git and hardlink in linux

Question

I have a git repo test, and a file (zsh config file), and

ln ~/.zshrc test/zshrc

then I changed .zshrc file,the zshrc file in git repo didn't change,is that git cannot deal with hardlink?

if so, how can I use git to manage these dotfiles?any suggestion

Answer 1

You can't make¹ hard links outside a git repository. You have several choices:

• Make ~/.zshrc a symbolic link to my-home-git-checkout/zshrc.
• Keep a git checkout in your home directory.
• Copy the file from your git checkout to your home directory, perhaps automatically upon a commit or checkout.

¹ _{Yeah, ok, quibble: you can't keep.}

Answer 2

Git always assumes that he is a only owner of a file inode. So git checkout just breaks all hard links.