Re: [PATCH v2 3/5] git-submodule.sh: Add Custom argument input support to git submodule recurse subcommand

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

imyousuf@gmail.com writes:

> From: Imran M Yousuf <imyousuf@smartitengineering.com>
>
> There is a scenario which has been put forward several times in
> discussion over the recurse subcommand and it is that commands chould have
> different arguments for different modules.
>
> For example, one module could want to checkout 'master', while another might want
> to checkout 'work'. The [-a|--customized-argument] argument provides platform
> just for that. Consider the following command and its followup for further info:
>
> 	git submodule recurse -a checkout
>
> 	Submodule b is not initialized and skipped
> 	git submodule recurse a checkout
> 	Please provide an argument: master
> 	Press y to provide another arg...
> 	git checkout master
> 	Already on branch "master"
> 	Submodule d is not initialized and skipped
> 	git submodule recurse . checkout
> 	Please provide an argument: master
> 	Press y to provide another arg...
> 	git checkout master
> 	Already on branch "master"

Is it only me who finds this UI (and the one 4/5 further introduces)
somewhat clumsy and extremely ugly?

I am almost tempted to suggest going to the extreme and spawn interactive
shell in each repository directory, like this:

    toplevel$ git submodule recurse -a
    (info) Submodule b is not initialized and skipped
    (info) git submodule recurse 'a'
    (info) we now give you a shell in that directory.  Do whatever you
    (info) like and type cntl-D (or "exit") once you are done.
    toplevel/a$ git checkout
    toplevel/a$ exit
    (info) Submodule d is not initialized and skipped
    (info) git submodule recurse '.'
    (info) we now give you a shell in that directory.  Do whatever you
    (info) like and type cntl-D (or "exit") once you are done.
    toplevel/.$ git checkout
    toplevel/.$ exit
    (info) git submodule recurse recursion ended.
    toplevel$

so that the users can do whatever they want there.

If we want a useful and flexible "recurse", perhaps the only thing we need
to do is a command that lists a submodule directory path, one path at a
time, in optionally different traversal order and depth cutoff, so that
the user can feed it to xargs and do whatever they want to run in there.