Filemode problem causes problems with git status, commit

[wolandscat]

When git status, git commit and some other git commands are called, the filemode set on files can be a problem on some file systems, and/or combinations of tools and how a checkout was done.

One known case is if a git repo was created with cygwin git, and later visited with Windows git. See git-config man page (search 'filemode').

The problem is also described here and here on Stackoverflow.

A possible fix to apply to adl-tools is:

• add in a check on initialisation that detects if there is a file-mode problem (what check?); this may or may not be possible since it can be on a per-repo basis.
• change commands like git status become git -c core.filemode=false status. Note this would only ever be needed on a Windows machine, but should not cause problems elsewhere.

At the moment, we'll monitor the problem in the user community and try to ascertain more about when it occurs.