Re: [PATCH 18/19] submodule: use submodule repos for object lookup

@@ -482,14 +483,46 @@ void prepare_submodule_repo_env(struct argv_array *out)
  			 DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT);
  }
  
-/* Helper function to display the submodule header line prior to the full
- * summary output. If it can locate the submodule objects directory it will
- * attempt to lookup both the left and right commits and put them into the
- * left and right pointers.
+/*
+ * Initialize 'out' based on the provided submodule path.
+ *
+ * Unlike repo_submodule_init, this tolerates submodules not present
+ * in .gitmodules. This function exists only to preserve historical behavior,
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success, -1 when the submodule is not present.
+ */
+static int open_submodule(struct repository *out, const char *path)
+{
+	struct strbuf sb = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	if (submodule_to_gitdir(&sb, path) || repo_init(out, sb.buf, NULL)) {
+		strbuf_release(&sb);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	out->submodule_prefix = xstrdup(path);
+	out->submodule_prefix = xstrfmt("%s%s/",
+					the_repository->submodule_prefix ?
+					the_repository->submodule_prefix :
+					"", path);
+
+	strbuf_release(&sb);
+	return 0;
+}