Connect repos organized with Git Submodules

Repo organization can get complex real fast. Some people prefer to use Lerna, others use Yarn Workspaces. Some people use Git submodules. If that’s the case for a repo that you want GitStart to work on, you’ll be pleased to know we now support this,

GitStart now fully supports repos organized with Git Submodules, irrespective of their permissions or how you link these submodules, provided they are hosted on GitHub.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Automatic URL resolution: For relative URLs, Git will now automatically compute the submodule URL based on the parent repository’s URL, which already includes the necessary authentication details.

• SSH to HTTPS transition: When the submodule URL is in SSH format, we’ve implemented a Git config that automatically replaces it with an HTTPS URL. This enables us to use the current method of authentication through an HTTPS link, such as https://username:token@github.com/path/to/repo.

• Private submodules also supported: Our onboarding process is now fully compatible with private submodules linked via SSH. All you need to do is install our GitHub app in the submodule repository to ensure a smooth onboarding experience.

If your repository doesn’t contain any submodules, there will be no impact on your workflow.

Please note that our current implementation does not support ignoring folders/files within a submodule or ignoring a sub-submodule using the git slice config. If you find yourself in this situation, kindly reach out to our support team for assistance during signup.