Eclipse - Exclude root directory from git repository? - eclipse

Question

I'm trying to setup a git repository for my Eclipse project using EGit. However, I'm having trouble excluding the root/project directory from the repository. That being, my project has the structure:
ProjectDirectory
src
war
etc
I would like the repository to contain src, war, and etc, but not contain the parent directory ProjectDirectory. That's because if I want to clone a copy of the project in my workspace, ProjectDirectory2, the repository for the second project now will try to create a second root directory, ProjectDirectory. Unfortunately, when I try to add a repository for a project using EGit, I seem to only be able to use Team > Share Project on the project folder itself and I don't seem to see anyway to exclude the root directory in the repository from within Eclipse.
Any suggestions on how to skip the top directory in the repository using EGit? I'd prefer being able to do everything from within Eclipse, but if there isn't a way, is there a way to setup the repository this way outside of git, then still be able to use the git control regularly from within git on the repository skipping the top level directory? Thank you much.

Answer 1

Short answer is It is POSSIBLE with EGIT + M2E
trick is when doing share project -> in the configure git repo window
making sure use or create repository in parent folder of project is ticked
and making sure click create repository button
the main aim of this is to create the .git folder in you project root
not above your project root.

Answer 2

Here's my solution. Though not particularly elegant - the steps are all simple, it works, and can be done in about 10 minutes:
Clone the remote git repo into your local filesystem .. e.g.: ~/git/project_repo_root
Create your eclipse project as usual .. e.g.: ~/workspace/eclipse_project_root
Delete the project from eclipse (but not filesystem!)
Open file manager and move the eclipse project you just created from ~/workspace/ root into ~/git
mv ~/workspace/eclipse_project_root ~/git/
Move the .git/ folder from the repo folder to the eclipse project root folder:
mv ~/git/project_repo_root/.git ~/git/eclipse_project_root
Using a shell go into /eclipse_project_root/ and do the usual command line commands for all files you want in the repo:
git add <abc>; .. commit; .. push
Return to Eclipse and go to Git Perspective, and click "Add an existing local Git repo to this view". Select the git repo you are working with and the view should be updated with an entry for that repo once you say ok.
Once you see the local repo in your view, you can right click it and select Import Projects
Go back to your main development perspective (Java, etc) and you should see the project there with the Git markup on the root node in package explorer view.
~~~~~
At that point, you should see the eclipse project folder you had just moved (to ~/git in the examples described here)
I realize this is more verbose than I would like my answers to be, but for this particular challenge/solution .. I don't know of a more straightforward way to do it.
And as for the post above that describes you should always include the eclipse project root directory .. the reality is some projects/clients/etc require that the git repo not contain the root folder. So a solution like this is necessary sometimes

Answer 3

You should commit the project root for multiple reasons:
If you commit only sub directories of your project, you will miss files and folders which are hidden below the project root (e.g. the .settings directory and others). Those need to be committed also, otherwise your project is going to miss information and may not lead to the same results on another machine.
Your wish of trying to clone the same repository a second time in the same workspace sounds very much like you should re-read about git branches. In git, switching between branches is done after a blinking of the eye, so branches should be used when working on different features, versions or otherwise different editions of your project.
The Eclipse project name and the underlying folder name on disk do not need to be the same (watch out for the checkbox "use default location" when creating a new project). So you can checkout a second clone of the project with a different name.
If you later add more projects to your workspace (e.g. a test project), you cannot easily share them into the same git repository, as the content of those additional projects would mix up with the sub directories of the first project in the repository.

Answer 4

If you have maven project you would typical like to create a repository without the project folder created by egit. For my experience this is not possible with the egit plugin.
But it can be easily done from the git command line.
First move your existing eclipse/maven project from your eclipse workspace into your git folder (this is what also the egit plugin did):
mv myproject ~/git/
next create a new git repository
cd ~/git/myproject
git init
Now create a .gitignore file and place it into your new repository folder (~/git/myproject/.gitignore). This is an example for a .gitignore file:
# ignore all bin directories
# matches "bin" in any subfolder
bin/
# ignore all target directories
target/
# ignore all files ending with ~
*~
# ignore eclipse directories and project files
.settings/
.project
.classpath
Finally initalize your new repository with the content of your project
git add *
git commit -m "My initial commit message"
Thats it.
Now you can restart your eclipse and reimport the project from your new git repository.
Go into your eclipse egit repository view and coose 'import exisiting project'.