NixOS / NixOS/hydra

nix-prefetch-git handles submodules different from github

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Dominant language
PLpgSQL
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Description

ive stumbled upon a case where hydra was fetching a 1gig submodule, on every eval, bloating the store

but when checking on github, it claimed no submodule existed at that dir

i later found that the .gitmodules file was still present, but the git rev in the tree was missing, so the submodule was partially deleted

it may be of use to compare how git, nix-prefetch-git, and github treat this situation, and see where exactly the bug is

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported case with a repository whose .gitmodules file remains while the submodule git revision is missing from the tree. Compare Git, nix-prefetch-git, and GitHub for how they handle that state; done means identifying where their behavior diverges and locating the bug in nix-prefetch-git or Hydra.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
git, github
Domain
build-system, ci-cd
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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