State |
Dropped |
Date |
2008-04-09 |
Proposed by |
ct |
Use Git Submodules to organize the project
We planned this long time ago when the project started, this proposal is for to work out the details and define a turnover point in time.
Description
There is a git-filter-branch command which helps in doing the dirty work
isolating commits which touch certain dirs. This can moderately easily be used
to create a new repository with a rewritten history containing only sub parts
of the original history.
The basic idea is that one developer who wants to works on a certain subsystem clones the “official” master and then updates and tracks only the development state of a certain subsystem.
Tasks
-
what shall be in the master repository?
-
boilerplate files, license, build infrastructure
-
the admin dir with supplemental scripts
-
-
define which submodules shall be defined?
-
doc/devel
-
doc/user
-
wiki
-
uml
-
src/backend
-
src/proc
-
src/gui
-
src/lib
-
Not yet decided:
-
tests move them into the
"src/$subsystem"as symlink? -
src/tool
Pros
-
better isolation of single subprojects
-
one who is interested on one subproject can track a master and only following certain subproject updates
-
smaller/faster updates/downloads
Cons
-
needs some more Git-fu to be used by the developers
-
we will host considerably more Git repositories (bigger list in gitweb), this is not a problem but might look more confusing
Alternatives
Go as we do currently with one big repository per developer. The decision to use submodules is not urgend and it can be transfered at any time. The turnaround should just be planned and be scheduled to one day to minimize the confusion and merging issues.
Rationale
When all people get used to it it allows a cleaner more sane work flow and well isolated, less conflicting commits.
Conclusion: Dropped
The extended usage of Git Submodules for parts of the code base is not desirable.
Comments
We concluded that that submodules are not yet needed with exception for the ./doc folder. Parked for now.
- ct
-
2008-07-26 09:09:57
Git Submodules were a highly anticipated feature at the time when the Lumiera project started — yet the actual implementation was generally perceived as a disappointment, since the tooling failed to provide that kind of seamless integration into everyday Git usage as was desirable.
There remains one area however, where the Lumiera project might revisit the idea of using Submodules: our Website — which might become a portal to integrate several rather loosely coupled efforts eventually, notably the public front-end, including some images, a user documentation section, the technical documentation and possibly a knowledge base maintained separately.
- Ichthyostega
-
2025-09-25
Back to Lumiera Design Process overview