Git + launchpad

You make a file path and an empty directory, set GIT_INDEX_FILE and GIT_WORK_TREE in the environment pointing to those and set GIT_DIR pointing to the bare repository with all the objects. We then prep the index with the right revision (git read-tree), tell the index that the working tree is OK without hitting disk (git update-index), and then checkout the .gitmodules file (if it exists) (git checkout-index followed by git update-index to update it that there's a real file on disk now) so that submodules work properly. This can be done concurrently with a single clone of a repository and each chain of commands thinking they are working on a real thing (you need the directory so that conflict files have a place to be dropped).

So basically, can I work with a single clone from multiple directories at once where all of them think they are in their own little sandbox and don't interfere with each other (even to the point of avoiding race conditions when asking for available names in refs/)?

I agree that the git docs are not as end-user-oriented as they could be. I'm also not *too* concerned with intuitiveness (cf. my use of Vim, XMonad, tmux, uzbl, etc.), but rather that things *make sense*. As an example, the "standard" cut/copy/paste shortcuts are convenient, but are not composable like Vim's versions of them. That's what I like about git; it gives me a toolbox with some pre-made tools composed of the bare bits rather than a completed sawsall or something which, while nice, can't quite be made into a hammer when I need one without some sanity checks.