From: Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2018 23:46:33 +0000 (+0000)
Subject: dgit(7): Discuss git-unrepresentable properties of source trees.
X-Git-Tag: archive/debian/4.3~4
X-Git-Url: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~ianmdlvl/git?p=dgit.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=804bfec6be70bf9198938c3f87792aaabe3b4426

dgit(7): Discuss git-unrepresentable properties of source trees.

Signed-off-by: Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
---

diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index c32ba467..694743ff 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ dgit (4.3~) unstable; urgency=medium
 
   Documentation improvements:
   * dgit(7): Discuss file executability.
+  * dgit(7): Discuss git-unrepresentable properties of source trees.
 
   Bugfixes:
   * dgit archive-api-query: Avoid crashing due to lack of $isuite.
diff --git a/dgit.7 b/dgit.7
index ca115352..7ad5abae 100644
--- a/dgit.7
+++ b/dgit.7
@@ -197,6 +197,17 @@ import existing vcs history
 (which might not be faithful to dgit's invariants)
 or previous non-Dgit uploads
 (which would not provide a very rich history).
+
+git represents only file executability.
+git does not represent empty directories,
+or any leaf objects other than plain files and symlinks.
+The behaviour of Debian source package formats
+on objects with unusual permissions is complicated.
+Some pathological Debian source packages will no longer build
+if empty directories are pruned
+(or if other things not reproduced by git are changed).
+Such sources cannot be worked with properly in git,
+and therefore not with dgit either.
 .SH READ-ONLY DISTROS
 Distros which do not maintain a set of dgit history git repositories
 can still be used in a read-only mode with dgit.  Currently Ubuntu