prevent symbolic link follow from git repo HOWTO

Question

I have git repo here: ~/git/myrepo/

then I do:

ln -s ~/external_dir ~/git/myrepo

emacs follows symbolic link when opening the file: ~/git/myrepo/external_dir/somefile.txt

I'd like to prevent it, ideally on a per git repo (dir-locals) basis

following doesn't bring the desired effect:

(setq vc-follow-symlinks nil)

also:

(setq vc-follow-symlinks 'ask)

does not make emacs ask a question when opening a file.

I'm running emacs.28.2

please help

Answer 1

I think you misunderstood the purpose of vc-follow-symlinks.

In the situation you described, Emacs doesn't ask anything because the version controlled file ~/git/myrepo/external_dir, which is a symbolic link, is not edited. The file that is edited is ~/external_dir/somefile.txt and is not under version control as long as ~/external_dir is not a Git repository.

By setting vc-follow-symlinks to 'ask, Emacs will prompt you if the target of a symbolic link is under version control.

Example :

ln -s ~/git/myrepo/someotherfile.txt ~/external_dir/someotherlink

~/git/myrepo/someotherfile.txt, the target of the symbolic link ~/external_dir/someotherlink is under version control. Now if you invoke e.g. find-file ~/external_dir/someotherlink, Emacs will prompt you (still assuming vc-follow-symlinks is set to 'ask).