Every once in a while someone complains to the mailing list to have run into this weird assertion[1]. The usual response from the mailing list is link to old discussions[2], and acknowledging the problem stating it is known. For now just improve the user visible error message. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=item-%3Enowildcard_len [2] http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/assert-failed-in-submodule-edge-case-td7628687.html https://www.spinics.net/lists/git/msg249473.html Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@xxxxxxxxxx> --- If you were following the mailing list closely today, you may sense that I am cleaning up stalled branches. :) I think such a hot fix is warranted given how often we had reports on the mailing list. Thanks, Stefan pathspec.c | 7 +++++-- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/pathspec.c b/pathspec.c index 22ca74a126..d522f43331 100644 --- a/pathspec.c +++ b/pathspec.c @@ -313,8 +313,11 @@ static unsigned prefix_pathspec(struct pathspec_item *item, } /* sanity checks, pathspec matchers assume these are sane */ - assert(item->nowildcard_len <= item->len && - item->prefix <= item->len); + if (item->nowildcard_len <= item->len && + item->prefix <= item->len) + die (_("Path leads inside submodule '%s', but the submodule " + "was not recognized, i.e. not initialized or deleted"), + ce->name); return magic; } -- 2.11.0.196.gee862f456e.dirty