Re: Why does adding an existing repo as a submodule modify .git/config?

From: Mark Levedahl <mlevedahl@gmail.com>
Date: May 25, 2011, 01:06 UTC
Message-ID: <4DDC562C.2000204@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4DDB58D9.2090701@cdwilson.us>

On 05/24/2011 03:06 AM, Christopher Wilson wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

>>
>> Mark
>
>
> Q: Can you elaborate on why a 2 step "git submodule add" + "git
> submodule init" wasn't sufficient?  What is the reason for adding this
> functionality into the "git submodule add" command, when "git submodule
> init" does the same job?
>

git-submodule.sh has evolved considerably over the last couple of years, and the behaviour of submodule-init on an already existing module may well be different.

However, while you could then change submodule-add to not register the submodule, you would now have the condition of having a submodule that is checked out in the current tree but *not* registered in .git/config. This is the key: .git/config is modified to include all submodules that are checked out in your current tree. If you add a remote submodule, that submodule is not checked out in your current tree so no entry is created in .git/config, while adding one that is already checked out in place does modify .git/config. I see no inconsistency here.

Mark