The comments and Agent Note blamed macOS resolving /var through
private/var. That is only how the mismatch surfaced in temp fixtures, since
mktemp hands back a /var path there.
The real condition is broader: Git always reports resolved paths, so
comparing one against an unresolved path disagrees whenever a symlink sits
anywhere above the checkout. A symlinked home directory alone triggers it —
reproduced with no /var involved — which is common wherever homes live
behind a symlink or on a network mount.
Naming the cause correctly keeps a reader from dismissing resolve_dir as
macOS-only defensiveness.