From: Kristoffer Haugsbakk Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 08:20:21 GMT Subject: Re: git submodule using worktrees? Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <5152ce98-b0ce-42f2-bd34-1cc324042f88@odoo.com> On Thu, Mar 12, 2026, at 09:13, Xavier Morel wrote: > I have a number of fairly large projects I work with, for that reason I > have a bare clone for each and fork off worktrees as needed in order to > avoid unnecessary duplication and pulls between them. That works just fine. > > However when I tried to use submodules to provide a unified view of some > of those projects I found out that there's seemingly no way to have > submodules created as worktrees (off of a shared repository), at least > not built-in. It seems like the submodules do set up some sort of bare > repository / worktree situation but do not support passing in an > existing repository to worktree off of. > > `--reference` with `--dissociate` does avoid unnecessary fetches on the > initial clone, but they do duplicate objects (and without `--dissociate` > has all the issues of a non-static shared alternate), and do require > duplicate fetches afterwards to update the submodules, even if the > central local repository already has everything. > > Q1: is there any way to massage the submodules into working off of a > central shared repository? Poking around and messing with `.git/modules` > didn't really work out but I may have just not poked the right bit, > having to set up the submodules by hand (or via a bespoke script) is no > issue. > > Q2: is there any chance submodules will gain more first-class support > for worktree-ing off of a local repository in the future Does this also not work if these are regular, not-bare clones?