[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="yarikoptic"
 avatar="http://cdn.libravatar.org/avatar/f11e9c84cb18d26a1748c33b48c924b4"
 subject="why relative path?"
 date="2021-02-08T14:47:42Z"
 content="""
I feel it is OS (OSX bug), does not reproduce on newer 11.1 (appveyor has 10.15.7), [asked on SO](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66103552/osx-mkdir-tmp-dir-no-such-file-or-directory-under-private-while-ls-can-l) anyways with minimalistic example.  I believe it is the `tmp -> private/tmp` somehow throws it off.

<details>
<summary>But I also wonder why git-annex uses relative path for get whenever remote is specified via an absolute one?</summary>

```shell
bash-3.2$ cd /private/var/folders/5s/g225f6nd6jl4g8tshbh1ltk40000gn/T/datalad_temp_test_get_recurse_dirs7eiohcer
bash-3.2$ cat .git/config
[core]
        repositoryformatversion = 0
        filemode = true
        bare = false
        logallrefupdates = true
        ignorecase = true
        precomposeunicode = true
[remote \\"origin\\"]
        url = /var/folders/5s/g225f6nd6jl4g8tshbh1ltk40000gn/T/datalad_temp_tree_test_get_recurse_dirsfciy781u
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
        annex-uuid = 52043a4d-fab3-4661-a8aa-904cd780c804
[branch \\"dl-test-branch\\"]
        remote = origin
        merge = refs/heads/dl-test-branch
[annex \\"security\\"]
        allowed-url-schemes = http https file
        allowed-http-addresses = all
[annex]
        uuid = f40f35d9-cd79-4258-9f25-bdeb56303f94
        version = 8
[filter \\"annex\\"]
        smudge = git-annex smudge -- %f
        clean = git-annex smudge --clean -- %f
bash-3.2$ git annex get --debug --from origin subdir/file2.txt
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.159007] process [10170] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"show-ref\\",\\"git-annex\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.164531] process [10170] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.165453] process [10171] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"show-ref\\",\\"--hash\\",\\"refs/heads/git-annex\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.169315] process [10171] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.170596] process [10172] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"log\\",\\"refs/heads/git-annex..250f87f912fab3d2081ef0ccd02ffc35fd7a97a7\\",\\"--pretty=%H\\",\\"-n1\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.177178] process [10172] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.178303] process [10173] chat: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"cat-file\\",\\"--batch\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.179112] process [10174] chat: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"cat-file\\",\\"--batch-check=%(objectname) %(objecttype) %(objectsize)\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.183428] process [10175] read: git [\\"config\\",\\"--null\\",\\"--list\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.188091] process [10175] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.195372] process [10176] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"symbolic-ref\\",\\"-q\\",\\"HEAD\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.198517] process [10176] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.199328] process [10177] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"show-ref\\",\\"refs/heads/dl-test-branch\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.202993] process [10177] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.20432] process [10178] read: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"ls-files\\",\\"--stage\\",\\"-z\\",\\"--\\",\\"subdir/file2.txt\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.205302] process [10179] chat: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"cat-file\\",\\"--batch-check=%(objectname) %(objecttype) %(objectsize)\\",\\"--buffer\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.208369] process [10180] chat: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"cat-file\\",\\"--batch=%(objectname) %(objecttype) %(objectsize)\\",\\"--buffer\\"]
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.209513] process [10181] chat: git [\\"--git-dir=.git\\",\\"--work-tree=.\\",\\"--literal-pathspecs\\",\\"cat-file\\",\\"--batch=%(objectname) %(objecttype) %(objectsize)\\",\\"--buffer\\"]
get subdir/file2.txt (from origin...)
  ../../../../../../../var/folders/5s/g225f6nd6jl4g8tshbh1ltk40000gn/T/datalad_temp_tree_test_get_recurse_dirsfciy781u/.git/annex: createDirectory: does not exist (No such file or directory)
failed
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.218675] process [10181] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.218748] process [10180] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.218781] process [10179] done ExitSuccess
[2021-02-08 08:37:39.218806] process [10178] done ExitSuccess
git-annex: get: 1 failed

```
</details>

IIRC it might have been done to minimize the path length so we have a better chance to not hit limits.  But in this case, if anything - it makes it only longer.

PS initially posted with another \"wisdom\" that relative path was off but only then spotted that it was `/var` vs `/private/var` ;)
"""]]
