bug: git submodule add in of nested submodule handles relative path wrong

joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>git init sub1 Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/empty/sub1/.git/ joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>git init sub2 Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/empty/sub2/.git/ joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>cd sub1 joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/sub1>date > f1 ; git add f1; git commit -m add -q joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/sub1>cd .. joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>cd sub2 joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/sub2>date > f2 ; git add f2; git commit -m add -q joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/sub2>cd .. joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>git init repo Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/empty/repo/.git/ joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty>cd repo joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/repo>git submodule add ../sub1 1 Cloning into '1'... done. joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/repo>cd 1 joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/repo/1>ls f1 joey@darkstar:/tmp/empty/repo/1>git submodule add ../../sub2 2 fatal: repository '/tmp/sub2' does not exist fatal: clone of '/tmp/sub2' into submodule path '2' failed

Like the bug I filed yesterday, this is caused by git submodule add's chdir into .git/modules.

Workaround is to pass absolute paths to git submodule add.

Note that this could be an exploitable security hole under some unusual circumstances. In the example above, any other local user could create a /tmp/sub2 containing something nasty, and git would check it out accidentially.

git version 2.7.0

I'll add Jens, who has deep knowledge of submodules.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 8:52 AM, Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name> wrote:

This happens because inside "git submodule add" as in any git submodule command you cd to the top level of the superproject and then there is no proper way to describe where you came from.

Compare to [1], where I poke around with submodules as well.

[1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/287620

I wonder if we want to take note of "these small annoyances" in the submodule wiki[2].

[2] https://github.com/jlehmann/git-submod-enhancements/wiki#submodule-related-bugs-to-fix
  I consider Jens wiki one of the best sources for a high level overview
  of what needs to be done, and what is already solved for submodules.
  I linked to this thread from there. (I did not know I had write permission)

Thanks, Stefan