Re: [PATCH] submodule documentation: Reorder introductory paragraphs

On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 10:53:15AM -0700, Stefan Beller wrote:

On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 3:00 PM, Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

Stefan Beller [off-list ref] writes:
On the other hand, I probably would not have felt such a strong
"strangeness" if it were described like this:

    This command can help you inspect, update, and manage
    submodules.

I haven't analized it enough to say why it is, but I suspect it has
something to do with (my own) perception that "git submodule" is not
very essential to do any of these things (i.e. .gitmodules is a very
simple text file), but is primarily a helpful wrapper.

My perception is that the submodule man page similar to the subtree
man page tries to explain an underlying concept as well. The other man
pages you quoted don't do that as the concepts are explained elsewhere(?)

As a side note: In the Gerrit test suite I use the JGit implementation of
the config command to write out .gitmodules files. So maybe `git submodule`
can be understood as a specialized form of `git config`.

I do not agree here. That view is too limited. Since in the case of e.g. 'git
submodule add‘ it does not only change the .gitmodules file but adds a gitlink
entry to the index, moves the database into .git/modules, ... .

And even though it is currently not doing much more it might in the
future. E.g. it might make sense to add a 'git submodule gc' command
which allows the user to purge unused submodule databases from the
.git/modules directory.

So I would say it is: "a helper" or "a tool" for submodules. Nothing less
nothing more. But on the other hand the same is true for other porcelain
commands like e.g. 'git commit'. If you take a look at gitcore-tutorial
you could also describe it as a wrapper for write-tree, commit-tree and
update-ref to create a commit. Yet the man page says: "Record changes to
the repository".

So I am not sure where to draw the line between wrapper and essential
command. As a user I would see it as quite essential since for adding a
submodule I would need to remember a couple of things:

  * clone the database into .git/modules
  * create the gitlink file
  * checkout the files to the desired directory
  * add the url to the .gitmodules file

So why not go with Junios first suggestion and lets drop the "This
command can help you..." and say: "Inspect, update and manage
submodules".

Cheers Heiko