Re: [PATCH RESEND] git submodule add: make the <path> parameter optional

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Oct 5, 2009, 01:31 UTC
Message-ID: <7vtyyek4nz.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.1.00.0910042304060.4985@pacific.mpi-cbg.de>

Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de> writes:

> So far, I started submodules by cloning them, doing everything in the 
> other files needed to integrate, and then actually wondered why "git 
> submodule add" could not simply take the (relative) path to the 
> checked-out submodule and deduce the URL from the corresponding config?

Let me try to rephrase the above to see if I understand what you are doing. When building a top-level superproject that uses two submodules from other places, you would do:

	$ git init toplevel
        $ cd toplevel
        $ git clone $overthere submodule1
        $ git clone $elsewhere submodule2
        $ edit Makefile common.h
        $ git add Makefile common.h submodule1 submodule2

and by "the corresponding config", you mean "submodule1/.git/config already records that it came from $overthere, and there is no reason to say it again in 'git submodule add $overthere submodule1'".

If that is the case, I think it is a very sane argument. It also makes me wonder why we need "git submodule add" as a separate step to begin with (i.e. "git add" Porcelain could do that behind the scene), but that is probably a separate topic.

> So I would actually vote for making the <repository> parameter optional...

In your "git submodule add submodule1", it would be quite clear that it is a local path and <repository> is being omitted. On the other hand, if you said "git submodule add $overthere" without submodule1, because $overthere is not likely to be an in-tree path, it also would be clear that it is omitting the path. IOW, these two typesavers are not mutually exclusive.

In real life, it is very likely $overthere does _not_ end with submodule1, and your suggestion would probably be more useful than the patch under discussion, I think.