Re: [PATCH 0/5] git son: add command to create independent child repositories

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jun 1, 2026, 05:33 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqh5nmakq1.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <pull.2122.git.1779814052.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

"Evan Haque via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

Show 15 quoted lines

> Motivation
> ==========
>
> When spinning off a new project that is related to an existing repository,
> there is no built-in way to create a child repository that maintains a link
> back to its parent without the tight coupling of submodules. Submodules pin
> the child to a specific commit and require the parent to track the child in
> its index, which is too heavyweight when the child is meant to be fully
> independent.
>
> The typical workflow today is manual: git init, git remote add, update
> .gitignore — three steps that are easy to forget or get wrong. git son
> automates this and establishes a lightweight convention for the parent-child
> relationship: a remote named parent in the child, and nothing in the parent
> except an ignore rule.

Although I am personally not interested in this topic even for local repository use, I should point out that using this tool to create this combination of repositories would not be useful for other people who want to clone your arrangement. Other than leaving comments in the parent project, there seems to be no way to specify how or where the child projects should be cloned within the working tree of the parent project.

Since Git is primarily a tool for collaboration among people with their own repositories, I fail see how this feature is something we should ship to all Git users as part of the core distribution.

Thanks.