Re: [RFC PATCH] clone: Deprecate the --recursive option in favor of --recurse-submodules

Jens Lehmann [off-list ref] writes:

... For my first recursion patches a
few months ago I started with --recurse-submodules but then I noticed
that "git clone" already used "--recursive" for the same purpose, and
for consistency reasons I switched to using that too. But especially
when looking at recursive grep it is really easy to misinterpret
--recursive, so the idea came up to use --recurse-submodules everywhere.

Opinions?

I think it would make sense to _add_ --recurse-submodules to "clone" to
make everybody consistent.

With the introduction of --recurse-submodules option, the user can rest
assured that --recurse-submodules is understood by any command that knows
how to descend into submodules.  A command may have --recursive option (or
it may not), and when it does, the option may or may not mean descending
into submodules.  E.g. if "git ls-tree" learns long options, --recursive
would mean "recurse into subtrees" and you would say --no-recursive to
countermand.

As it does not make any sense to say "clone --no-recursive" to limit the
clone to the top-level directory, --recursive to "clone" would need to
mean "descend into subprojects".  So in that sense, "clone --recursive"
shares a similar degree of obviousness with "submodule --recursive".  I
thing it is too strong to _deprecate_ the option in the context of that
command.

Since 1.6.5 "git clone" honors the --recursive option to recursively check
out submodules too. As this option can easily be misinterpreted when it is
added to other commands like "git grep", add the new --recurse-submodules
option as an alias for --recursive so the same option can be used for all
commands recursing into submodules.

Signed-off-by: Jens Lehmann <redacted>
---

Am 03.11.2010 23:36, schrieb Junio C Hamano:

Jens Lehmann [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

... For my first recursion patches a
few months ago I started with --recurse-submodules but then I noticed
that "git clone" already used "--recursive" for the same purpose, and
for consistency reasons I switched to using that too. But especially
when looking at recursive grep it is really easy to misinterpret
--recursive, so the idea came up to use --recurse-submodules everywhere.

Opinions?

I think it would make sense to _add_ --recurse-submodules to "clone" to
make everybody consistent.
... I
thing it is too strong to _deprecate_ the option in the context of that
command.

Fine by me, then what about this patch?

And am I right to assume that there are no objections against using
--recurse-submodule for fetch, checkout & friends?


 Documentation/git-clone.txt |    4 +++-
 builtin/clone.c             |    2 ++
 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index ab72933..d69984b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt

@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
 	  [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
 	  [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
-	  [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
+	  [--depth <depth>] [--recursive|--recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
+	  [<directory>]

 DESCRIPTION
 -----------

@@ -167,6 +168,7 @@ objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
 	as patches.

 --recursive::
+--recurse-submodules::
 	After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 	using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 	`git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after

diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index 19ed640..61e0989 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c

@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ static struct option builtin_clone_options[] = {
 		    "setup as shared repository"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "recursive", &option_recursive,
 		    "initialize submodules in the clone"),
+	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "recurse_submodules", &option_recursive,
+		    "initialize submodules in the clone"),
 	OPT_STRING(0, "template", &option_template, "path",
 		   "path the template repository"),
 	OPT_STRING(0, "reference", &option_reference, "repo",

-- 
1.7.3.2.194.ge0b67