Proposal: better library management ideas (was: how to checkout proper submodules)

[Ian Lynagh]

On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 12:54:38AM +0200, Daniel Trstenjak wrote:
> 
> > I guess [the merge commits] may not cause any actual problems,
> > but it's certainly nicer
> > not having them (which is what using submodules gives us).

Just to clarify, my problem isn't so much that there are merge commits
(although it would still be nicer if there weren't), but that it is hard
to see whether we are in the same state as upstream, or to see what the
differences between us and upstream are.

> I don't quite understand how you should get rid of these merge commits
> by using submodules,

With submodules we can do

    cd libraries/Cabal
    git reset --hard <an upstream commit id>
    cd ..
    git commit -a

and we will jump to that commit, without needing to merge it with the
commit that we were at before.

> You can get rid of these merge commit by using the '--rebase' option of git-pull.

We can't rebase, as these patches are in everyone else's GHC tree.


Thanks
Ian
-- 
Ian Lynagh, Haskell Consultant
Well-Typed LLP, http://www.well-typed.com/