Subject: Re: describe with --git-dir and --dirty outside of the repo always says dirty

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 13:29:29 -0700

Thomas Braun <[email-masked]> writes:

> When I do
>
> git describe --dirty
>
> in clean repo of git.git I get
>
> v2.53.0-522-g67006b9db8
>
> but when I do it from outside of the repo
>
> cd ..
> git --git-dir=git/.git describe --dirty

"--git-dir" tells git "I am at the root of the working tree, but the
git directory that you usually find at ".git" (or a parent directory
of where we are) is not where you expect but somewhere else, so I am
telling you where it is with this argument.

So if you are not at the root of the working tree for that working
tree, "git --git-dir=git/.git diff" would report that you have a ton
of changes to working tree files, and "describe" would report that
your working tree is dirty.

In other words, working as intended.

You can tell where the working tree is (instead of telling the
command that you are at the root of the working tree, when you are
not), with the "--work-tree" option.

$ git --git-dir=git/.git --work-tree=git describe --dirty

> Where should I start digging for a fix?

Between the keyboard and the chair ;-)?

Perhaps documentation for "--git-dir", GIT_DIR, "--work-tree", and
GIT_WORK_TREE should be studied, and if you find that they are
lacking, that is something we can fix.

Thanks.