Re: [PATCH/RFC v2] git-submodule: multi-level module definition

Ping Yin [off-list ref] writes:

This patch allows multi-level module definition in .gitmodules as
Linus and Sven Verdoolaege etc. have suggested in mails
"Let .git/config specify the url for submodules"
(http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/48939).

Following shows an example of such a .gitmodules.

.gitmodules with with multiple level of indirection
------------------------------------------------------
[submodule "service"]
   submodule = crawler
   submodule = search
...
[submodule "util"]
   url = git://xyzzy/util.git
[submodule "imsearch"]
   path = search/imsearch
   url = git://xyzzy/imsearch.git
[submodule "imcrawler"]
   path = crawler/imcrawter
   url = git://xyzzy/imcrawter.git
------------------------------------------------------

I would agree that allowing the user to use a short-hand to name a group
of modules the user is interested in would be a good idea, but I think
.gitmodules is a wrong place to do so.  The grouping is a user preference,
isn't it?

The place the owner of the repository (not the project) expresses which
modules are of interest, what transports she wants to use to access it,
etc. is $GIT_DIR/config, and .gitmodules is a vehicle to supply hints to
be used when the user populates that information.