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This seems so dumb, but I can't figure it out. Tons of instructions out there for cloning or adding a remote server, or pushing to a cloned repository. But I'm trying to figure out how to set up a git repository in a shared directory on a server, and let other people collaborate from clones in their personal directories.

This is what I've tried:

abalter@U1:~$ mkdir mainrepo abalter@U1:~$ cd mainrepo/ abalter@U1:~/mainrepo$ echo "inital entry" > text.txt abalter@U1:~/mainrepo$ git init Initialized empty Git repository in /home/abalter/mainrepo/.git/ abalter@U1:~/mainrepo$ git add text.txt abalter@U1:~/mainrepo$ git commit -m "initial commit" [master (root-commit) fb829d6] initial commit 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 text.txt abalter@U1:~/mainrepo$ cd .. abalter@U1:~$ git clone mainrepo/ userrepo Cloning into 'userrepo'... done. abalter@U1:~$ cd userrepo/ abalter@U1:~/userrepo$ echo "users addition" >> text.txt abalter@U1:~/userrepo$ git commit -am "users addition" [master 3d4ea94] users addition 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) abalter@U1:~/userrepo$ git add remote origin ../mainrepo/ fatal: ../mainrepo/: '../mainrepo/' is outside repository abalter@U1:~/userrepo$ git push origin master Counting objects: 5, done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 267 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) remote: error: refusing to update checked out branch: refs/heads/master remote: error: By default, updating the current branch in a non-bare repository remote: error: is denied, because it will make the index and work tree inconsistent remote: error: with what you pushed, and will require 'git reset --hard' to match remote: error: the work tree to HEAD. remote: error: remote: error: You can set 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable to remote: error: 'ignore' or 'warn' in the remote repository to allow pushing into remote: error: its current branch; however, this is not recommended unless you remote: error: arranged to update its work tree to match what you pushed in some remote: error: other way. remote: error: remote: error: To squelch this message and still keep the default behaviour, set remote: error: 'receive.denyCurrentBranch' configuration variable to 'refuse'. To /home/abalter/mainrepo/ ! [remote rejected] master -> master (branch is currently checked out) error: failed to push some refs to '/home/abalter/mainrepo/' abalter@U1:~/userrepo$

I'm clearly missing a step, but I don't know what it is.

EDIT I realize it should have been git remote add origin ../mainrepo. But 

abalter@U1:~/userrepo$ git remote add origin ../mainrepo fatal: remote origin already exists. abalter@U1:~/userrepo$

If it already exists, why can't I push to it?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

The answer here is no different than the setup on actual remote machines: a repository you push to should1 be a --bare clone. For instance, to set things whole thing up you start by making a user repository (so that you can make some initial commits):2

$ mkdir set-it-up && cd set-it-up $ git init [create and add files as usual and then] $ git commit

Then move to the place you want the bare master repo, and, e.g.:

$ mkdir master-repo.git; cd master-repo.git; git init --bare

(you may want to add --shared or --shared=all, etc.; see the git init documentation). Now you have a bare—no work directory—repository, suitable for both cloning-from and pushing-to.

To fill it in, you may now fetch (manually) everything from your "set-it-up" repo:

git fetch /path/to/set-it-up 'refs/*:refs/*'

At this point it's safe to remove your "set-it-up" copy: cloning the master-repo.git directory will get you a fresh clone in which to work, with the clone's origin set to the path of the master-repo.git directory.

Alternatively, in your set-it-up repo, you can now add the master-repo.git directory as the "origin" URL, then push.

1Since git 2.5, it's possible to make sensible things (for some value of sensible) happen with a non-shared repository, but this is a bit more complex to describe.

2You can make the initial bare repository completely empty, if you prefer. When cloning an empty repository, git gripes a bit, but you can then work in the clone and push back to fill in the bare repository.

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Thanks! I hadn't known about create --bare repositories.
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I found this, which says "Shared Repositories Should Be Bare Repositories." So I was going about it the wrong way. This works:

abalter@U1:~$ git init --bare baremain.git Initialized empty Git repository in /home/abalter/baremain.git/ abalter@U1:~$ git clone /home/abalter/baremain.git/ alicecopy Cloning into 'alicecopy'... warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository. done. abalter@U1:~$ cd alicecopy/ abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ echo "alice created this" > alice.txt abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ git add alice.txt abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ git commit -m "alice created file" [master (root-commit) 20b15da] alice created file 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 alice.txt abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ git push origin master Counting objects: 3, done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 229 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To /home/abalter/baremain.git/ * [new branch] master -> master abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ cd .. abalter@U1:~$ git clone /home/abalter/baremain.git/ bobcopy Cloning into 'bobcopy'... done. abalter@U1:~$ cd bobcopy/ abalter@U1:~/bobcopy$ echo "bob added this" >> alice.txt abalter@U1:~/bobcopy$ git add alice.txt abalter@U1:~/bobcopy$ git commit -m "bob added stuff" [master b7b2e2a] bob added stuff 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) abalter@U1:~/bobcopy$ git push origin master Counting objects: 5, done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 266 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To /home/abalter/baremain.git/ 20b15da..b7b2e2a master -> master abalter@U1:~/bobcopy$ cd ../alicecopy/ abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ git pull remote: Counting objects: 5, done. remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done. From /home/abalter/baremain 20b15da..b7b2e2a master -> origin/master Updating 20b15da..b7b2e2a Fast-forward alice.txt | 1 + 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$ cat alice.txt alice created this bob added this abalter@U1:~/alicecopy$

EDIT: Method 2 for if you already have a directory full of stuff you want to use.

abalter@U1:~$ mkdir bobsstuff abalter@U1:~$ cd bobsstuff/ abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ echo "this is bob's existing file" > bob.txt abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ cd .. abalter@U1:~$ git init --bare mainrepo.git Initialized empty Git repository in /home/abalter/mainrepo.git/ abalter@U1:~$ cd bobsstuff/ abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git remote add origin../mainrepo.git/ fatal: Not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ echo "oops--not yet a repo" oops--not yet a repo abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git init Initialized empty Git repository in /home/abalter/bobsstuff/.git/ abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git remote add origin ../mainrepo.git/ abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git add bob.txt abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git add . abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git commit -m "initial commit of all my files" [master (root-commit) 02a3d2e] initial commit of all my files 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) create mode 100644 bob.txt abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git push origin master Counting objects: 3, done. Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 244 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done. Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To ../mainrepo.git/ * [new branch] master -> master abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ cd .. abalter@U1:~$ git clone mainrepo.git/ alicesstuff Cloning into 'alicesstuff'... done. abalter@U1:~$ cd alicesstuff/ abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ cat bob.txt this is bob's existing file abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ echo "alice added this" >> bob.txt abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ cat bob.txt this is bob's existing file alice added this abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ echo "alice created this" > alice.txt abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ git add . abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ git status On branch master Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'. Changes to be committed: (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage) new file: alice.txt modified: bob.txt abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ git commit -m "alice's initial commit" [master 2b9d332] alice's initial commit 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+) create mode 100644 alice.txt abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ git push origin master Counting objects: 6, done. Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done. Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 341 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done. Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) To /home/abalter/mainrepo.git/ 02a3d2e..2b9d332 master -> master abalter@U1:~/alicesstuff$ cd ../bobsstuff/ abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ git pull origin master remote: Counting objects: 6, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done. remote: Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0) Unpacking objects: 100% (4/4), done. From ../mainrepo * branch master -> FETCH_HEAD 02a3d2e..2b9d332 master -> origin/master Updating 02a3d2e..2b9d332 Fast-forward alice.txt | 1 + bob.txt | 1 + 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+) create mode 100644 alice.txt abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ cat bob.txt this is bob's existing file alice added this abalter@U1:~/bobsstuff$ cat alice.txt alice created this
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