From: Aaron Schrab Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:57:49 GMT Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] clone: Fix error message for reference repository Message-ID: <20130408145749.GJ27178@pug.qqx.org> In-Reply-To: <7vhajh15w0.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org> At 06:58 -0700 08 Apr 2013, Junio C Hamano wrote: >I do agree that it would be nice to dereference .git gitfile when we >deal with --reference argument, but you do not want to use in-tree >repository of a submodule working tree. What happens when you have >to check out a version of the containing superproject that did not >have the submodule you are borrowing from? The directory will >disappear, leaving the borrowing repository still pointing at it >with its .git/objects/info/alternates file, no? No, submodule directories don't get removed when you checkout a version which didn't contain that submodule. I believe that there are plans to change that for submodules which store the repository data under the containing project's .git directory; but removing the submodule working tree would not affect a repository using that submodule as a reference, since the reading of the .git file is only done during the initial clone. I don't think that the risk of such a repository being deleted or moved is substantially higher than for any other repository.