Can't add files to git repository

Question

I'm adding a new project to a new Git repository.

I did git init, and when I do git add . it says :

fatal: Not a git repository: MyProject-iOS/Frameworks/AFNetworking.git/../../../.git/modules/MyProject-iOS/Frameworks/AFNetworking.git

Framework structure is very strange in the project, I inherited it from someone else.

What to do and how to fix this?

Is there a .git folder in your repo right now? – Vivin Jun 19 '14 at 15:00 — Vivin, Jun 19 '14 at 15:00
@Vwin yes, I guess it appeared after init – Dvole Jun 19 '14 at 15:46 — Dvole, Jun 19 '14 at 15:46

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

It seems that:

you are creating a git repo within an existing git repo (which isn't the right way to "add a new project"),
that existing repo has a submodule with path that has changed (the folder for that submodule has been renamed): see "git status returns fatal: Not a git repository but .git exists and HEAD has proper permissions".
That is true especially for older versions of Git (before 1.8/1.9).

The easiest way out of this is:

clone again the main repo (followed by a cd mainrepo; git submodule update --init --recursive)
inside, to "add new projects", use git submodule add /url/repo/new/project, instead of git init/git add, if you want to consider those projects as submodules of the main parent repo.

I'm guessing this was third-party source they published by simply deleting a clone's `.git` directory and OP's making a repo for his own use. Publishers forget to strip the submodule's gitfile is all that has to happen to get this symptom then. — jthill, Aug 03 '14 at 04:15

1 Answers1