A bare git repository is so named because it has no working directory; it only contains files that are normally hidden away in the .git subdirectory. In other words, it maintains the history of a project, and never holds a snapshot of any given version.
From Git Magic, Chapter 3:
A bare repository is so named because it has no working directory; it only contains files that are normally hidden away in the .git subdirectory. In other words, it maintains the history of a project, and never holds a snapshot of any given version.
A bare repository plays a role similar to that of the main server in a centralized version control system: the home of your project. Developers clone your project from it, and push the latest official changes to it. Typically it resides on a server that does little else but disseminate data. Development occurs in the clones, so the home repository can do without a working directory.
