Unsync'd Git Repository in Dropbox

Question

I have a git repository (and working directory) that is stored in my Dropbox so I can move back and forth between computers without having to commit or stash (read: without any

Answer 1

I've gotten this exact problem under the same circumstances.

To stop the files showing in git status you can set git to ignore file mode changes:

git config core.filemode false

This change is local to the git repository and will be synced along with the files.

Answer 2

You may want to check where you are setting your umask; it may be that dropbox is starting with a different umask than what your shell has. However, I believe that git ignores the group/other permissions and is mostly concerned with the execute bit, which should not be affected by the umask. Some thoughts for debugging:

• Can you reproduce this on-demand? How?
• What operating systems are you synchronizing between?
• If you git checkout -f on the files in question, do they get the correct permissions?
• If you simply chmod a file on one system, does that change get propagated?

Answer 3

The fact you are using Macs is relevant - the Macworld Hints article mentioned in a comment explains the issue (but read down to the comment that explains how to fix permissions with chmod u+rwX etc, rather than absolute permissions that may mess things up).

This Dropbox Support answer explains what's probably going on and how to fix it - related to how MacOS X Leopard (10.5) changed the default usage of ACLs.