How to use git to track changes to local installation

[DianCh]

Hi! I'm making my own changes to detectron2 and want to use git to track the changes as usual, however I'm a bit confused on how to use this repo. Currently:

1. I've installed detectron2 using the pre-built.
2. I've cloned the entire repo and kept everything outside the inner detectron2/detectron2 folder (so I can use tools/train_net.py).
3. and removed the original inner detectron2/detectron2 folder and made a symlink of the installed /home/me/miniconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages/detectron2/ to here as detectron2/detectron2, so I can edit the local install version easily in my vscode editor.

However, git won't track the changes I made to the local install version, i.e., files under the symlink. Also, even if I keep the original detectron2/detectron2 and not go with symlink, the packages imported at runtime still seem to be the local install version under .../site-packages/, instead of the immediate folder detectron2, which means my changes aren't reflected at runtime if I'm tweaking the ones under the immediate detectron2 folder.

So, I wonder what's the correct way of using this repo, if I want to 1) change the internals, say, under detectron2.engine, 2) have them tracked by git, and 3) have them reflected at runtime?

Only solution I can think of right now is: make changes to the immediate folders, which can be tracked by git, and build/install locally each time a change is made so it goes to the .../site-packages/ version. But this is inconvenient. Is there a better way?

Thank you!

[DianCh]

This might sound silly but I just realized that if I go with local build install in the first place instead of pre-built install, then the files that got imported at runtime are just ones in the git repo (due to -e detectron2 option); only pre-built install goes to site-packages.

Problem solved!