submodule update: add --remote for submodule's upstream changes

The current `update` command incorporates the superproject's gitlinked
SHA-1 ($sha1) into the submodule HEAD ($subsha1).  Depending on the
options you use, it may checkout $sha1, rebase the $subsha1 onto
$sha1, or merge $sha1 into $subsha1.  This helps you keep up with
changes in the upstream superproject.

However, it's also useful to stay up to date with changes in the
upstream subproject.  Previous workflows for incorporating such
changes include the ungainly:

  $ git submodule foreach 'git checkout $(git config --file $toplevel/.gitmodules submodule.$name.branch) && git pull'

With this patch, all of the useful functionality for incorporating
superproject changes can be reused to incorporate upstream subproject
updates.  When you specify --remote, the target $sha1 is replaced with
a $sha1 of the submodule's origin/master tracking branch.  If you want
to merge a different tracking branch, you can configure the
`submodule.<name>.branch` option in `.gitmodules`.  You can override
the `.gitmodules` configuration setting for a particular superproject
by configuring the option in that superproject's default configuration
(using the usual configuration hierarchy, e.g. `.git/config`,
`~/.gitconfig`, etc.).

Previous use of submodule.<name>.branch
=======================================

Because we're adding a new configuration option, it's a good idea to
check if anyone else is already using the option.  The foreach-pull
example above was described by Ævar in

  commit f030c96d8643fa0a1a9b2bd9c2f36a77721fb61f
  Author: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
  Date:   Fri May 21 16:10:10 2010 +0000

    git-submodule foreach: Add $toplevel variable

Gerrit uses the same interpretation for the setting, but because
Gerrit has direct access to the subproject repositories, it updates
the superproject repositories automatically when a subproject changes.
Gerrit also accepts the special value '.', which it expands into the
superproject's branch name.

Although the --remote functionality is using `submodule.<name>.branch`
slightly differently, the effect is the same.  The foreach-pull
example uses the option to record the name of the local branch to
checkout before pulls.  The tracking branch to be pulled is recorded
in `.git/modules/<name>/config`, which was initialized by the module
clone during `submodule add` or `submodule init`.  Because the branch
name stored in `submodule.<name>.branch` was likely the same as the
branch name used during the initial `submodule add`, the same branch
will be pulled in each workflow.

Implementation details
======================

In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, `update --remote`
fetches the submodule's remote repository before calculating the
SHA-1.  However, I didn't change the logic guarding the existing fetch:

  if test -z "$nofetch"
  then
    # Run fetch only if $sha1 isn't present or it
    # is not reachable from a ref.
    (clear_local_git_env; cd "$path" &&
      ( (rev=$(git rev-list -n 1 $sha1 --not --all 2>/dev/null) &&
       test -z "$rev") || git-fetch)) ||
    die "$(eval_gettext "Unable to fetch in submodule path '\$path'")"
  fi

There will not be a double-fetch, because the new $sha1 determined
after the `--remote` triggered fetch should always exist in the
repository.  If it doesn't, it's because some racy process removed it
from the submodule's repository and we *should* be re-fetching.

Signed-off-by: W. Trevor King <wking@tremily.us>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 22 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index b1de3bade7..8bf173a906 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	      [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
-'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
 	      [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
 'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
 	      [commit] [--] [<path>...]
@@ -236,6 +236,27 @@ OPTIONS
 	(the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
 	size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
 
+--remote::
+	This option is only valid for the update command.  Instead of using
+	the superproject's recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the
+	status of the submodule's remote tracking branch.  The remote used
+	is branch's remote (`branch.<name>.remote`), defaulting to `origin`.
+	The remote branch used defaults to `master`, but the branch name may
+	be overridden by setting the `submodule.<name>.branch` option in
+	either `.gitmodules` or `.git/config` (with `.git/config` taking
+	precedence).
++
+This works for any of the supported update procedures (`--checkout`,
+`--rebase`, etc.).  The only change is the source of the target SHA-1.
+For example, `submodule update --remote --merge` will merge upstream
+submodule changes into the submodules, while `submodule update
+--merge` will merge superproject gitlink changes into the submodules.
++
+In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, `update --remote`
+fetches the submodule's remote repository before calculating the
+SHA-1.  If you don't want to fetch, you should use `submodule update
+--remote --no-fetch`.
+
 -N::
 --no-fetch::
 	This option is only valid for the update command.