Running git from a git hook

When you want to run the git command from a git hook, this will (can?) fail with the message fatal: Not a git repository: '.'. The reason is very simple: The GIT_DIR environment variable is set and confuses the child git. You need to unset the GIT_* variables before running a child git.

Here’s how you do it in bash:

unset GIT_DIR # possibly others if needed
git status

In Python ≥ 3.5:

env = {k: v
       for k,v in os.environ.items()
       if not k.startswith("GIT_")}
subprocess.run(["git", "status"], env=env)

In Ruby:

env = ENV.to_hash
env.delete_if { |key, value| key.start_with?("GIT_") }
IO.popen(env, ["git", "status"], :unsetenv_others=>true) { ... }

The :unsetenv_others is necessary because the default is to add the environments, which is completely surprising.