submodule: Fix documentation of update subcommand

The documentation of 'git submodule update' has several problems:

1) It says that submodule.$name.update can be overridden by --checkout
   only if its value is `none`. This is not true, because both
   implementation and documentation of --checkout specifies that the
   override applies to all possible values.

2) The documentation of submodule.$name.update key is scattered across
   three places, which is confusing.

3) The documentation of submodule.$name.update in gitmodules.txt is
   incorrect, because the code always uses the value from .git/config
   and never from .gitmodules.

This patch fixes all three problems. Now, submodule.$name.update is
fully documented in config.txt and the other files just refer to it.
This is based on discussion between myself, Junio C Hamano and Jens
Lehmann.

Signed-off-by: Michal Sojka <sojkam1@fel.cvut.cz>

diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index ae6791db128130080915bf127cfa66b850921f43..f30cbbc4946d8c6606a9e38bb72e3f1ef78bdb25 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -2411,12 +2411,29 @@ status.submodulesummary::
 
 submodule.<name>.path::
 submodule.<name>.url::
+       The path within this project and URL for a submodule. These
+       variables are initially populated by 'git submodule init';
+       edit them to override the URL and other values found in the
+       `.gitmodules` file. See linkgit:git-submodule[1] and
+       linkgit:gitmodules[5] for details.
+
 submodule.<name>.update::
-       The path within this project, URL, and the updating strategy
-       for a submodule.  These variables are initially populated
-       by 'git submodule init'; edit them to override the
-       URL and other values found in the `.gitmodules` file.  See
-       linkgit:git-submodule[1] and linkgit:gitmodules[5] for details.
+       The default updating strategy for a submodule, used by `git
+       submodule update`. This variable is populated by `git
+       submodule init` from linkgit:gitmodules[5].
+
+       If the value is 'checkout' (the default), the new commit
+       specified in the superproject will be checked out in the
+       submodule on a detached HEAD.
+       If 'rebase', the current branch of the submodule will be
+       rebased onto the commit specified in the superproject.
+       If 'merge', the commit specified in the superproject will be
+       merged into the current branch in the submodule. If 'none',
+       the submodule with name `$name` will not be updated by
+       default.
+       If the value is of form '!command', it will cause `command` to
+       be run. `command` can be any arbitrary shell command that
+       takes a single argument, namely the sha1 to update to.
 
 submodule.<name>.branch::
        The remote branch name for a submodule, used by `git submodule

diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index 8e6af65da0e0f234315c42391a8bab42fc39abb6..c92908e262c59552736a887627b0a9cb2f4d8fbd 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -154,14 +154,13 @@ If `--force` is specified, the submodule's work tree will be removed even if
 it contains local modifications.
 
 update::
-       Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
-       checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
-       This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless `--rebase` or
-       `--merge` is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
-       `rebase`, `merge` or `none`. `none` can be overridden by specifying
-       `--checkout`. Setting the key `submodule.$name.update` to `!command`
-       will cause `command` to be run. `command` can be any arbitrary shell
-       command that takes a single argument, namely the sha1 to update to.
+       Update the registered submodules to match what the superproject
+       expects by cloning missing submodules and updating the working
+       tree of the submodules. The "updating" can take various forms
+       and can be configured in .git/config by the
+       `submodule.$name.update` key or by explicitely giving one of
+       '--checkout' (the default), '--merge' or '--rebase' options. See
+       linkgit:git-config[1] for details.
 +
 If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
 setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
@@ -302,7 +301,7 @@ the submodule itself.
        Checkout the commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD
        in the submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of
        this option is to override `submodule.$name.update` when set to
-       `merge`, `rebase` or `none`.
+       other value than `checkout`.
        If the key `submodule.$name.update` is either not explicitly set or
        set to `checkout`, this option is implicit.
 

diff --git a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
index f6c0dfd0290a9b2174c645630998d2a62cdb9f5e..59efbfe8ae1d76a24e2f81f26cbee97738e124ce 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitmodules.txt
@@ -38,18 +38,12 @@ submodule.<name>.url::
 In addition, there are a number of optional keys:
 
 submodule.<name>.update::
-       Defines what to do when the submodule is updated by the superproject.
-       If 'checkout' (the default), the new commit specified in the
-       superproject will be checked out in the submodule on a detached HEAD.
-       If 'rebase', the current branch of the submodule will be rebased onto
-       the commit specified in the superproject. If 'merge', the commit
-       specified in the superproject will be merged into the current branch
-       in the submodule.
-       If 'none', the submodule with name `$name` will not be updated
-       by default.
-
-       This config option is overridden if 'git submodule update' is given
-       the '--merge', '--rebase' or '--checkout' options.
+       Defines what to do when the submodule is updated by the
+       superproject. This is only used by `git submodule init` to
+       initialize the variable of the same name in .git/config.
+       Allowed values here are 'checkout', 'rebase', 'merge' or
+       'none'. See linkgit:git-config[1] for their meaning and other
+       values that can be configured manually by users.
 
 submodule.<name>.branch::
        A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.