git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH v5 3/4] submodule: Explicit local branch creation in module_clone

From
W. Trevor King <wking@tremily.us>
Date
Jan 26, 2014, 20:45 UTC
Message-ID
<42bef14770ea71bc96e9a18828e4921d27ee581b.1390768736.git.wking@tremily.us>
In-Reply-To
<cover.1390768736.git.wking@tremily.us>

The previous code only checked out branches in cmd_add. This commit moves the branch-checkout logic into module_clone, where it can be shared by cmd_add and cmd_update. I also update the initial checkout command to use 'reset' to preserve branches setup during module_clone.

With this change, folks cloning submodules for the first time via:
  $ git submodule update ...

will get a local branch instead of a detached HEAD, unless they are using the default checkout-mode updates. This is a change from the previous situation where cmd_update always used checkout-mode logic (regardless of the requested update mode) for updates that triggered an initial clone, which always resulted in a detached HEAD.

This commit does not change the logic for updates after the initial clone, which will continue to create detached HEADs for checkout-mode updates, and integrate remote work with the local HEAD (detached or not) in other modes.

The motivation for the change is that developers doing local work inside the submodule are likely to select a non-checkout-mode for updates so their local work is integrated with upstream work. Developers who are not doing local submodule work stick with checkout-mode updates so any apparently local work is blown away during updates. For example, if upstream rolls back the remote branch or gitlinked commit to an earlier version, the checkout-mode developer wants their old submodule checkout to be rolled back as well, instead of getting a no-op merge/rebase with the rolled-back reference.

By using the update mode to distinguish submodule developers from black-box submodule consumers, we can setup local branches for the developers who will want local branches, and stick with detached HEADs for the developers that don't care.

Testing =======

In t7406, just-cloned checkouts now update to the gitlinked hash with 'reset', to preserve the local branch for situations where we're not on a detached HEAD.

I also added explicit tests to t7406 for HEAD attachement after cloning updates, showing that it depends on their update mode:

* Checkout-mode updates get detached HEADs
* Everyone else gets a local branch, matching the configured
  submodule.<name>.branch and defaulting to master.

The 'initial-setup' tag makes it easy to reset the superproject to a known state, as several earlier tests commit to submodules and commit the changed gitlinks to the superproject, but don't push the new submodule commits to the upstream subprojects. This makes it impossible to checkout the current super master, because it references submodule commits that don't exist in the upstream subprojects. For a specific example, see the tests that currently generate the 'two_new_submodule_commits' commits.

Documentation =============

I updated the docs to describe the 'submodule update' modes in detail. The old documentation did not distinguish between cloning and non-cloning updates and lacked clarity on which operations would lead to detached HEADs, and which would not. The new documentation addresses these issues while updating the docs to reflect the changes introduced by this commit's explicit local branch creation in module_clone.

I also add '--checkout' to the usage summary and group the update-mode options into a single set.

Signed-off-by: W. Trevor King <wking@tremily.us>
---
 Documentation/git-submodule.txt | 36 ++++++++++++++++++-------
 Documentation/gitmodules.txt    |  4 +++
 git-submodule.sh                | 58 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 t/t7406-submodule-update.sh     | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 4 files changed, 110 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index bfef8a0..2e1c7a2 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] [--] <path>...
 'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch]
-	      [-f|--force] [--rebase] [--reference <repository>] [--depth <depth>]
-	      [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
+	      [-f|--force] [--rebase|--merge|--checkout] [--reference <repository>]
+	      [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
 	      [commit] [--] [<path>...]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
@@ -155,13 +155,31 @@ it contains local modifications.
 
 update::
 	Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
-	checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
-	This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless `--rebase` or
-	`--merge` is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
-	`rebase`, `merge` or `none`. `none` can be overridden by specifying
-	`--checkout`. Setting the key `submodule.$name.update` to `!command`
-	will cause `command` to be run. `command` can be any arbitrary shell
-	command that takes a single argument, namely the sha1 to update to.
+	checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing
+	repository.  The update mode defaults to `checkout`, but can be
+	configured with the `submodule.<name>.update` setting or the
+	`--rebase`, `--merge`, or `--checkout` options.
++
+For updates that clone missing submodules, checkout-mode updates will
+create submodules with detached HEADs; all other modes will create
+submodules with a local branch named after `submodule.<path>.branch`.
++
+For updates that do not clone missing submodules, the submodule's HEAD
+is only touched when the remote reference does not match the
+submodule's HEAD (for none-mode updates, the submodule is never
+touched).  The remote reference is usually the gitlinked commit from
+the superproject's tree, but with `--remote` it is the upstream
+subproject's `submodule.<name>.branch`.  This remote reference is
+integrated with the submodule's HEAD using the specified update mode.
+For checkout-mode updates, that will result in a detached HEAD.  For
+rebase- and merge-mode updates, the commit referenced by the
+submodule's HEAD may change, but the symbolic reference will remain
+unchanged (i.e. checked-out branches will still be checked-out
+branches, and detached HEADs will still be detached HEADs).  If none
+of the builtin modes fit your needs, set `submodule.<name>.update` to
+`!command` to configure a custom integration command.  `command` can
+be any arbitrary shell command that takes a single argument, namely
+the sha1 to update to.
 +
 If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
 setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
diff --git a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
index f7be93f..385f35d 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@ submodule.<name>.branch::
 	A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.
 	If the option is not specified, it defaults to 'master'.  See the
 	`--remote` documentation in linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
++
+This branch name is also used for the local branch created by
+non-checkout cloning updates.  See the `update` documentation in
+linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
 
 submodule.<name>.fetchRecurseSubmodules::
 	This option can be used to control recursive fetching of this
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 68dcbe1..626a746 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ module_name()
 # $3 = URL to clone
 # $4 = reference repository to reuse (empty for independent)
 # $5 = depth argument for shallow clones (empty for deep)
+# $6 = (remote-tracking) starting point for the local branch (empty for HEAD)
+# $7 = local branch to create (empty for a detached HEAD, unless $6 is
+#      also empty, in which case the local branch is left unchanged)
 #
 # Prior to calling, cmd_update checks that a possibly existing
 # path is not a git repository.
@@ -259,6 +262,8 @@ module_clone()
 	url=$3
 	reference="$4"
 	depth="$5"
+	start_point="$6"
+	local_branch="$7"
 	quiet=
 	if test -n "$GIT_QUIET"
 	then
@@ -312,7 +317,16 @@ module_clone()
 	echo "gitdir: $rel/$a" >"$sm_path/.git"
 
 	rel=$(echo $a | sed -e 's|[^/][^/]*|..|g')
-	(clear_local_git_env; cd "$sm_path" && GIT_WORK_TREE=. git config core.worktree "$rel/$b")
+	(
+		clear_local_git_env
+		cd "$sm_path" &&
+		GIT_WORK_TREE=. git config core.worktree "$rel/$b" &&
+		# ash fails to wordsplit ${local_branch:+-B "$local_branch"...}
+		case "$local_branch" in
+		'') git checkout -f -q ${start_point:+"$start_point"} ;;
+		?*) git checkout -f -q -B "$local_branch" ${start_point:+"$start_point"} ;;
+		esac
+	) || die "$(eval_gettext "Unable to setup cloned submodule '\$sm_path'")"
 }
 
 isnumber()
@@ -475,16 +489,15 @@ Use -f if you really want to add it." >&2
 				echo "$(eval_gettext "Reactivating local git directory for submodule '\$sm_name'.")"
 			fi
 		fi
-		module_clone "$sm_path" "$sm_name" "$realrepo" "$reference" "$depth" || exit
-		(
-			clear_local_git_env
-			cd "$sm_path" &&
-			# ash fails to wordsplit ${branch:+-b "$branch"...}
-			case "$branch" in
-			'') git checkout -f -q ;;
-			?*) git checkout -f -q -B "$branch" "origin/$branch" ;;
-			esac
-		) || die "$(eval_gettext "Unable to checkout submodule '\$sm_path'")"
+		if test -n "$branch"
+		then
+			start_point="origin/$branch"
+			local_branch="$branch"
+		else
+			start_point=""
+			local_branch=""
+		fi
+		module_clone "$sm_path" "$sm_name" "$realrepo" "$reference" "$depth" "$start_point" "$local_branch" || exit
 	fi
 	git config submodule."$sm_name".url "$realrepo"
 
@@ -803,7 +816,9 @@ cmd_update()
 		fi
 		name=$(module_name "$sm_path") || exit
 		url=$(git config submodule."$name".url)
-		branch=$(get_submodule_config "$name" branch master)
+		config_branch=$(get_submodule_config "$name" branch)
+		branch="${config_branch:-master}"
+		local_branch="$branch"
 		if ! test -z "$update"
 		then
 			update_module=$update
@@ -817,11 +832,19 @@ cmd_update()
 
 		displaypath=$(relative_path "$prefix$sm_path")
 
-		if test "$update_module" = "none"
-		then
+		case "$update_module" in
+		none)
 			echo "Skipping submodule '$displaypath'"
 			continue
-		fi
+			;;
+		checkout)
+			local_branch=""
+			;;
+		rebase | merge | !*)
+			;;
+		*)
+			die "$(eval_gettext "Invalid update mode '$update_module' for submodule '$name'")"
+		esac
 
 		if test -z "$url"
 		then
@@ -835,7 +858,8 @@ Maybe you want to use 'update --init'?")"
 
 		if ! test -d "$sm_path"/.git -o -f "$sm_path"/.git
 		then
-			module_clone "$sm_path" "$name" "$url" "$reference" "$depth" || exit
+			start_point="origin/${branch}"
+			module_clone "$sm_path" "$name" "$url" "$reference" "$depth" "$start_point" "$local_branch" || exit
 			cloned_modules="$cloned_modules;$name"
 			subsha1=
 		else
@@ -881,7 +905,7 @@ Maybe you want to use 'update --init'?")"
 			case ";$cloned_modules;" in
 			*";$name;"*)
 				# then there is no local change to integrate
-				update_module=checkout ;;
+				update_module='!git reset --hard -q'
 			esac
 
 			must_die_on_failure=
diff --git a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
index 0825a92..f056c01 100755
--- a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
+++ b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ test_expect_success 'setup a submodule tree' '
 	 git submodule add ../none none &&
 	 test_tick &&
 	 git commit -m "none"
+	) &&
+	(cd super &&
+	 git tag initial-setup
 	)
 '
 
@@ -703,7 +706,7 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update places git-dir in superprojects git-dir re
 	git clone super_update_r super_update_r2 &&
 	(cd super_update_r2 &&
 	 git submodule update --init --recursive >actual &&
-	 test_i18ngrep "Submodule path .submodule/subsubmodule.: checked out" actual &&
+	 test_i18ngrep "Submodule path .submodule/subsubmodule.: .git reset --hard -q" actual &&
 	 (cd submodule/subsubmodule &&
 	  git log > ../../expected
 	 ) &&
@@ -764,4 +767,38 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule update clone shallow submodule' '
 	 )
 	)
 '
+
+test_expect_success 'submodule update --checkout clones detached HEAD' '
+	git clone super super4 &&
+	echo "detached HEAD" >expected &&
+	(cd super4 &&
+	 git reset --hard initial-setup &&
+	 git submodule init submodule &&
+	 git submodule update >> /tmp/log 2>&1 &&
+	 (cd submodule &&
+	  git symbolic-ref HEAD > ../../actual ||
+	  echo "detached HEAD" > ../../actual
+	 )
+	) &&
+	test_cmp actual expected &&
+	rm -rf super4
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'submodule update --merge clones attached HEAD' '
+	git clone super super4 &&
+	echo "refs/heads/master" >expected &&
+	(cd super4 &&
+	 git reset --hard initial-setup &&
+	 git submodule init submodule &&
+	 git config submodule.submodule.update merge &&
+	 git submodule update --merge &&
+	 (cd submodule &&
+	  git symbolic-ref HEAD > ../../actual ||
+	  echo "detached HEAD" > ../../actual
+	 )
+	) &&
+	test_cmp actual expected &&
+	rm -rf super4
+'
+
 test_done
-- 
1.8.5.2.8.g0f6c0d1
Previous: W. Trevor KingNext: W. Trevor King
Message 82 of 102 in “Introduce git submodule add|update --attach”
  1. Introduce git submodule add|update --attachFrancesco Pretto, Dec 30, 2013
  2. Phil HordDec 31, 2013
  3. Francesco PrettoJan 2, 2014
  4. Junio C HamanoJan 13, 2014
  5. Junio C HamanoJan 2, 2014
  6. Francesco PrettoJan 2, 2014
  7. Francesco PrettoJan 3, 2014
  8. Francesco PrettoJan 3, 2014
  9. submodule: Respect reqested branch on all clonesW. Trevor King, Jan 3, 2014
  10. Heiko VoigtJan 4, 2014
  11. W. Trevor KingJan 4, 2014
  12. Heiko VoigtJan 5, 2014
  13. W. Trevor KingJan 5, 2014
  14. Francesco PrettoJan 5, 2014
  15. [RFC v2] submodule: Respect requested branch on all clonesW. Trevor King, Jan 5, 2014
  16. Heiko VoigtJan 5, 2014
  17. W. Trevor KingJan 5, 2014
  18. Heiko VoigtJan 5, 2014
  19. W. Trevor KingJan 5, 2014
  20. W. Trevor KingJan 6, 2014
  21. W. Trevor KingJan 6, 2014
  22. Heiko VoigtJan 6, 2014
  23. Francesco PrettoJan 6, 2014
  24. Francesco PrettoJan 6, 2014
  25. Junio C HamanoJan 7, 2014
  26. Francesco PrettoJan 7, 2014
  27. W. Trevor KingJan 7, 2014
  28. Francesco PrettoJan 7, 2014
  29. Heiko VoigtJan 7, 2014
  30. Francesco PrettoJan 8, 2014
  31. W. Trevor KingJan 8, 2014
  32. Francesco PrettoJan 8, 2014
  33. Francesco PrettoJan 8, 2014
  34. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  35. Francesco PrettoJan 9, 2014
  36. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  37. Jens LehmannJan 9, 2014
  38. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  39. Jens LehmannJan 9, 2014
  40. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  41. Jens LehmannJan 9, 2014
  42. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  43. Heiko VoigtJan 14, 2014
  44. W. Trevor KingJan 14, 2014
  45. Heiko VoigtJan 14, 2014
  46. W. Trevor KingJan 14, 2014
  47. Heiko VoigtJan 14, 2014
  48. W. Trevor KingJan 14, 2014
  49. Heiko VoigtJan 14, 2014
  50. W. Trevor KingJan 14, 2014
  51. Heiko VoigtJan 14, 2014
  52. Francesco PrettoJan 15, 2014
  53. 0/6 submodule: Local branch creation in module_cloneW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  54. 1/6 submodule: Make 'checkout' update_module explicitW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  55. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  56. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  57. Francesco PrettoJan 16, 2014
  58. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  59. 2/6 submodule: Document module_clone arguments in commentsW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  60. 3/6 submodule: Explicit local branch creation in module_cloneW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  61. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  62. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  63. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  64. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  65. 4/6 t7406: Just-cloned checkouts update to the gitlinked hash with 'reset'W. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  66. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  67. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  68. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  69. 5/6 t7406: Add explicit tests for head attachement after cloning updatesW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  70. 6/6 Documentation: Describe 'submodule update' modes in detailW. Trevor King, Jan 16, 2014
  71. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  72. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  73. John KeepingJan 16, 2014
  74. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  75. Junio C HamanoJan 16, 2014
  76. W. Trevor KingJan 17, 2014
  77. 0/4 submodule: Local branch creation in module_cloneW. Trevor King, Jan 26, 2014
  78. 1/4 submodule: Make 'checkout' update_module explicitW. Trevor King, Jan 26, 2014
  79. Eric SunshineJan 27, 2014
  80. W. Trevor KingJan 27, 2014
  81. 2/4 submodule: Document module_clone arguments in commentsW. Trevor King, Jan 26, 2014
  82. 3/4 submodule: Explicit local branch creation in module_cloneW. Trevor King, Jan 26, 2014
  83. 4/4 Documentation: Describe 'submodule update --remote' use caseW. Trevor King, Jan 26, 2014
  84. Philip OakleyJan 16, 2014
  85. W. Trevor KingJan 16, 2014
  86. Francesco PrettoJan 8, 2014
  87. W. Trevor KingJan 9, 2014
  88. Francesco PrettoJan 7, 2014
  89. Heiko VoigtJan 6, 2014
  90. W. Trevor KingJan 6, 2014
  91. Francesco PrettoJan 5, 2014
  92. W. Trevor KingJan 5, 2014
  93. W. Trevor KingJan 5, 2014
  94. Heiko VoigtJan 6, 2014
  95. Junio C HamanoJan 6, 2014
  96. W. Trevor KingJan 6, 2014
  97. Junio C HamanoJan 6, 2014
  98. Francesco PrettoJan 7, 2014
  99. Junio C HamanoJan 7, 2014
  100. W. Trevor KingJan 7, 2014
  101. Junio C HamanoJan 7, 2014
  102. W. Trevor KingJan 7, 2014

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.