# git submodule ignores --git-dir

4 messages from 2015-09-10 to 2015-09-14. Participants: Filip Gospodinov, Jens Lehmann, John Keeping.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/40319

## Filip Gospodinov, 2015-09-10 20:06

Subject: git submodule ignores --git-dir
Message-ID: <55F1E2AB.3020507@monetas.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/55F1E2AB.3020507%40monetas.net

```
Hi!

I use the `--git-dir` flag in some scripts such that I don't need to `cd` back
and forth. Recently, I've discovered that `--git-dir` does not seem to work
correctly for `git submodule`. Here is a short snippet to reproduce that behavior:

mkdir repo1 subm
(cd subm; git init; git commit -m 1 --allow-empty)
(cd repo1; git init; git submodule add ../subm subm; git commit -m "add subm")
git clone repo1 repo2
git --git-dir=$PWD/repo2/.git submodule update --init


which errors with the following output:

No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path 'subm'

But this works:
cd repo2; git --git-dir=$PWD/.git submodule update --init


I know that for this particular use case I can just use `git clone --recursive`
and that other use cases can be worked around by using `cd`. Still, I wonder if
the behavior I discovered is a bug or if it's expected.

git --version
git version 2.5.1

Thanks you!
Filip

```

## Jens Lehmann, 2015-09-11 15:15

Subject: Re: git submodule ignores --git-dir
Message-ID: <55F2F028.7070505@web.de>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/55F2F028.7070505%40web.de
In-Reply-To: <55F1E2AB.3020507@monetas.net>

```
Am 10.09.2015 um 22:06 schrieb Filip Gospodinov:
> Hi!
>
> I use the `--git-dir` flag in some scripts such that I don't need to `cd` back
> and forth. Recently, I've discovered that `--git-dir` does not seem to work
> correctly for `git submodule`. Here is a short snippet to reproduce that behavior:
>
> mkdir repo1 subm
> (cd subm; git init; git commit -m 1 --allow-empty)
> (cd repo1; git init; git submodule add ../subm subm; git commit -m "add subm")
> git clone repo1 repo2
> git --git-dir=$PWD/repo2/.git submodule update --init
>
>
> which errors with the following output:
>
> No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path 'subm'
>
> But this works:
> cd repo2; git --git-dir=$PWD/.git submodule update --init

Thanks for your report containing a nice recipe to reproduce your issue!

> I know that for this particular use case I can just use `git clone --recursive`
> and that other use cases can be worked around by using `cd`. Still, I wonder if
> the behavior I discovered is a bug or if it's expected.

I don't think this is a bug. The git submodule command needs a work tree
to read the .gitmodules file from, that's while it fails when using
--git-dir from outside the work tree. But I admit that the error message
"No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path ..." could be improved
to clearly state that the .gitmodules file wasn't found.

Unfortunately trying to show git the right work tree:

$ git --git-dir=$PWD/repo2/.git --work-tree=$PWD/repo2 submodule update --init

Didn't work as I expected it to either:

fatal: /home/Sledge/libexec/git-core/git-submodule cannot be used without a working tree.

So you'll have to cd into the repo for now.

```

## John Keeping, 2015-09-11 15:28

Subject: Re: git submodule ignores --git-dir
Message-ID: <20150911152807.GA17201@serenity.lan>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20150911152807.GA17201%40serenity.lan
In-Reply-To: <55F2F028.7070505@web.de>

```
On Fri, Sep 11, 2015 at 05:15:52PM +0200, Jens Lehmann wrote:
> Am 10.09.2015 um 22:06 schrieb Filip Gospodinov:
> > I know that for this particular use case I can just use `git clone --recursive`
> > and that other use cases can be worked around by using `cd`. Still, I wonder if
> > the behavior I discovered is a bug or if it's expected.
> 
> I don't think this is a bug. The git submodule command needs a work tree
> to read the .gitmodules file from, that's while it fails when using
> --git-dir from outside the work tree. But I admit that the error message
> "No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path ..." could be improved
> to clearly state that the .gitmodules file wasn't found.
> 
> Unfortunately trying to show git the right work tree:
> 
> $ git --git-dir=$PWD/repo2/.git --work-tree=$PWD/repo2 submodule update --init
> 
> Didn't work as I expected it to either:
> 
> fatal: /home/Sledge/libexec/git-core/git-submodule cannot be used without a working tree.
> 
> So you'll have to cd into the repo for now.

There's also "git -C /path/to/repo" which avoids the need for a separate
"cd".

```

## Filip Gospodinov, 2015-09-14 13:25

Subject: Re: git submodule ignores --git-dir
Message-ID: <55F6CADA.9000100@monetas.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/55F6CADA.9000100%40monetas.net
In-Reply-To: <20150911152807.GA17201@serenity.lan>

```
On 11.09.2015 17:15, Jens Lehmann wrote:
> Unfortunately trying to show git the right work tree:
>
> $ git --git-dir=$PWD/repo2/.git --work-tree=$PWD/repo2 submodule update --init
>
> Didn't work as I expected it to either:
>
> fatal: /home/Sledge/libexec/git-core/git-submodule cannot be used without a
> working tree.

Yes, that's confusing. I'm not sure how other commands use the --work-tree flag
and if having the git-submodule script `cd` into the work tree would be
acceptable. What do you think?

On 11.09.2015 17:28, John Keeping wrote:
> There's also "git -C /path/to/repo" which avoids the need for a separate
> "cd".
> 

Thank you, that works!

```