Re: [regression?] "git status -a" reports modified for empty submodule directory

>
>
>  For example, it has long been known ever since submodules were introduced
>  that if you work inside a sparsely checked out supermodule you have to use
>  "commit -a" with care, because the command notices missing submodule, and
>  there is no way for it to differenciate between the case you _want to_
>  remove it and the case you did not care about it,

>
>  That quirk was something people could live with while submodule support
>  was merely a newly invented curiosity.  But I do not think a command at
>  high level (iow Porcelain) such as commit and status should be left
>  unaware of the Policy that equate missing submodule and unmodified one
>  forever.  We should actively enforce the policy, so that unless you
>  explicitly ask nicely, the command should consider a missing submodule
>  just as unmodified, e.g. "commit -a" should not remove unchecked out
>  submodules.
>
>  But then you would need a way to ask nicely.  How?  Perhaps using "git rm",
>  and low level "update-index --remove".  Do we even need "commit -A"?  I
>  doubt it --- you do not remove submodules every day.
>
>  We'd like to keep the lowest-level unaware of the Policy, which means that
>  "diff-files" and "diff-index" should report unchecked out submodules.
>  Otherwise script writers will be left with no way to differenciate missing
>  and removed submodules.