Subject: [PATCH v5 2/2] setup: allow cwd/.git to be a symlink to a directory

From: Tian Yuchen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:18:50 +0800

Strictly enforcing 'lstat()' prevents valid '.git' symlinks.

Switch 'setup_git_directory_gently_1()' to use 'stat()' to allow
filesystem resolution.

Calling the refactored 'read_gitfile_error_die()' to ensure safety:

1. Happy cases ('ENOENT', 'IS_A_DIR') are ignored automatically;
2. Invalid types (like FIFOs and sockets) trigger 'die()' via
   'NOT_A_FILE'.

Add 't/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh' to verify symlink support and FIFO
rejection, and register it in 't/meson.build'.

Signed-off-by: Tian Yuchen <[email-masked]>
---
 setup.c                       | 18 ++++-----
 t/meson.build                 |  1 +
 t/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
 create mode 100755 t/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh

diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 0ca129623e..6e6068e5eb 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -1590,17 +1590,15 @@ static enum discovery_result setup_git_directory_gently_1(struct strbuf *dir,
 		gitdirenv = read_gitfile_gently(dir->buf, die_on_error ?
 						NULL : &error_code);
 		if (!gitdirenv) {
-			if (die_on_error ||
-			    error_code == READ_GITFILE_ERR_NOT_A_FILE) {
-				/* NEEDSWORK: fail if .git is not file nor dir */
-				if (is_git_directory(dir->buf)) {
-					gitdirenv = DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT;
-					gitdir_path = xstrdup(dir->buf);
-				}
-			} else if (error_code != READ_GITFILE_ERR_STAT_FAILED)
-				return GIT_DIR_INVALID_GITFILE;
-		} else
+			if (error_code)
+				read_gitfile_error_die(error_code, dir->buf, NULL);
+			if (is_git_directory(dir->buf)) {
+				gitdirenv = DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT;
+				gitdir_path = xstrdup(dir->buf);
+			}
+		} else {
 			gitfile = xstrdup(dir->buf);
+		}
 		/*
 		 * Earlier, we tentatively added DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT
 		 * to check that directory for a repository.
diff --git a/t/meson.build b/t/meson.build
index f80e366cff..c4afaacee5 100644
--- a/t/meson.build
+++ b/t/meson.build
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ integration_tests = [
   't0006-date.sh',
   't0007-git-var.sh',
   't0008-ignores.sh',
+  't0009-git-dir-validation.sh',
   't0010-racy-git.sh',
   't0012-help.sh',
   't0013-sha1dc.sh',
diff --git a/t/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh b/t/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..9b3925c85f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t0009-git-dir-validation.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='setup: validation of .git file/directory types
+
+Verify that setup_git_directory() correctly handles:
+1. Valid .git directories (including symlinks to them).
+2. Invalid .git files (FIFOs, sockets) by erroring out.
+3. Invalid .git files (garbage) by erroring out.
+'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+test_expect_success 'setup: create parent git repository' '
+	git init parent &&
+	test_commit -C parent "root-commit"
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS 'setup: .git as a symlink to a directory is valid' '
+	mkdir -p parent/link-to-dir &&
+	(
+		cd parent/link-to-dir &&
+		git init real-repo &&
+		ln -s real-repo/.git .git &&
+		git rev-parse --git-dir >actual &&
+		echo .git >expect &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success PIPE 'setup: .git as a FIFO (named pipe) is rejected' '
+	mkdir -p parent/fifo-trap &&
+	(
+		cd parent/fifo-trap &&
+		mkfifo .git &&
+		test_must_fail git rev-parse --git-dir 2>stderr &&
+		grep "not a regular file" stderr
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success SYMLINKS,PIPE 'setup: .git as a symlink to a FIFO is rejected' '
+	mkdir -p parent/symlink-fifo-trap &&
+	(
+		cd parent/symlink-fifo-trap &&
+		mkfifo target-fifo &&
+		ln -s target-fifo .git &&
+		test_must_fail git rev-parse --git-dir 2>stderr &&
+		grep "not a regular file" stderr
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'setup: .git with garbage content is rejected' '
+	mkdir -p parent/garbage-trap &&
+	(
+		cd parent/garbage-trap &&
+		echo "garbage" >.git &&
+		test_must_fail git rev-parse --git-dir 2>stderr &&
+		grep "invalid gitfile format" stderr
+	)
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'setup: .git as an empty directory is ignored' '
+	mkdir -p parent/empty-dir &&
+	(
+		cd parent/empty-dir &&
+		mkdir .git &&
+		git rev-parse --git-dir >actual &&
+		echo "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/parent/.git" >expect &&
+		test_cmp expect actual
+	)
+'
+
+test_done
-- 
2.43.0