Re: [PATCH v3 1/7] repo: add path.toplevel with absolute and relative suffix formatting

Justin Tobler <[email protected]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:36:04 -0500
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.git
Message-ID <amjUPEgenletgbp5@denethor>
On 26/07/26 04:13PM, K Jayatheerth wrote:
> Scripts frequently need to find the root directory of a repository's
> working tree. Currently, this requires using `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`
> or inferring it from other path components.
> 
> Introduce `path.toplevel.absolute` and `path.toplevel.relative` keys
> to `git repo info`. This allows scripts to retrieve the top-level
> working tree path in a predictable, strictly formatted manner without
> relying on `rev-parse`.

Ok, this seems like suitable information to also look up under
git-repo-info.

> If requested in a bare repository where no working tree exists, the
> command returns an empty string.

This matches the existing behavior in git-rev-parse(1). Makes sense.

> Mentored-by: Justin Tobler <[email protected]>
> Mentored-by: Lucas Seiki Oshiro <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: K Jayatheerth <[email protected]>
> ---
>  Documentation/git-repo.adoc | 10 ++++++++++
>  builtin/repo.c              | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  t/t1900-repo-info.sh        | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  3 files changed, 68 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-repo.adoc b/Documentation/git-repo.adoc
> index ed7d80c690..e34abe5fea 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-repo.adoc
> +++ b/Documentation/git-repo.adoc
> @@ -119,6 +119,16 @@ values that they return:
>  `path.gitdir.relative`::
>  	The path to the Git repository directory relative to the current working directory.
>  
> +`path.toplevel.absolute`::
> +	The canonical absolute path to the top-level directory of the
> +	repository's working tree. Outputs an empty string if the repository
> +	is bare.
> +
> +`path.toplevel.relative`::
> +	The path to the top-level directory of the repository's working
> +	tree relative to the current working directory. Outputs an empty
> +	string if the repository is bare.
> +
>  `references.format`::
>  	The reference storage format. The valid values are:
>  +
> diff --git a/builtin/repo.c b/builtin/repo.c
> index 042d6de558..194757eb18 100644
> --- a/builtin/repo.c
> +++ b/builtin/repo.c
> @@ -121,6 +121,32 @@ static int get_path_gitdir_relative(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf)
>  	return 0;
>  }
>  
> +static int get_path_toplevel_absolute(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf)
> +{
> +	const char *work_tree = repo_get_work_tree(repo);
> +
> +	if (!work_tree) {
> +		strbuf_addstr(buf, "");

The strbuf here is already NULL-terminated when its initialized. I don't
think this should be necessary.

> +		return 0;
> +	}
> +
> +	format_path(buf, work_tree, startup_info->prefix, PATH_FORMAT_CANONICAL);
> +	return 0;
> +}
> +
> +static int get_path_toplevel_relative(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf)
> +{
> +	const char *work_tree = repo_get_work_tree(repo);
> +
> +	if (!work_tree) {
> +		strbuf_addstr(buf, "");

Same here.

> +		return 0;
> +	}
> +
> +	format_path(buf, work_tree, startup_info->prefix, PATH_FORMAT_RELATIVE);
> +	return 0;
> +}
> +
>  static int get_references_format(struct repository *repo, struct strbuf *buf)
>  {
>  	strbuf_addstr(buf,
> @@ -137,6 +163,8 @@ static const struct repo_info_field repo_info_field[] = {
>  	{ "path.commondir.relative", get_path_commondir_relative },
>  	{ "path.gitdir.absolute", get_path_gitdir_absolute },
>  	{ "path.gitdir.relative", get_path_gitdir_relative },
> +	{ "path.toplevel.absolute", get_path_toplevel_absolute },
> +	{ "path.toplevel.relative", get_path_toplevel_relative },
>  	{ "references.format", get_references_format },
>  };
>  
> diff --git a/t/t1900-repo-info.sh b/t/t1900-repo-info.sh
> index ae8c22c817..fbb9063ee5 100755
> --- a/t/t1900-repo-info.sh
> +++ b/t/t1900-repo-info.sh
> @@ -213,4 +213,34 @@ test_repo_info_path 'gitdir with explicit GIT_DIR' 'gitdir' \
>  	'.git' \
>  	'GIT_DIR="../.git" && export GIT_DIR'
>  
> +test_expect_success 'path.toplevel absolute and relative' '
> +	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo" &&
> +	git init repo &&
> +	(
> +		mkdir -p repo/sub &&
> +		cd repo/sub &&
> +
> +		ROOT="$(test-tool path-utils real_path ..)" &&
> +
> +		echo "path.toplevel.absolute=$ROOT" >expect.abs &&
> +		git repo info path.toplevel.absolute >actual.abs &&
> +		test_cmp expect.abs actual.abs &&
> +
> +		echo "path.toplevel.relative=../" >expect.rel &&
> +		git repo info path.toplevel.relative >actual.rel &&
> +		test_cmp expect.rel actual.rel
> +	)
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'path.toplevel returns empty in a bare repository' '
> +	test_when_finished "rm -rf bare.git" &&
> +	git init --bare bare.git &&
> +	(
> +		cd bare.git &&
> +		echo "path.toplevel.absolute=" >expect &&
> +		git repo info path.toplevel.absolute >actual &&
> +		test_cmp expect actual

In this test we are only checking the absolute path. It probably
wouldn't hurt to also check the relative path too.

-Justin