I have been facing difficulty in understanding the bare repository . I have read everywhere that a shared repo is a bare repo. Why must it be a bare repo? Can't it be a normal repo which collaborators clone and then push/pull?
Git – Concept of Bare Shared Repository
gitgit-barerepository
Best Answer
It needs to be a bare repo because a not bare repo would have a working tree (meaning a specific version of that repo checked out and with files visible).
Each time you are pushing to a non-bare repo, you have no guarantee that its working tree will reflect what you are pushing, since by default said working tree will be untouched.
(Imagine if a push would trigger an update of the working tree: the files would change all of a sudden without any control from users on the receiving end)
That is why it is simpler to have a bare repo as an upstream repo (one you push to): no working tree to manage/update.
See more at "all about "bare" repos -- what, why, and how to fix a non-bare push".