Re: [RFC PATCH v2 06/12] submodule--helper: add a '--stage' option to the 'config' sub command

[Antonio Ospite <ao2@ao2.it>]

On Mon, 06 Aug 2018 10:38:20 -0700
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

> Antonio Ospite <ao2@ao2.it> writes:
> 
> >> I also do not see a reason why we want to stop referring to
> >> .gitmodules explicitly by name.  We do not hide the fact that
> >> in-tree .gitignore and .gitattributes files are used to hold the
> >> metainformation about the project tree, saying that it is an
> >> implementation detail.  Is there a good reason why .gitmodules
> >> should be different from these other two?
> >
> > Not sure about that, but one difference I can see
> > between .gitignore/.gitattributes and .gitmodules is that I got the
> > impression that editing the latter by hand is strongly discouraged, if
> > that is indeed the case a layer of indirection can make sense IMHO to
> > make the actual file path less relevant.
> 
> I do not think we discourage hand editing of .gitmodules more than
> others, say .gitignore; and I do not see a sane reason to do so.
> 
> "If you commit broken .gitmodules and let another person clone it,
> submodules will not be checked out correctly" is *not* a sane
> reason, as exactly the same thing can be said for incorrect checkout
> of files with broken .gitattributes.
>

OK, I see, maybe I got the wrong impression because
while .gitignore/.gitattributes are expected to be hand edited, in my
limited usage of submodules I never had to edit .gitmodules manually
since git did it for me; I guess that does not necessarily mean it's
discouraged and it may even be necessary for more advanced usages.

> Quite honestly, I just want to get over with this minor detail that
> won't help any scripts (after all submodule--helper is not meant to
> be used by humans) and focus on other parts of the patch series.

Agreed, let's drop 06 and 07 then.

Thanks,
   Antonio

-- 
Antonio Ospite
https://ao2.it
https://twitter.com/ao2it

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