fill it with the names of the files you don't want to show in the directory.

    And this answer elaborates on the .gitignore option , and secures that content:

     # Ignorar todo en este directorio
 *
 # Excepto este archivo
 !.gitignore

    It is also usual to use the .gitkeep file inside the directory if it is really necessary to create the directory and version it, inside the file you can briefly write why you need to keep the versioned directory even if you do not have any other file apart from .gitkeep . This is just a convention, for git this file has no special meaning.

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  2. Repositories are used to store a history of changes to .

    A directory as such is not going to have a history of changes, so it doesn't make much sense for a repository to store an empty directory.

    Keep in mind that repositories usually create directories only to replicate the organization of the files that are uploaded. That is, a directory only serves as a means to store files. If a directory is empty it loses its meaning within the repository.

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