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From:   <rsbecker@nexbridge.com>
To:     "'Glen Choo'" <chooglen@google.com>, <git@vger.kernel.org>
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Subject: RE: [RFC] Branches with --recurse-submodules
Date:   Wed, 10 Nov 2021 15:25:27 -0500
Organization: Nexbridge Inc.
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On November 10, 2021 2:35 PM, Glen Choo wrote:
> 
> Overall, I think your workflow is not too dissimilar to the UX we are proposing
> :)
> 
> <rsbecker@nexbridge.com> writes:
> 
> > 4. If working on the submodule, use a branch, not a commit - typically off
> main.
> 
> With the proposed UX, step (4) would happen automatically when using
> "branch --recurse-submodules". Users would get a safer and more
> convenient default.

I think this might be more reliably done using a switch in .gitconfig to enable the capabilities. Perhaps something like:

submodule.fetch-branches=true

> > What I could see as a possible improvement is to add the branch ref to the
> submodule ref file - not replacing the commit but adding to it. I do worry that
> there are unintended (unforeseen) side-effects that will result from this,
> however, including potential merge conflicts. Two people working on the
> same commit but different branches may mess the ref file, so not really a
> good idea.
> 
> It's an interesting idea, but as you noted, it is quite thorny. I would also like to
> see more information being captured by the superproject tree (instead of
> just .gitmodules), but I'm also not sure how we might do that.

I'm suggesting this instead of a command-line option because this seems more like a policy-based process that you would either always want or never want. I would not like to depend on a developer making the call each time a clone occurred. I'm sad to admit that I don't really know where to start on this enhancement, though, even if approved.
-Randall