Re: Unmodified submodules shows up as dirty with 1.6.6.443.gd7346

From: Jacob Helwig <jacob.helwig@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 19, 2010, 14:31 UTC
Message-ID: <8c9a061001190631rb1f9518sff337e07e0a6803@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <4B555BA1.90605@viscovery.net>

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 23:13, Johannes Sixt <j.sixt@viscovery.net> wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> Jacob Helwig schrieb:
>> If there is no output from git status in the submodule, then git
>> status in the superproject shows the submodule as being clean.
>> However, if there is _any_ output from git status (untracked files,
>> modified files, deleted files, new files), then the superproject shows
>> the submodule as being dirty.
>
> But isn't it a bug that a submodule is considered dirty just because an
> untracked file appears?
>
> -- Hannes
>

I wouldn't consider it a bug, but that's specific to my use case of submodules.

At work, we're using them for shared Perl libraries between projects. The only reason we have for creating new, untracked files in the submodule is that we're adding new library code. Having the submodule show up as dirty for us is another safety towards not forgetting to commit & push out this new code.

I agree that this isn't intuitive given how status normally handles files in projects, but it makes sense (to me, anyway), when dealing with library code.

Should this be the default behavior for everyone? I can't say. If it's not, I would at least like it to be behavior that you can opt-in to.

-Jacob