git init: Invalid symlink: Function not implemented

[Radrik5]

• I was not able to find an open
  or closed issue
  matching what I'm seeing

Setup

• Which version of Git for Windows are you using? 32-bit or 64-bit? Include the
  output of git version as well.

git version 2.7.2 64-bit

$ git --version
git version 2.7.2.windows.1

• Which version of Windows are you running? 32-bit or 64-bit?

Windows 7 64-bit

• What options did you set as part of the installation? Or did you choose the
  defaults?

Path Option: BashOnly
SSH Option: OpenSSH
CRLF Option: CRLFAlways
Bash Terminal Option: MinTTY
Performance Tweaks FSCache: Disabled

• Any other interesting things about your environment that might be related
  to the issue you're seeing?

Git doesn't work inside a directory symlink. I see the error in Git CMD but not in Git Bash.

Details

• Which terminal/shell are you running Git from? e.g Bash/CMD/PowerShell/other

Git CMD

The real problem is that I cannot use nigher C:\Program Files\Git\bin\git.exe nor C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe from a .bat script. Git fails with the same error: Function not implemented.

• What commands did you run to trigger this issue? If you can provide a
  Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example
  this will help us understand the issue.

E:\Projects\test\symlik-test>mkdir targetdir

E:\Projects\test\symlik-test>mklink /D symlink targetdir
symbolic link created for symlink <<===>> targetdir

E:\Projects\test\symlik-test>cd symlink

E:\Projects\test\symlik-test\symlink>git init
fatal: Invalid symlink 'E:/Projects/test/symlik-test/symlink': Function not implemented

• What did you expect to occur after running these commands?

symlink $ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in E:/Projects/test/symlik-test/targetdir/.git/

• What actually happened instead?

fatal error: Invalid symlink: Function not implemented

[PhilipOakley]

Have you noticed the direction of the directory separators....

The final E: message is using the wrong style for a drive path indicating (to me) that the path has been badly formed (if it's in MSYS2 format it would be /e/Projects .. for the e drive.

In general G4W avoids any use of symlinks because of all the compatibility issues across Windows OS versions, and between Windows and Linux expectations.

[Radrik5]

Have you noticed that it works in Git Bash? It's the same folder (symlink) and the same command.

I need this in a .bat script, so maybe there is a workaround that can run git in environment similar to Git Bash with working symlinks?

[Radrik5]

G4W actually supports symlinks. See issue #117 and PR #156.

So, here is the workaround:

E:\Projects\test\symlink-test\symlink>set MSYS="winsymlinks:nativestrict"

E:\Projects\test\symlink-test\symlink>git init
Initialized empty Git repository in E:/Projects/test/symlink-test/targetdir/.git/

[PhilipOakley]

Hi Dmitry,

maybe you could update https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/wiki/Symbolic-Links with the appropriate commands and commentary?

i.e. the symtoms and 'workaround' setting, and where that setting is derived from (real question, as I don't know).

It good to see the issues being bottomed out and documented..

Philip
----- Original Message -----
From: Dmitry Oksenchuk
To: git-for-windows/git
Cc: Philip Oakley
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: [git] git init: Invalid symlink: Function not implemented (#698)

G4W actually supports symlinks. See issue #117 and PR #156.

So, here is the workaround:

E:\Projects\test\symlink-test\symlink>set MSYS="winsymlinks:nativestrict"

E:\Projects\test\symlink-test\symlink>git init
Initialized empty Git repository in E:/Projects/test/symlink-test/targetdir/.git/
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[dscho]

I would have expected that setting core.symlinks = true would fix it, but it did not without this patch:

diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index ec4c569..ec9340d 100644
--- a/builtin/init-db.c
+++ b/builtin/init-db.c
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ static int create_default_files(const char *template_path)
     */
    copy_templates(template_path);

+   git_config_clear();
    git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
    is_bare_repository_cfg = init_is_bare_repository;

@@ -528,6 +529,12 @@ int cmd_init_db(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
        shared_repository = init_shared_repository;

    /*
+    * We need the settings *before* trying to determine the current
+    * Git directory, e.g. to support core.symlinks properly.
+    */
+   git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
+
+   /*
     * GIT_WORK_TREE makes sense only in conjunction with GIT_DIR
     * without --bare.  Catch the error early.
     */

This patch needs to be cleaned up, a test needs to be added to test it (most likely, the git_config_clear() actually fixes a bug where templates' configs are not heeded) and a proper commit message needs to be crafted.

[dscho]

In case it was not clear: this diff is all I had time (for the time being) to contribute to the resolution of this ticket.

[Radrik5]

Thank you @dscho. Unfortunately I also don't have enough time to finish the work.

[dscho]

@Radrik5 okay.