Support .git directory as symlink (repo tool compatibility)

[smnlevente]

Hi,

I’m working with repositories managed by the Google repo tool, which structures projects by placing the actual Git repositories under .repo/ and exposing working directories where .git is a symlink to the real repository.

Example:
.git -> ../../../../.repo/projects/.../project.git/

This is a valid Git setup and works correctly with:

• git CLI
• Git Extensions
• VS Code

However, Fork reports these directories as “not a repository”.

It seems Fork expects .git to be a real directory and does not resolve symlinks.

Request

Please add support for:

• .git as a symbolic link to a directory
• (optionally) .git as a gitdir: file (if not already fully supported)

Why this matters

• The repo tool is widely used in large-scale projects (e.g. Android, embedded systems)
• Current behavior prevents using Fork in these environments
• Other Git clients work because they delegate repository resolution to Git itself

Thanks!

[DanPristupov]

Please write steps to reproduce this case.

[DanPristupov]

It seems Fork expects .git to be a real directory

No, this is not correct. In submodules and worktrees, .git is a file.

[smnlevente]

Here is more detail about my setup and how I'm reproducing the issue:

I'm using:

• Fork for Windows (latest version)
• Repositories managed by the Google repo tool
• Running inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04)

I’m opening the repository using an absolute path from Windows:
\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu-24.04\home\path\to\project

In this setup, the working directory contains:
.git -> ../../../../.repo/projects/.../<project>.git/

So .git is a symlink pointing to the actual Git directory under .repo/.

From within WSL:

• git status works correctly
• other tools like Git Extensions also recognize it as a repo

However, when opening the same path in Fork (via the path), it reports "Not a Git repository".

So this might be related to:

• resolving .git as a symlink
• and/or accessing it over \\wsl.localhost

Let me know if I can provide more details or test something.