Re: [git subtree] documentation and new --squash mode

[Avery Pennarun <apenwarr@gmail.com>]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Sitaram Chamarty <sitaramc@gmail.com> wrote:
> As I understand the documentation (and past emails, snippets
> of IRC traffic, etc) git subtree will help me do precisely
> what I want -- a simple way to deal with this all-too-common
> SVN-ism.  If not "simple", at least
>
>  - simpler than submodules, and
>
>  - no need for advance planning [1] about what parts will
>    be subprojects.

Well, I don't know that I'd go so far as to advise against advance
planning :)  But git subtree does make it easy for you to change your
mind later, that much is true.

You might still have some troubles if you rename subdirectories a lot;
perhaps I don't understand it correctly, but the so-called file
move/rename detection in git doesn't seem to be implemented
everywhere. If you extract the history of a subdirectory that was
previously renamed, you'll get only the history since it was renamed.
(Which might be fine with you.  You can certainly still merge it back
in afterwards.)

Also, git-subtree might have bugs yet.  Watch out for that :)

> [1] I do understand filter-branch quite well, and I know that
> even without advance planning it is possible to separate a
> subdirectory into its own repo using filter-branch.  I don't
> fancy teaching *them* filter-branch, so that makes me
> personally central to their projects, which is not scalable
> at all.

git-subtree is certainly easier to use than filter-branch, IMHO.  Plus
it helps you merge things back in afterwards, which filter-branch
doesn't particularly.

Have fun,

Avery