{"thread":{"id":"55901","subject":"Optionally include submodules in git archive - status?","startedAt":"2021-06-11T07:21:35Z","lastAt":"2021-06-11T19:03:40Z","messageCount":2,"participants":["Axel Obermeier","brian m. carlson"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"427090","messageId":"trinity-ccbae402-c6b8-4280-abe0-7fecf75af9f3-1623396089396@3c-app-gmx-bap17","threadId":"55901","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"Optionally include submodules in git archive - status?","fromName":"Axel Obermeier","fromEmail":"axel.obermeier@gmx.com","sentAt":"2021-06-11T07:21:29Z","receivedAt":"2021-06-11T07:21:35Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"axel.obermeier@gmx.com","avatar":null},"body":"Dear git developers & community,\n\nI'm trying to find out the status of including submodules in git archive\n- I'm sure this has come up before, because it creates lots of pain,\nespecially in packaging [0].\n\nGithub in particular punts on including submodules in the automatically\ngenerated tarballs (which are therefore often broken, i.e. not including\nall necessary parts to build), and this is in part because the underlying\ngit archive command does not provide that option.\n\nI could not find a bug tracker for git (though I noted with interest\nfrom [1] that the git-scm website has one...), and could not easily find\nsomething on the ML [2].\n\nIt's creating enough friction for me that I feel tempted to implement it\n(e.g. with a switch to recurse one or all levels of submodules), even\nthough I don't know the git codebase at all. In any case, before rushing\nahead, I wanted to check first what the status of this topic is.\n\nBest regards\nH.\n\n[0] https://github.com/dear-github/dear-github/issues/214\n[1] https://git-scm.com/community\n[2] https://public-inbox.org/git/?q=submodule+%22git+archive%22\n"},{"id":"427144","messageId":"YMOzf2I+SRfHcMdd@camp.crustytoothpaste.net","threadId":"55901","inReplyTo":"trinity-ccbae402-c6b8-4280-abe0-7fecf75af9f3-1623396089396@3c-app-gmx-bap17","subject":"Re: Optionally include submodules in git archive - status?","fromName":"brian m. carlson","fromEmail":"sandals@crustytoothpaste.net","sentAt":"2021-06-11T19:03:27Z","receivedAt":"2021-06-11T19:03:40Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"sandals@crustytoothpaste.net","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/497054?v=4"},"body":"On 2021-06-11 at 07:21:29, Axel Obermeier wrote:\n> Dear git developers & community,\n> \n> I'm trying to find out the status of including submodules in git archive\n> - I'm sure this has come up before, because it creates lots of pain,\n> especially in packaging [0].\n\nNobody has implemented it yet.  It could theoretically be implemented\nfor submodules where the submodule is already downloaded and populated\non disk, but if the submodule isn't populated, then the data won't exist\nand it wouldn't be possible to put it in the archive.\n\nSo it can be done, but it's a bit tricky.\n\n> Github in particular punts on including submodules in the automatically\n> generated tarballs (which are therefore often broken, i.e. not including\n> all necessary parts to build), and this is in part because the underlying\n> git archive command does not provide that option.\n\nIt is unlikely that GitHub will implement this anytime soon.  GitHub\nessentially invokes git archive to generate its archives, and even when\ngit archive supports that, the submodules will usually live on a\ndifferent set of file servers than the main repository, so the data will\nlikely not be accessible.\n\nFor Git LFS, we issue our own source tarballs for different reasons (the\nfact that git archive is not guaranteed to produce stable archives and\nwe want to provide signed hashes), so at least for now, the solution\nwould be to provide your own tarballs if you need something special.\n\n> I could not find a bug tracker for git (though I noted with interest\n> from [1] that the git-scm website has one...), and could not easily find\n> something on the ML [2].\n\nThe list is the place to report bugs and request new features, so you're\nin the right place.\n\n> It's creating enough friction for me that I feel tempted to implement it\n> (e.g. with a switch to recurse one or all levels of submodules), even\n> though I don't know the git codebase at all. In any case, before rushing\n> ahead, I wanted to check first what the status of this topic is.\n\nWe would love to see a patch.\n-- \nbrian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)\nToronto, Ontario, CA\n"}]}