submodule init: warn about falling back to a local path

When a submodule is initialized, the config variable 'submodule.<name>.url'
is set depending on the value of the same variable in the .gitmodules
file. When the URL indicates to be relative, then the url is computed
relative to its default remote. The default remote cannot be determined
accurately in all cases, such that it falls back to 'origin'.

The 'origin' remote may not exist, though. In that case we give up looking
for a suitable remote and we'll just assume it to be a local relative path.

This can be confusing to users as there is a lot of guessing involved,
which is not obvious to the user.

So in the corner case of assuming a local autoritative truth, warn the
user to lessen the confusion.

This behavior was introduced in 4d6893200 (submodule add: allow relative
repository path even when no url is set, 2011-06-06), which shared the
code with submodule-init and then ported to C in 3604242f080a (submodule:
port init from shell to C, 2016-04-15).

In case of submodule-add, this behavior makes sense in some use cases[1],
however for submodule-init there does not seem to be an immediate obvious
use case to fall back to a local submodule. However there might be, so
warn instead of die here.

While adding the warning, also clarify the behavior of relative URLs in
the documentation.

[1] e.g. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8721984/git-ignore-files-for-public-repository-but-not-for-private
"store a secret locally in a submodule, with no intention to publish it"

Reported-by: Shawn Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
Signed-off-by: Stefan Beller <sbeller@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2 files changed
tree: 148ee12a2157dbbf66ca6ed3af85490e152195e5
  1. block-sha1/
  2. builtin/
  3. ci/
  4. compat/
  5. contrib/
  6. Documentation/
  7. ewah/
  8. git-gui/
  9. gitk-git/
  10. gitweb/
  11. mergetools/
  12. perl/
  13. po/
  14. ppc/
  15. refs/
  16. t/
  17. templates/
  18. vcs-svn/
  19. xdiff/
  20. .gitattributes
  21. .gitignore
  22. .mailmap
  23. .travis.yml
  24. abspath.c
  25. aclocal.m4
  26. advice.c
  27. advice.h
  28. alias.c
  29. alloc.c
  30. apply.c
  31. apply.h
  32. archive-tar.c
  33. archive-zip.c
  34. archive.c
  35. archive.h
  36. argv-array.c
  37. argv-array.h
  38. attr.c
  39. attr.h
  40. base85.c
  41. bisect.c
  42. bisect.h
  43. blob.c
  44. blob.h
  45. branch.c
  46. branch.h
  47. builtin.h
  48. bulk-checkin.c
  49. bulk-checkin.h
  50. bundle.c
  51. bundle.h
  52. cache-tree.c
  53. cache-tree.h
  54. cache.h
  55. check-builtins.sh
  56. check-racy.c
  57. check_bindir
  58. color.c
  59. color.h
  60. column.c
  61. column.h
  62. combine-diff.c
  63. command-list.txt
  64. commit-slab.h
  65. commit.c
  66. commit.h
  67. common-main.c
  68. config.c
  69. config.mak.in
  70. config.mak.uname
  71. configure.ac
  72. connect.c
  73. connect.h
  74. connected.c
  75. connected.h
  76. convert.c
  77. convert.h
  78. copy.c
  79. COPYING
  80. credential-cache--daemon.c
  81. credential-cache.c
  82. credential-store.c
  83. credential.c
  84. credential.h
  85. csum-file.c
  86. csum-file.h
  87. ctype.c
  88. daemon.c
  89. date.c
  90. decorate.c
  91. decorate.h
  92. delta.h
  93. diff-delta.c
  94. diff-lib.c
  95. diff-no-index.c
  96. diff.c
  97. diff.h
  98. diffcore-break.c
  99. diffcore-delta.c
  100. diffcore-order.c
  101. diffcore-pickaxe.c
  102. diffcore-rename.c
  103. diffcore.h
  104. dir-iterator.c
  105. dir-iterator.h
  106. dir.c
  107. dir.h
  108. editor.c
  109. entry.c
  110. environment.c
  111. exec_cmd.c
  112. exec_cmd.h
  113. fast-import.c
  114. fetch-pack.c
  115. fetch-pack.h
  116. fmt-merge-msg.h
  117. fsck.c
  118. fsck.h
  119. generate-cmdlist.sh
  120. gettext.c
  121. gettext.h
  122. git-add--interactive.perl
  123. git-archimport.perl
  124. git-bisect.sh
  125. git-compat-util.h
  126. git-cvsexportcommit.perl
  127. git-cvsimport.perl
  128. git-cvsserver.perl
  129. git-difftool--helper.sh
  130. git-filter-branch.sh
  131. git-instaweb.sh
  132. git-merge-octopus.sh
  133. git-merge-one-file.sh
  134. git-merge-resolve.sh
  135. git-mergetool--lib.sh
  136. git-mergetool.sh
  137. git-p4.py
  138. git-parse-remote.sh
  139. git-quiltimport.sh
  140. git-rebase--am.sh
  141. git-rebase--interactive.sh
  142. git-rebase--merge.sh
  143. git-rebase.sh
  144. git-remote-testgit.sh
  145. git-request-pull.sh
  146. git-send-email.perl
  147. git-sh-i18n.sh
  148. git-sh-setup.sh
  149. git-stash.sh
  150. git-submodule.sh
  151. git-svn.perl
  152. GIT-VERSION-GEN
  153. git-web--browse.sh
  154. git.c
  155. git.rc
  156. gpg-interface.c
  157. gpg-interface.h
  158. graph.c
  159. graph.h
  160. grep.c
  161. grep.h
  162. hashmap.c
  163. hashmap.h
  164. help.c
  165. help.h
  166. hex.c
  167. http-backend.c
  168. http-fetch.c
  169. http-push.c
  170. http-walker.c
  171. http.c
  172. http.h
  173. ident.c
  174. imap-send.c
  175. INSTALL
  176. iterator.h
  177. khash.h
  178. kwset.c
  179. kwset.h
  180. levenshtein.c
  181. levenshtein.h
  182. LGPL-2.1
  183. line-log.c
  184. line-log.h
  185. line-range.c
  186. line-range.h
  187. list-objects.c
  188. list-objects.h
  189. list.h
  190. ll-merge.c
  191. ll-merge.h
  192. lockfile.c
  193. lockfile.h
  194. log-tree.c
  195. log-tree.h
  196. mailinfo.c
  197. mailinfo.h
  198. mailmap.c
  199. mailmap.h
  200. Makefile
  201. match-trees.c
  202. merge-blobs.c
  203. merge-blobs.h
  204. merge-recursive.c
  205. merge-recursive.h
  206. merge.c
  207. mergesort.c
  208. mergesort.h
  209. mru.c
  210. mru.h
  211. name-hash.c
  212. notes-cache.c
  213. notes-cache.h
  214. notes-merge.c
  215. notes-merge.h
  216. notes-utils.c
  217. notes-utils.h
  218. notes.c
  219. notes.h
  220. object.c
  221. object.h
  222. pack-bitmap-write.c
  223. pack-bitmap.c
  224. pack-bitmap.h
  225. pack-check.c
  226. pack-objects.c
  227. pack-objects.h
  228. pack-revindex.c
  229. pack-revindex.h
  230. pack-write.c
  231. pack.h
  232. pager.c
  233. parse-options-cb.c
  234. parse-options.c
  235. parse-options.h
  236. patch-delta.c
  237. patch-ids.c
  238. patch-ids.h
  239. path.c
  240. pathspec.c
  241. pathspec.h
  242. pkt-line.c
  243. pkt-line.h
  244. preload-index.c
  245. pretty.c
  246. prio-queue.c
  247. prio-queue.h
  248. progress.c
  249. progress.h
  250. prompt.c
  251. prompt.h
  252. quote.c
  253. quote.h
  254. reachable.c
  255. reachable.h
  256. read-cache.c
  257. README.md
  258. ref-filter.c
  259. ref-filter.h
  260. reflog-walk.c
  261. reflog-walk.h
  262. refs.c
  263. refs.h
  264. remote-curl.c
  265. remote-testsvn.c
  266. remote.c
  267. remote.h
  268. replace_object.c
  269. rerere.c
  270. rerere.h
  271. resolve-undo.c
  272. resolve-undo.h
  273. revision.c
  274. revision.h
  275. run-command.c
  276. run-command.h
  277. send-pack.c
  278. send-pack.h
  279. sequencer.c
  280. sequencer.h
  281. server-info.c
  282. setup.c
  283. sh-i18n--envsubst.c
  284. sha1-array.c
  285. sha1-array.h
  286. sha1-lookup.c
  287. sha1-lookup.h
  288. sha1_file.c
  289. sha1_name.c
  290. shallow.c
  291. shell.c
  292. shortlog.h
  293. show-index.c
  294. sideband.c
  295. sideband.h
  296. sigchain.c
  297. sigchain.h
  298. split-index.c
  299. split-index.h
  300. strbuf.c
  301. strbuf.h
  302. streaming.c
  303. streaming.h
  304. string-list.c
  305. string-list.h
  306. submodule-config.c
  307. submodule-config.h
  308. submodule.c
  309. submodule.h
  310. symlinks.c
  311. tag.c
  312. tag.h
  313. tar.h
  314. tempfile.c
  315. tempfile.h
  316. thread-utils.c
  317. thread-utils.h
  318. tmp-objdir.c
  319. tmp-objdir.h
  320. trace.c
  321. trace.h
  322. trailer.c
  323. trailer.h
  324. transport-helper.c
  325. transport.c
  326. transport.h
  327. tree-diff.c
  328. tree-walk.c
  329. tree-walk.h
  330. tree.c
  331. tree.h
  332. unicode_width.h
  333. unimplemented.sh
  334. unix-socket.c
  335. unix-socket.h
  336. unpack-trees.c
  337. unpack-trees.h
  338. upload-pack.c
  339. url.c
  340. url.h
  341. urlmatch.c
  342. urlmatch.h
  343. usage.c
  344. userdiff.c
  345. userdiff.h
  346. utf8.c
  347. utf8.h
  348. varint.c
  349. varint.h
  350. version.c
  351. version.h
  352. versioncmp.c
  353. walker.c
  354. walker.h
  355. wildmatch.c
  356. wildmatch.h
  357. worktree.c
  358. worktree.h
  359. wrap-for-bin.sh
  360. wrapper.c
  361. write_or_die.c
  362. ws.c
  363. wt-status.c
  364. wt-status.h
  365. xdiff-interface.c
  366. xdiff-interface.h
  367. zlib.c
README.md

Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system

Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.

Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.

Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.

Many Git online resources are accessible from http://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.

See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and Documentation/git-.txt for documentation of each command. If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.

CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt (man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is installed).

The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission). To subscribe to the list, send an email with just “subscribe git” in the body to majordomo@vger.kernel.org. The mailing list archives are available at https://public-inbox.org/git, http://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.

The maintainer frequently sends the “What's cooking” reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.

The name “git” was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as “the stupid content tracker” and the name as (depending on your mood):

  • random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of “get” may or may not be relevant.
  • stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
  • “global information tracker”: you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
  • “goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t”: when it breaks