> +test_expect_success 'not writing gitmodules config file when it is not checked out' ' > + test_must_fail git -C super submodule--helper config submodule.submodule.url newurl This only checks the exit code, do we also want to check for test_path_is_missing .gitmodules ? > +test_expect_success 'initialising submodule when the gitmodules config is not checked out' ' > + git -C super submodule init > +' > + > +test_expect_success 'showing submodule summary when the gitmodules config is not checked out' ' > + git -C super submodule summary > +' Same for these, is the exit code enough, or do we want to look at specific things? > + > +test_expect_success 'updating submodule when the gitmodules config is not checked out' ' > + (cd submodule && > + echo file2 >file2 && > + git add file2 && > + git commit -m "add file2 to submodule" > + ) && > + git -C super submodule update git status would want to be clean afterwards?