On Fri, Mar 9, 2018 at 7:07 AM Andreas Krey <a.krey@xxxxxx> wrote: > Hi everyone, > I've been reading up on the current state of git submodules > (our customer's customers want to use them, causing a slight > groan from our customer). > The usability thing I wonder about - with git submodule update, > is it necessary to detach the head to the current (or upstream) > head, instead of resetting the current branch to that state? Try "git checkout --recurse-submodules" or "git reset --recurse-submodules" (there is also the submodule.recurse option in case you don't want to type the option all the time) > Primary interest in the question: Seeing 'detached head' scares > almost everybody. To brainstorm: I agree on that. That is what we are trying to work out eventually, too. One idea is to "reattach the submodule branch if it fits" another idea would be a submodule ref store that is (partially) tied to the superproject, such that the HEAD of the submodule is non-existent for most of the time. https://public-inbox.org/git/cover.1512168087.git.jonathantanmy@xxxxxxxxxx/ > - as we can already use 'submodule update --remote' to update > to the remote head of a branch, it would be logical to have > that branch checked out locally (and unfortunately, potentially > have that branch's name conflict with the remote branch setup). > - when developers more or less accidentally commit on the detached > head, all is not lost yet (I remember this being differently), > but if the next 'submodule update' just resets again, the commit > just made is still dropped, just as in the detached head state. > - So, we'd need to have 'submodule update' act closer to the pull or > rebase counterparts and refuse to just lose commits (or uncommitted > changes). > Having a checked-out branch in the submodule would have the advantage > that I can 'just' push local commits. At the moment, doing that requires > a relatively intricate dance, not at all similar to working in the > base (parent) module. > I'm working on hooks that automatically update the submodules after > a commit change (merge, pull, checkout) in the parent module, but > with the additional feature of (a) keeping a branch checked out > and (b) avoid discarding local changes. Probably means I shouldn't > invoke 'submodule update' at all, and deal with everyting myself. > Any thoughs/comments/helpful hints? Our plan is to deprecate "git submodule" just like "git remote" is not a well known tool any more. (e.g. Instead of git remote update, use git fetch, that learned about updating the remote tracking branches on its own) > (Addional complexity: egit/jgit is in use as well, and the work model > we will arrive at probabaly needs to work with the current egit.) That sounds familiar, we also have JGit/Gerrit in the setup. Stefan
