From: Paulius Zaleckas <paulius.zaleckas@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Paulius Zaleckas <paulius.zaleckas@gmail.com>,
Jonathan Tan <jonathantanmy@fastmail.com>,
Elijah Newren <newren@gmail.com>, Glen Choo <glencbz@gmail.com>,
Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>,
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 1/2] submodule: fix premature failure in recursive submodule fetch
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2026 15:26:52 +0300 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260710122655.3066377-2-paulius.zaleckas@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260710122655.3066377-1-paulius.zaleckas@gmail.com>
When git fetch --recurse-submodules encounters a failure fetching a
submodule's refs (phase 1), it immediately marks the overall operation
as failed, even though a subsequent OID-based fetch (phase 2) is about
to be attempted for any missing commits. If phase 2 succeeds, the
overall result should be success, but the prematurely set failure flag
makes it look like an error.
Restructure fetch_finish() so that a phase-1 failure does not record an
error immediately. Instead, the decision is deferred:
- If missing commits trigger a phase-2 (OID-based) retry and that
retry succeeds, no error is recorded.
- If the phase-2 retry also fails, the error is recorded then.
- If the submodule was fetched unconditionally (RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON)
and is not in the changed list, a phase-1 failure is recorded right
away since there is no OID retry to fall back on.
- If phase 1 fails but all required commits are already present
locally, there is no retry to defer to; the failure is still
recorded, since the fetch itself went wrong (e.g. a transport
error) even though the wanted commits happen to be available.
This resolves the NEEDSWORK comment added by bd5e567dc7 (submodule:
explain first attempt failure clearly, 2019-03-13).
Extract the common error-recording logic into a helper
record_fetch_error() and use it in fetch_start_failure() and for the
"Could not access submodule" error in get_fetch_task_from_index() as
well; the latter now also lists the submodule in the final error
summary.
Add a test ensuring a failed submodule fetch is still reported when
the gitlinked commits happen to be present locally.
Signed-off-by: Paulius Zaleckas <paulius.zaleckas@gmail.com>
---
submodule.c | 52 +++++++++++++++++++--------
t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 110 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index fd91201a92..8bcef68a42 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -1562,6 +1562,13 @@ static struct fetch_task *fetch_task_create(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf
return NULL;
}
+static void record_fetch_error(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
+ const char *name)
+{
+ spf->result = 1;
+ strbuf_addf(&spf->submodules_with_errors, "\t%s\n", name);
+}
+
static struct fetch_task *
get_fetch_task_from_index(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
struct strbuf *err)
@@ -1599,7 +1606,7 @@ get_fetch_task_from_index(struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf,
ce->name);
if (S_ISGITLINK(ce->ce_mode) &&
!is_empty_dir(empty_submodule_path.buf)) {
- spf->result = 1;
+ record_fetch_error(spf, ce->name);
strbuf_addf(err,
_("Could not access submodule '%s'\n"),
ce->name);
@@ -1753,7 +1760,7 @@ static int fetch_start_failure(struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
struct submodule_parallel_fetch *spf = cb;
struct fetch_task *task = task_cb;
- spf->result = 1;
+ record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
fetch_task_free(task);
return 0;
@@ -1779,18 +1786,12 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
if (!task || !task->sub)
BUG("callback cookie bogus");
- if (retvalue) {
+ if (retvalue && task->commits) {
/*
- * NEEDSWORK: This indicates that the overall fetch
- * failed, even though there may be a subsequent fetch
- * by commit hash that might work. It may be a good
- * idea to not indicate failure in this case, and only
- * indicate failure if the subsequent fetch fails.
+ * This is the second pass (OID-based fetch) and it failed.
+ * The commits are genuinely unavailable from the remote.
*/
- spf->result = 1;
-
- strbuf_addf(&spf->submodules_with_errors, "\t%s\n",
- task->sub->name);
+ record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
}
/* Is this the second time we process this submodule? */
@@ -1798,9 +1799,17 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
goto out;
it = string_list_lookup(&spf->changed_submodule_names, task->sub->name);
- if (!it)
- /* Could be an unchanged submodule, not contained in the list */
+ if (!it) {
+ /*
+ * This submodule is not in the changed list (e.g. it was
+ * fetched because RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON fetches all populated
+ * submodules). A phase 1 failure here has no OID-based retry
+ * to fall back on, so it is a genuine error.
+ */
+ if (retvalue)
+ record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
goto out;
+ }
cs_data = it->util;
oid_array_filter(&cs_data->new_commits,
@@ -1809,6 +1818,11 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
/* Are there commits we want, but do not exist? */
if (cs_data->new_commits.nr) {
+ /*
+ * Schedule an OID-based phase 2 fetch to retrieve the missing
+ * commits directly. Defer any error from phase 1: if phase 2
+ * succeeds, the overall operation should still succeed.
+ */
task->commits = &cs_data->new_commits;
ALLOC_GROW(spf->oid_fetch_tasks,
spf->oid_fetch_tasks_nr + 1,
@@ -1818,6 +1832,16 @@ static int fetch_finish(int retvalue, struct strbuf *err UNUSED,
return 0;
}
+ /*
+ * All required commits are already present locally (they were either
+ * fetched by phase 1 or existed beforehand), so there is no phase 2
+ * retry to defer to. If phase 1 failed, the fetch itself went wrong
+ * (e.g. a transport error) and must still be reported, even though
+ * the gitlinked commits are available.
+ */
+ if (retvalue)
+ record_fetch_error(spf, task->sub->name);
+
out:
fetch_task_free(task);
return 0;
diff --git a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
index 1242ee9185..188c674c89 100755
--- a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
+++ b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
@@ -1262,4 +1262,76 @@ test_expect_success "fetch --all with --no-recurse-submodules only fetches super
! grep "Fetching submodule" fetch-log
'
+# Create an isolated environment for submodule fetch error tests.
+#
+# Sets up sub_bare (the submodule upstream), super_bare (the superproject
+# upstream), super_work (a working clone of super_bare with an initialized
+# submodule), and clone (a clone of super_bare with an initialized submodule
+# at a reachable commit). The caller can then create an unreachable commit
+# and push the superproject to put the clone one commit behind a state it
+# cannot fully fetch.
+#
+# Usage: create_err_env <envdir>
+create_err_env () {
+ local envdir="$1" &&
+ mkdir "$envdir" &&
+
+ git init --bare "$envdir/sub_bare" &&
+ git clone "$envdir/sub_bare" "$envdir/sub_work" &&
+ test_commit -C "$envdir/sub_work" "${envdir}_base" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/sub_work" push &&
+
+ git init --bare "$envdir/super_bare" &&
+ git clone "$envdir/super_bare" "$envdir/super_work" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" submodule add \
+ "$pwd/$envdir/sub_bare" sub &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" commit -m "add submodule" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" push &&
+
+ git clone "$envdir/super_bare" "$envdir/clone" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/clone" submodule update --init
+}
+
+# Push a commit to <envdir>/super_bare that records a submodule SHA that is
+# present locally in super_work/sub but NOT pushed to sub_bare, making the
+# submodule commit unreachable from clone's sub remote.
+push_unreachable_commit () {
+ local envdir="$1" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work/sub" commit --allow-empty -m "unreachable" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" add sub &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" commit -m "point sub to unreachable commit" &&
+ git -C "$envdir/super_work" push
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'setup for submodule fetch error tests' '
+ git config --global protocol.file.allow always
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'failed submodule fetch is fatal even when its commits are present locally' '
+ # Create the same commit (unreferenced, via commit-tree with fixed
+ # dates) in both super_work/sub and clone/sub, point the gitlink at
+ # it, and break clone/sub'\''s remote. The commit exists in clone/sub
+ # but is unreachable, so the submodule stays in the changed list; the
+ # fetch failure must still be reported even though there is nothing
+ # left to fetch by commit hash.
+ test_when_finished "rm -fr env_phase1" &&
+ create_err_env env_phase1 &&
+ commit=$(GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+ git -C env_phase1/super_work/sub commit-tree \
+ "HEAD^{tree}" -p HEAD -m present) &&
+ present=$(GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+ GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="1234567890 +0000" \
+ git -C env_phase1/clone/sub commit-tree \
+ "HEAD^{tree}" -p HEAD -m present) &&
+ test "$commit" = "$present" &&
+ git -C env_phase1/super_work/sub checkout "$commit" &&
+ git -C env_phase1/super_work add sub &&
+ git -C env_phase1/super_work commit -m "gitlink to locally-present commit" &&
+ git -C env_phase1/super_work push &&
+ git -C env_phase1/clone/sub remote set-url origin "$pwd/env_phase1/missing" &&
+ test_must_fail git -C env_phase1/clone fetch --recurse-submodules 2>err &&
+ grep "Errors during submodule fetch" err
+'
+
test_done
--
2.54.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-07-10 12:27 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-07-10 12:26 [PATCH v3 0/2] fetch: make submodule fetch errors configurable Paulius Zaleckas
2026-07-10 12:26 ` Paulius Zaleckas [this message]
2026-07-10 12:26 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] fetch: add fetch.submoduleErrors to make submodule fetch errors non-fatal Paulius Zaleckas
2026-07-10 22:21 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-07-14 13:29 ` Paulius Zaleckas
2026-07-14 13:29 ` [PATCH v4 0/2] fetch: make submodule fetch errors configurable Paulius Zaleckas
2026-07-14 13:29 ` [PATCH v4 1/2] submodule: fix premature failure in recursive submodule fetch Paulius Zaleckas
2026-07-14 13:29 ` [PATCH v4 2/2] fetch: add fetch.submoduleErrors to make submodule fetch errors non-fatal Paulius Zaleckas
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