How can I use full paths in git?

Question

This command works fine:

git diff relative/path/to/file.ext

But if I use the full path, git says that path "is outside repository":

git diff /full/path/then/relative/path/to/file.ext

I suppose git does not find a .git directory in /full, so that's why it fails.

But how do I make git understand full paths, like subversion does?

Update: git version 1.7.0.5

Update: These files are always inside my repository, and my current directory is also inside my repository! It still gives that error.

Answer 1

Which version of git are you using? It should work regardless of the format of the path, i.e.

cd git
git diff -- git.c
git diff -- ~/git/git.c

But you have to be inside the git repository for this to work! If you absolutely need the git command to be executed from outside the repository, use the --work-tree and --git-dir switches:

git --work-tree=~/git --git-dir=~/git/.git diff -- git.c
git --work-tree=~/git --git-dir=~/git/.git diff -- ~/git/git.c