The following sequence sets up a trivial repo that uses "gitdir:": $ git init gitdir-test $ cd gitdir-test $ mv .git real-git-dir $ echo "gitdir: real-git-dir" > .git $ git status Fine so far. But git-status shows that "real-git-dir" is untracked: $ git status -sb ## Initial commit on master ?? real-git-dir/ Which strikes one as a bit inconsistent (since other pars of git-status knows to look in real-git-dir to find the index). Sorry - no time to investigate. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html