test folder should have been in a separate repository

Bitstreams/Sequences are (relatively) huge and shouldn't have been added to a source code repository.

A git pack already sizes at ~244MiB. And this will get much worse with updates/additions to the test folder. This is hugely wasteful and slow for builders/packagers.

If you must track these files in a git repository, they can be moved to a separate repository which can be added as a git submodule in this one if needed. If this is done, future shallow and partial clones of this repository will be much smaller at least.

Start by reviewing the test folder, especially its Bitstreams/Sequences, and measure how the current repository size affects shallow and partial clones. Define the separate repository and git submodule arrangement, with the test data no longer stored directly here and future builders or packagers able to avoid downloading it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.