The source machine may not be set up as a server, or you may not have an account there. Sending a .zip file could be simpler than pushing the repo to a third system the receiver does have access to.

Sure, mailing binaries can also be the right thing sometimes, but just as with git repos, you definitely shouldn't be taking them from untrusted sources.

(and I bet that many people don't even realize how easy using `git push` to mirror a repo actually is, since git is very commonly used in a centralized fashion)

You’ve never unzipped a repo? That’s something I regularly do - clients can’t get me access to their scm, and it’s not worth the effort.

I don't think I ever did. I usually have an opposite problem and sometimes accidentally zip/tar a repo when it shouldn't be included (at least there's `--exclude-vcs`).

In any case, this doesn't sound like a good idea at all, as git hooks exist.

You’re right but also I’m mad that you’re right. I need to check what hook functions there are, but I knew about hooks and still overlooked them, which to me thinks that they’re non obvious. Maybe git should prompt you on first run, which is either whitelisted on your host or signed by your git keys or similar