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git-archive vs. cp

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+2 A:

git archive only exports items that are part of the git repository. cp copies everything that's under the specified directory, including the .git directory, files which are ignored by git, etc.

jamessan 2010-10-29 12:27:45

I partly agree with the first part. But there's only one .git folder and it's outside of foo so copying foo will not mean that .git folder get's copied... only foo and it's sub-folders.

DKinzer 2010-10-29 12:35:28

Also if I've added everything in foo to the previous commit (why wouldn't I) that means foo is exactly like the copy on master branch.

DKinzer 2010-10-29 12:36:47

You might not want *everything* in foo to be copied: think intermediate build products, editor backup files and anything else that is commonly in your .gitignore file.

Cameron Skinner 2010-10-29 12:46:52

@Cameron Skinner, I guess that's really the determining factor here. If I don't want to copy everything from foo. Then using git-archive makes a lot more sense. But otherwise cp is just as good.

DKinzer 2010-10-29 12:51:41

@DKinzer: The vast majority of projects have at least something in their `.gitignore`, be it build products, logs, temporary files, local data, whatever. I'd say it's much more common to want to avoid those files, but you're right, if you don't care if they come along, just copy.

Jefromi 2010-10-29 13:56:55

[`git archive`](http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-archive.html) also respects `export-ignore` and `export-subst` [gitattributes](http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitattributes.html), and if given commit ID or tag ID it stores commit ID in a global extended pax header (unless requested to not do that).

Jakub Narębski 2010-10-30 10:00:56

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