# A couple errors dealing with uninitialized submodules

2 messages from 2016-10-20 to 2016-10-20. Participants: Aaron Schrab, Stefan Beller.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/44345

## Aaron Schrab, 2016-10-20 23:29

Subject: A couple errors dealing with uninitialized submodules
Message-ID: <20161020232915.GB3667@pug.qqx.org>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20161020232915.GB3667%40pug.qqx.org

```
I was working with a fresh clone of a repository where I'd forgotten 
that one of the directories was setup as a submodule, so I hadn't 
initialized it.

I tried to add a symlink to a location outside the repository and this 
failed with an assertion (exact text in comment below). When looking 
into that I realized that the directory was meant to be a submodule and 
decided to try to change that.  So I tried to remove the submodule, and 
got an error (misleadingly) saying that couldn't be done because it uses 
a .git directory.

I first noticed this with git 2.9.3 from Debian unstable, but I also see 
it building from v2.10.1-502-g6598894 fetched from master recently.

The following script replicates both of these issues. These could both 
be classified as "don't do that", although at lease the assertion is 
quite ugly.

--- >8 ----
#!/bin/sh -e

directory=$(mktemp -d)
echo "Using directory '$directory'"
cd $directory
git init --quiet orig
(
  cd orig
  # Using a random, small repository for the submodule.
  git submodule --quiet add https://github.com/diepm/vim-rest-console.git sub
  git commit -m init >/dev/null
)
git clone --quiet orig dup
cd dup

(
  cd sub
  ln -s /tmp/dont_care
  # Next command aborts with
  # git: pathspec.c:317: prefix_pathspec: Assertion `item->nowildcard_len <= item->len && item->prefix <= item->len' failed.`
  git add . || : expected to fail
)

rm -f .git/index.lock
# Next command fails with error wrongly saying that the submodule uses a .git
# directory.  I believe that the real problem is that the uninitialized
# submodule has content.
git rm sub

```

## Stefan Beller, 2016-10-20 23:51

Subject: Re: A couple errors dealing with uninitialized submodules
Message-ID: <CAGZ79kY69xtmPrwXWk6O6iSAYnViaO_R6_QY4KaX+qF51ouD6Q@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAGZ79kY69xtmPrwXWk6O6iSAYnViaO_R6_QY4KaX%2BqF51ouD6Q%40mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <20161020232915.GB3667@pug.qqx.org>

```
On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 4:29 PM, Aaron Schrab <aaron@schrab.com> wrote:
> I was working with a fresh clone of a repository where I'd forgotten that
> one of the directories was setup as a submodule, so I hadn't initialized it.
>
> I tried to add a symlink to a location outside the repository and this
> failed with an assertion (exact text in comment below). When looking into
> that I realized that the directory was meant to be a submodule and decided
> to try to change that.  So I tried to remove the submodule, and got an error
> (misleadingly) saying that couldn't be done because it uses a .git
> directory.
>
> I first noticed this with git 2.9.3 from Debian unstable, but I also see it
> building from v2.10.1-502-g6598894 fetched from master recently.
>
> The following script replicates both of these issues. These could both be
> classified as "don't do that", although at lease the assertion is quite
> ugly.
>
> --- >8 ----
> #!/bin/sh -e
>
> directory=$(mktemp -d)
> echo "Using directory '$directory'"
> cd $directory
> git init --quiet orig
> (
>  cd orig
>  # Using a random, small repository for the submodule.
>  git submodule --quiet add https://github.com/diepm/vim-rest-console.git sub
>  git commit -m init >/dev/null
> )
> git clone --quiet orig dup
> cd dup
>
> (
>  cd sub
>  ln -s /tmp/dont_care
>  # Next command aborts with
>  # git: pathspec.c:317: prefix_pathspec: Assertion `item->nowildcard_len <=
> item->len && item->prefix <= item->len' failed.`

For this bug see
https://public-inbox.org/git/CAFOYHZDw-P0ST8WKoSVxBpbFCiACZpgiDPMfw5MRtFTMosO0rg@mail.gmail.com/
Specifically try this patch
https://public-inbox.org/git/CAGZ79kZaZCwZ-cesB_voq0s0Qt+ipcgb6TkdzLE+EWSF_qRj7A@mail.gmail.com/

>  git add . || : expected to fail
> )
>
> rm -f .git/index.lock
> # Next command fails with error wrongly saying that the submodule uses a
> .git
> # directory.  I believe that the real problem is that the uninitialized
> # submodule has content.
> git rm sub

```