Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

Post History

81%
+7 −0
Q&A Possible drawbacks for having duplicate local sources of the project tracking the same Git remote

You want git worktree: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree. The idea is that you can have multiple branches of the same repository checked out to different directories, but they're still the "sa...

posted 11mo ago by Andrew‭  ·  edited 11mo ago by Andrew‭

Answer
#2: Post edited by user avatar Andrew‭ · 2023-06-28T21:59:38Z (11 months ago)
I meant "branches," not "copies"
  • You want `git worktree`: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree.
  • The idea is that you can have multiple copies of the same repository checked out to different directories, but they're still the "same" repository locally. I've used this technique precisely to avoid having to re-download `node_modules` when switching branches, among other related problems.
  • The main disadvantage to `git worktree` is that you cannot have the same branch checked out in multiple directories. That restriction is sensible, as it would be hard to sync the changes between the directories otherwise, but it's occasionally annoying. To work around this annoyance, I'll create a local branch like `fake-branch` that tracks `main`, `develop`, etc. (whatever the main branch is) and use `fake-branch` as the "resting" branch for my secondary directory. That way, if I accidentally switch to the main branch in my "normal" directory, I don't get an error.
  • You want `git worktree`: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree.
  • The idea is that you can have multiple branches of the same repository checked out to different directories, but they're still the "same" repository locally. I've used this technique precisely to avoid having to re-download `node_modules` when switching branches, among other related problems.
  • The main disadvantage to `git worktree` is that you cannot have the same branch checked out in multiple directories. That restriction is sensible, as it would be hard to sync the changes between the directories otherwise, but it's occasionally annoying. To work around this annoyance, I'll create a local branch like `fake-branch` that tracks `main`, `develop`, etc. (whatever the main branch is) and use `fake-branch` as the "resting" branch for my secondary directory. That way, if I accidentally switch to the main branch in my "normal" directory, I don't get an error.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Andrew‭ · 2023-06-28T21:57:08Z (11 months ago)
You want `git worktree`: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree.

The idea is that you can have multiple copies of the same repository checked out to different directories, but they're still the "same" repository locally.  I've used this technique precisely to avoid having to re-download `node_modules` when switching branches, among other related problems.

The main disadvantage to `git worktree` is that you cannot have the same branch checked out in multiple directories.  That restriction is sensible, as it would be hard to sync the changes between the directories otherwise, but it's occasionally annoying.  To work around this annoyance, I'll create a local branch like `fake-branch` that tracks `main`, `develop`, etc. (whatever the main branch is) and use `fake-branch` as the "resting" branch for my secondary directory.  That way, if I accidentally switch to the main branch in my "normal" directory, I don't get an error.