{"thread":{"id":"64963","subject":"missing git documentation for \"git clone --recursive\"","startedAt":"2026-02-09T20:34:56Z","lastAt":"2026-02-09T22:03:30Z","messageCount":3,"participants":["markusd112@web.de","Junio C Hamano","D. Ben Knoble"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"535604","messageId":"ae4cb197-1edc-44c4-afbb-bbb24df509e8@web.de","threadId":"64963","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"missing git documentation for \"git clone --recursive\"","fromName":"","fromEmail":"markusd112@web.de","sentAt":"2026-02-09T20:34:48Z","receivedAt":"2026-02-09T20:34:56Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"markusd112@web.de","avatar":null},"body":"Hi,\n\nI am missing the argument \"--recursive\" for the git clone command in the \ngit-clone documentation\n\nhttps://git-scm.com/docs/git-clone\n\nIs this --recursive argument outdated? In some projects there is the \nfollowing command in the documentation that clones the repository \nincluding init and update submodules:\n\ngit clone --recursive (url)\n\nIn the git documentation only \"--recurse-submodules\" is mentioned as \nallowed argument, but not \"--recursive\".\n\nThanks\n\nMarkus\n\n"},{"id":"535608","messageId":"xmqq4inp4lv3.fsf@gitster.g","threadId":"64963","inReplyTo":"ae4cb197-1edc-44c4-afbb-bbb24df509e8@web.de","subject":"Re: missing git documentation for \"git clone --recursive\"","fromName":"Junio C Hamano","fromEmail":"gitster@pobox.com","sentAt":"2026-02-09T22:01:52Z","receivedAt":"2026-02-09T22:01:54Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"gitster@pobox.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/54884?v=4"},"body":"markusd112@web.de writes:\n\n> In the git documentation only \"--recurse-submodules\" is mentioned as \n> allowed argument, but not \"--recursive\".\n\nCorrect.  Do not use it.\n\nIn the early days, we mistakenly used \"--recursive\" to mean\n\"--recurse-submodules\".  \n\nAfter we realized the mistake, we would have preferred if we could\nremove it right away, but in order to avoid breaking existing users,\nthe command is taught to still notice \"--recursive\" and behave the\nsame as \"--recurse-submodules\", but stopped advertising the former\nin \"git clone -h\" and \"git clone --help\".\n\nThis reminds me.  Perhaps we would want to perform an audit for\nsuch OPT_HIDDEN aliases and remove them at the Git 3.0 boundary\n(this needs a separate thread to discuss)?\n\n"},{"id":"535610","messageId":"CALnO6CCMPCMdhMoei=bPSWC47n=+Uw_qP3joX8DPitUTcwNyaA@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"64963","inReplyTo":"ae4cb197-1edc-44c4-afbb-bbb24df509e8@web.de","subject":"Re: missing git documentation for \"git clone --recursive\"","fromName":"D. Ben Knoble","fromEmail":"ben.knoble@gmail.com","sentAt":"2026-02-09T22:03:06Z","receivedAt":"2026-02-09T22:03:30Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"ben.knoble@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/22802209?v=4"},"body":"On Mon, Feb 9, 2026 at 3:35 PM <markusd112@web.de> wrote:\n>\n> Hi,\n>\n> I am missing the argument \"--recursive\" for the git clone command in the\n> git-clone documentation\n>\n> https://git-scm.com/docs/git-clone\n>\n> Is this --recursive argument outdated? In some projects there is the\n> following command in the documentation that clones the repository\n> including init and update submodules:\n>\n> git clone --recursive (url)\n>\n> In the git documentation only \"--recurse-submodules\" is mentioned as\n> allowed argument, but not \"--recursive\".\n>\n> Thanks\n>\n> Markus\n\nThe latter is a (now-undocumented) alias for the former. See\n5c387428f1 (parse-options: don't emit \"ambiguous option\" for aliases,\n2019-04-29) and referenced commits (like ccdd3da652 (clone: Add the\n--recurse-submodules option as alias for --recursive, 2010-11-04)) for\nsome details.\n\n-- \nD. Ben Knoble\n"}]}