Subject: Re: [PATCH] submodule : Add --no-separate-git-dir option to add and update command.

From: Henri GEIST <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2014 21:34:26 +0100

Le lundi 03 mars 2014 à 17:45 +0000, Jens Lehmann a écrit :
> Am 03.03.2014 14:47, schrieb Henri GEIST:
> > This new option prevent git submodule <add|update> to clone the missing
> > submodules with the --separate-git-dir option.
> > Then the submodule will be regular repository and their gitdir will not
> > be placed in the superproject gitdir/modules directory.
> 
> And what is your motivation for this? After all submodules containing
> a .git directory are second class citizens (because they can never be
> safely removed by regular git commands).
>

I recognize most people will prefer to have the .git directory separate.
And I do not intend to make this option the default.

My reasons are:

  - As it is not clearly stated in the doc that the gitdir is separate.
    The first time I have copied one module to an USB key I had a big
    surprise.

  - This will not change anything for people not using it.

  - I use an other patch which I plane to send later which enable multiple
    level of superproject to add a gitlink to the same submodule.
    And in this case the superproject containing the separate gitdir will be
    arbitrary and depend on the processing order of the
    'git submodule update --recursive' command.

  - I have written this for myself and have using it since 2012 and send it in
    the hope it could be useful for someone else even if it is only a few
    people. But if its not the case no problem I will keep using it for myself.

> > Signed-off-by: Henri GEIST <[email-masked]>
> > ---
> >  Documentation/git-submodule.txt |   18 ++++++++++++++++--
> >  git-submodule.sh                |   22 ++++++++++++++++++++--
> >  t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh      |   12 ++++++++++++
> >  3 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
> > index 21cb59a..303a475 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
> > +++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
> > @@ -10,13 +10,14 @@ SYNOPSIS
> >  --------
> >  [verse]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>]
> > -	      [--reference <repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
> > +	      [--reference <repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--no-separate-git-dir]
> > +	      [--] <repository> [<path>]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] [--] <path>...
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch]
> >  	      [-f|--force] [--rebase|--merge|--checkout] [--reference <repository>]
> > -	      [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
> > +	      [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--no-separate-git-dir] [--] [<path>...]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
> >  	      [commit] [--] [<path>...]
> >  'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
> > @@ -107,6 +108,10 @@ is the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
> >  together in the same relative location, and only the
> >  superproject's URL needs to be provided: git-submodule will correctly
> >  locate the submodule using the relative URL in .gitmodules.
> > ++
> > +If `--no-separate-git-dir` is specified, missing submodules will be cloned
> > +has normal git repository without the option `--separate-git-dir` pointing
> > +to the modules directory of the superproject gitdir.
> >  
> >  status::
> >  	Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
> > @@ -185,6 +190,10 @@ If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
> >  setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
> >  submodule with the `--init` option.
> >  +
> > +If `--no-separate-git-dir` is specified, missing submodules will be cloned
> > +has normal git repository without the option `--separate-git-dir` pointing
> > +to the modules directory of the superproject gitdir.
> > ++
> >  If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into the
> >  registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
> >  +
> > @@ -363,6 +372,11 @@ for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s `--reference` and `--shared` options carefully.
> >  	clone with a history truncated to the specified number of revisions.
> >  	See linkgit:git-clone[1]
> >  
> > +--no-separate-git-dir::
> > +	This option is valid for add and update commands. Specify that missing
> > +	submodules should be clonned as self contain repository without a
> > +	separate gitdir placed in the modules directory of the superproject
> > +	gitdir.
> >  
> >  <path>...::
> >  	Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
> > diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
> > index a33f68d..36eaf31 100755
> > --- a/git-submodule.sh
> > +++ b/git-submodule.sh
> > @@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
> >  # Copyright (c) 2007 Lars Hjemli
> >  
> >  dashless=$(basename "$0" | sed -e 's/-/ /')
> > -USAGE="[--quiet] add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
> > +USAGE="[--quiet] add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference <repository>] [--no-separate-git-dir] [--] <repository> [<path>]
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] [--] <path>...
> > -   or: $dashless [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [-f|--force] [--rebase] [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
> > +   or: $dashless [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [-f|--force] [--rebase] [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--no-separate-git-dir] [--] [<path>...]
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
> >     or: $dashless [--quiet] sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]"
> > @@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ update=
> >  prefix=
> >  custom_name=
> >  depth=
> > +noseparategitdir=
> >  
> >  # The function takes at most 2 arguments. The first argument is the
> >  # URL that navigates to the submodule origin repo. When relative, this URL
> > @@ -270,6 +271,17 @@ module_clone()
> >  		quiet=-q
> >  	fi
> >  
> > +
> > +	if test -n "$noseparategitdir"
> > +	then
> > +		(
> > +			clear_local_git_env
> > +			git clone $quiet ${depth:+"$depth"} -n ${reference:+"$reference"} "$url" "$sm_path"
> > +		) ||
> > +		die "$(eval_gettext "Clone of '\$url' into submodule path '\$sm_path' failed")"
> > +		return
> > +	fi
> > +
> >  	gitdir=
> >  	gitdir_base=
> >  	base_name=$(dirname "$name")
> > @@ -359,6 +371,9 @@ cmd_add()
> >  		-q|--quiet)
> >  			GIT_QUIET=1
> >  			;;
> > +		--no-separate-git-dir)
> > +			noseparategitdir=1
> > +			;;
> >  		--reference)
> >  			case "$2" in '') usage ;; esac
> >  			reference_path=$2
> > @@ -758,6 +773,9 @@ cmd_update()
> >  		-f|--force)
> >  			force=$1
> >  			;;
> > +		--no-separate-git-dir)
> > +			noseparategitdir=1
> > +			;;
> >  		-r|--rebase)
> >  			update="rebase"
> >  			;;
> > diff --git a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
> > index c28e8d8..aa2df3d 100755
> > --- a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
> > +++ b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
> > @@ -81,6 +81,18 @@ inspect() {
> >  	)
> >  }
> >  
> > +test_expect_success 'submodule add --no-separate-git-dir' '
> > +	(
> > +		cd addtest &&
> > +		rm -rf submod &&
> > +		git submodule add --no-separate-git-dir -q "$submodurl" submod >actual &&
> > +		test_must_be_empty actual &&
> > +		test -d submod/.git &&
> > +		rm -rf submod &&
> > +		git reset --hard
> > +	)
> > +'
> > +
> >  test_expect_success 'submodule add' '
> >  	echo "refs/heads/master" >expect &&
> >  	>empty &&
> > 
>