minor refactor so we can move the git profiles directory in git to another directory other than the root directory easily
added a little helper method to allow safe navigation of children of possibly non-existing paths
avoid bringing in old version of commons-codec
avoid using the name 'fuse' for the default app for a fuse container; as it may clash with the local clone of the fuse project ;)
minor refactor so that we can start to implement a DataStore which uses git for its version/profile configuration