git-commit-vandalism/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
Mark Levedahl ec05df353c git-submodule - make "submodule add" more strict, and document it
This change makes "submodule add" much more strict in the arguments it
takes, and is intended to address confusion as recently noted on the
git-list. With this change, the required syntax is:

	$ git submodule add URL path

Specifically, this eliminates the form

	$ git submodule add URL

which was confused by more than one person as

	$ git submodule add path

With this patch, the URL locating the submodule's origin repository can be
either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./ or ../) can express the
submodule's repository location relative to the superproject's origin.

This patch also eliminates a third form of URL, which was relative to the
superproject's top-level directory (not its repository).  Any URL that was
neither absolute nor matched ./*|../* was assumed to point to a
subdirectory of the superproject as the location of the submodule's origin
repository.  This URL form was confusing and does not seem to correspond
to an important use-case.  Specifically, no-one has identified the need to
clone from a repository already in the superproject's tree, but if this is
needed it is easily done using an absolute URL: $(pwd)/relative-path.  So,
no functionality is lost with this patch. (t6008-rev-list-submodule.sh did
rely upon this relative URL, fixed by using $(pwd).)

Following this change, there are exactly four variants of
submodule-add, as both arguments have two flavors:

URL can be absolute, or can begin with ./|../ and thus names the
submodule's origin relative to the superproject's origin.

Note: With this patch, "submodule add" discerns an absolute URL as
matching /*|*:*: e.g., URL begins with /, or it contains a :.  This works
for all valid URLs, an absolute path in POSIX, as well as an absolute path
on Windows).

path can either already exist as a valid git repo, or will be cloned from
the given URL.  The first form here eases creation of a new submodule in
an existing superproject as the submodule can be added and tested in-tree
before pushing to the public repository.  However, the more usual form is
the second, where the repo is cloned from the given URL.

This specifically addresses the issue of

	$ git submodule add a/b/c

attempting to clone from a repository at "a/b/c" to create a new module
in "c". This also simplifies description of "relative URL" as there is now
exactly *one* form: a URL relative to the parent's origin repo.

Signed-off-by: Mark Levedahl <mlevedahl@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2008-07-14 23:35:31 -07:00

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git-submodule(1)
================
NAME
----
git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [--] <repository> <path>
'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
COMMANDS
--------
add::
Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
to the changeset to be committed next to the current
project: the current project is termed termed the "superproject".
+
This requires two arguments: <repository> and <path>.
+
<repository> is the URL of the new submodule's origin repository.
This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./
or ../), the location relative to the superproject's origin
repository.
+
<path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to
exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist, then the
submodule is created by cloning from the named URL. If <path> does
exist and is already a valid git repository, then this is added
to the changeset without cloning. This second form is provided
to ease creating a new submodule from scratch, and presumes
the user will later push the submodule to the given URL.
+
In either case, the given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for
use by subsequent users cloning the superproject. If the URL is
given relative to the superproject's repository, the presumption
is the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
together in the same relative location, and only the
superproject's URL need be provided: git-submodule will correctly
locate the submodule using the relative URL in .gitmodules.
status::
Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
submodule path and the output of 'git-describe' for the
SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is not
initialized and `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
repository. This command is the default command for 'git-submodule'.
init::
Initialize the submodules, i.e. register in .git/config each submodule
name and url found in .gitmodules. The key used in .git/config is
`submodule.$name.url`. This command does not alter existing information
in .git/config.
update::
Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
This will make the submodules HEAD be detached.
+
If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
submodule with the --init option.
summary::
Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
in the submodule between the given super project commit and the
index or working tree (switched by --cached) are shown.
OPTIONS
-------
-q::
--quiet::
Only print error messages.
-b::
--branch::
Branch of repository to add as submodule.
--cached::
This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
-n::
--summary-limit::
This option is only valid for the summary command.
Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
(the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
<path>::
Path to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
(This argument is required with add).
FILES
-----
When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level directory
of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
for details.
AUTHOR
------
Written by Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com>
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite