Re: [BUG?] gitlink without .gitmodules no longer fails recursive clone

[Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>]

On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 7:10 PM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:
> Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
>
>> In an ideal world the user do:
>>
>>   git submodule add git://host/repo.git path
>>
>> which adds the gitlink and the .gitmodules entry. But it doesn't seem
>> unreasonable for somebody unfamiliar with submodules to do:
>>
>>   git clone git://host/repo.git path
>>   git add path
>>
>> This does add the entry as a gitlink, but doesn't write any sort of
>> .gitmodules entry.
>
> I actually would think that is a perfectly valid state.

me too.

But on the other hand I do not want to offend non-submodule-gitlink-users
too much. So maybe:

  $ git add <gitlink>
  # Adding a raw gitlink to the index,
  # in case you want to use a submodule,
  # use add a .gitmodules file or use 'git submodule add'

> In that
> original repository pair (i.e. the superproject with a submodule
> without an entry in .gitmodules), as long as the configuration in
> the submodule repository "path/.git/config" has necessary remote
> definitions, "git push/fetch --recursive" etc., should also be able
> to work without having to consult .gitmodules at the top-level
> superproject, I would think.

but these are the 2nd step, clone fails first.

>
>> With the old code, cloning the repository (either by
>> another user, or in our case during a Pages build), a recursive clone or
>> submodule init would complain loudly. But now it's just quietly ignored.
>> Which seems unfortunate.
>
> Of course, if such an original superproject gets pushed to a
> publishing location and then the result is cloned, without an entry
> in .gitmodules, no information "git submodule" can use to work on
> that "path" exists in that clone.  I would say it is OK to leave it
> as-is when going "--recursive" (what you called "inactive because
> it does not even have a .gitmodules entry).
>
> But even in such a clone, once the user who cloned learns where the
> submodule commit that is recorded in the superproject's tree can be
> obtained out-of-band and makes a clone at "path" manually (which
> replicates the state the original repository pair), things that only
> need to look at "path/.git/config" should be able to work (e.g. "git
> fetch --recursive"), I'd say.

But the user would never learn, because

  $ git clone --recurse-submodules ...

does not complain, but put an empty dir instead.


>
>