FWIW, I tried the following quick change based on the info. provided by Junio and it seems to "fix" my original problem. I'll let you experts figure out if we need a more complete fix or not. diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c index 5a62aa2..23443a7 100644 --- a/submodule.c +++ b/submodule.c @@ -960,6 +960,9 @@ unsigned is_submodule_modified(const char *path, int ignore_untracked) return 0; } + /* stuff submodule git dir into env var */ + set_git_dir(git_dir); + strbuf_reset(&buf); if (ignore_untracked) @@ -1279,5 +1282,9 @@ void prepare_submodule_repo_env(struct argv_array *out) for (var = local_repo_env; *var; var++) { if (strcmp(*var, CONFIG_DATA_ENVIRONMENT)) argv_array_push(out, *var); + if (strcmp(*var, GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT)) + argv_array_pushf(out, "%s=%s", GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT, + get_git_dir()); } + } Thanks, Uma On Wed, Aug 31, 2016 at 9:42 AM, Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Uma Srinivasan <usrinivasan@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > >>> I might suggest to update prepare_submodule_repo_env() so that the >>> spawned process will *NOT* have to guess where the working tree and >>> repository by exporting GIT_DIR (set to "git_dir" we discover above) >>> and GIT_WORK_TREE (set to "." as cp.dir is set to the path to the >>> working tree of the submodule). That would stop the "git status" to >>> guess (and fooled by a corrupted dir/.git that is not a git >>> repository). >> >> Here's where I am struggling with my lack of knowledge of git >> internals and the implementation particularly in the context of how >> environment variables are passed from the parent to the child process. > > Ah, I was primarily addressing Jacob in the latter part of my > message, as he's looked at similar things in his recent topic. > >> Are you suggesting that we set up the child process environment array >> (the "out" argument) in prepare_submodule_repo_env() to include >> GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT and GIT_WORK_TREE_ENVIRONMENT in addition to >> CONFIG_DATA_ENVIRONMENT that is there now? > > I was wondering if we should unconditionally stuff GIT_DIR=<the > repository location for the submodule> in the cp.env_array passed to > the function prepare_submodule_repo_env(). As cp.dir will be set to > the submodule's working tree, there is no need to set GIT_WORK_TREE > and export it, I think, although it would not hurt. > > After all, we _are_ going into a separate and different project's > repository (that is what a submodule is), and we _know_ where its > repository data (i.e. GIT_DIR) and the location of its working tree > (i.e. GIT_WORK_TREE). There is no reason for the process that will > work in the submodule to go through the usual "do we have .git in > our $cwd that is a repository? if not how about the parent directory > of $cwd? go up until we find one and that directory is the top of > the working tree" discovery. > > More importantly, this matters when your GIT_DIR for the submodule > is somehow corrupt. The discovery process would say "there is .git > in $cwd but that is not a repository" and continue upwards, which > likely would find the repository for the top-level superproject, > which definitely is _not_ want you want to happen. And one way to > avoid it is to tell the setup.c code that it should not do the > discovery by being explicit. >