fatal: Not a git repository - Error

Question

I am new to git. I am just using it for version control onto my local machine. I have initialized my git repo by git init. I have manually added some of the folders that I need to by git add "folder name". There is one particular folder which I am not able to add by using the same command. It is included in the same directory as the others. But I keep getting fatal: Not a git repository "some path". I don't understand what the problem is.

Adding Output

root@CTO:/home/kougaikw/test# git --version
git version 1.8.3.2

root@CTO:/home/kougaikw/test# git status
# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       new file:   main.html
#
# Untracked files:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#       .DS_Store
#       css/
#       fonts/
#       images/
#       instance-config.json


root@CTO:/home/kougaikw/test# ls -l
total 36
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:04 css
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:04 fonts
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:04 images
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1004 Mar 13 08:25 instance-config.json
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:05 js
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  695 Jan  7 08:50 main.html
drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:06 mocks
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:07 plugins
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 4096 Apr  5 17:07 templates

root@CTO:/home/kougaikw/test# git add js
fatal: Not a git repository: js/libs/testfolder/../../../../.git/testfolder/html/js/libs/modules

solution

I had a folder called ".git" inside the directory js/libs/testfolder. Removed it and works fine

Answer 1

There was a bug in the git which allowed you to add any [.git|GIT] folder under your git project, which was fixed in later git versions.

In your case you added a folder named [.git] in one of your project folders, so git experienced problems handling your repository.

More info about the bug and the fix can be found here