has anyone made a read-only FUSE filesystem for a git repository where every commit is a folder and the folder contains all the files in that commit?

the idea is that you could just run `cd COMMIT_ID` and poke around instead of checking out the commit

and maybe the branches could be symbolic links to the commit folders?

guys this is such a fun idea I cannot believe people are in the replies trying to explain to me why they think it is impractical

the whole point of computers is to do impractical things and see what happens

seems like the answer is yes!

- https://github.com/fanzeyi/giblefs (fuse implementation in rust where every commit is a folder)
- https://orib.dev/git9.html (for plan 9)

would love to hear about any others

GitHub - fanzeyi/giblefs: Mapping a Git repository as a virtual filesystem

Mapping a Git repository as a virtual filesystem. Contribute to fanzeyi/giblefs development by creating an account on GitHub.

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ok I got extremely nerd sniped and made my own version of this “filesystem where every git commit is a folder" thing https://github.com/jvns/git-commit-folders

I wrote a FUSE version and an NFS version that I think will be easier for mac users to use. it definitely does not work on windows.

it probably has about 5 million bugs but it seems to kind of work

GitHub - jvns/git-commit-folders

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the main reason I've found this "all your git commits are folders" feature to be useful is for searching past code: I can run `grep someFunction branch_histories/main/*/commit.go` to find the old version of someFunction I deleted. There are other ways to do that in git but this is easier.

or if I want to just quickly look at a file on another branch to copy a line from it, I can run `vim branches/other-branch/go.mod`

curious about other use cases

(from https://github.com/jvns/git-commit-folders)

GitHub - jvns/git-commit-folders

Contribute to jvns/git-commit-folders development by creating an account on GitHub.

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@b0rk That reminds me of a use case I struggle with in git that I used all the time in Perforce: what the P4V GUI Perforce client calls “Time-Lapse View.” Open a file in time-lapse view and you see the file contents plus a slider at the top that will take you through all revisions of the file, changing the displayed content as you slide it around. The way Perforce handles file revisions makes this straightforward, but this is less true in git. Most git GUI clients don’t have this feature at all.
@siracusa @b0rk The gitlens extension for vscode has the "File History View" which kinda gives you this. https://help.gitkraken.com/gitlens/side-bar/#file-history-view
GitLens Side Bar Views | GitLens Views and Functionality

GitLens' side bar views provide additional functionality in VS Code. Learn how to customize the GitLens default layout via the GitLens: Set Views Layout command.

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