Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] Changing submodule foreach --recursive to be depth-first, --parent option to execute command in supermodule as well

From: Jens Lehmann <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2013 19:18:48 +0100

Am 05.03.2013 22:17, schrieb Phil Hord:
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 3:51 PM, Jens Lehmann <[email-masked]> wrote:
>> Am 05.03.2013 19:34, schrieb Junio C Hamano:
>>> Eric Cousineau <[email-masked]> writes:
>>>> ...
>>> I am not entirely convinced we would want --include-super in the
>>> first place, though.  It does not belong to "submodule foreach";
>>> it is doing something _outside_ the submoudules.
>>
>> I totally agree with that. First, adding --include-super does not
>> belong into the --post-order patch at all, as that is a different
>> topic (even though it belongs to the same use case Eric has). Also
>> the reason why we are thinking about adding the --post-order option
>> IMO cuts the other way for --include-super: It is so easy to do
>> that yourself I'm not convinced we should add an extra option to
>> foreach for that, especially as it has nothing to do with submodules.
>> So I think we should just drop --include-super.
> 
> I agree it should not be part of this commit, but I've often found
> myself in need of an --include-super switch.   To me,
> git-submodule-foreach means "visit all my .git repos in this project
> and execute $cmd".  It's a pity that the super-project is considered a
> second-class citizen in this regard.

Hmm, for me the super-project is a very natural second-class citizen
to "git *submodule* foreach". But also I understand that sometimes the
user wants to apply a command to superproject and submodules alike (I
just recently did exactly that with "git gc" on our build server).

> I have to do this sometimes:
> 
>    ${cmd} && git submodule foreach --recursive '${cmd}'
> 
> I often forget the first part in scripts, though, and I've seen others
> do it too.  I usually create a function for it in git-heavy scripts.
> 
> In a shell, it usually goes like this:
> 
>    git submodule foreach --recursive '${cmd}'
>    <up><home><del>{30-ish}<end><backspace><enter>
> 
> It'd be easier if I could just include a switch for this, and maybe
> even create an alias for it.  But maybe this is different command
> altogether.

Are you sure you wouldn't forget to provide such a switch too? ;-)

I'm still not convinced we should add a new switch, as it can easily
be achieved by adding "${cmd} &&" to your scripts. And on the command
line you could use an alias like this one to achieve that:

[alias]
	recurse = !sh -c \"$@ && git submodule foreach --recursive $@\"