Issue: Nest a git repo in a git repo WITHOUT storing the second repo in the hosts master repo. The repos need to be two separate entity’s. This way I can easily update a client sites base code (used on multiple sites).
Reason for two repos: I have a base php framework that my projects use. Each client gets their own repo that has the files required for that site. Due to the way git/submodules work I have to keep the “framework” as the master repo with the “clients code” as the submodule. The reason is I MUST have the index.php & .htaccess (part of the framework) in the root. That’s fine since my framework is designed to extend as needed. I can just put any client files I need in the “site” folder and store that as a separate repo. The obvious downside is in order to setup the site you have to first install the “framework repo” then install the “client repo”. Since these are private this setup is fine. I also liked the benefit of being able to update my framework from another project. Trouble is now any push’s I do from that clone include the “client code”. Also since I need the same setup for my local test of the framework that submodule gets added back to the main framework repo. I thought well why not just clone the “site” folder that holds the “client code” and add that folder to the ignore list. I have to update each by hand but again thats fine. However torisegit seems to think that its now a subproject (limited support) and I cant even add that folder to the ignore list. So i’m assuming nesting git clones is bad but I could be doing it wrong.
Goal: I need to be able to deploy two repos. My “framework” im sure has to be the base/root repo. Then I need to embed somehow a second “client” repo in a folder inside the base repo. The “client” repo never stores the framework code, just its own code. I want to be able to update and push changes to the “framework code” (its alpha so lots of bug fixes) without it storing anything about the “client code” so I can easly just clone it into a new folder for a new site. Again client code is stored in a single folder one level up from the frameworks root. (See example below). Doing this as a git clone breaks TortoiseGit and possibly git when I try to copy paste a folder and even add it by hand to the ignore file. Adding it as a submodules adds it to the master repo so when I clone it trys to add it.
Final Thoughts: Perhaps subprojects would work but there does not seem to be much support for it and I dont understand how to use it. Im trying to keep it to major tools so that my two main tools TortoiseGit and NetBeans support everything. Perhaps there is a way to not store a submodule in the master repo but I cant find it. Maybe subfolders would work but again there does not seem to be much support for it. Seems like the simplest would be it just ignore the folder but at least TortoiseGit seems to break when I try this but I could be doing it wrong.
Example Folder Layout:
-.git (framework repo) - system *framework folder -- foo *framework folder -- bar *framework folder - site (root for second repo aka client) -- .git (client repo) -- config.php *client file - index.php *framework file - .htaccess *framework file
The “system” folder, index.php and .htaccess are part of the PHP framework and are generic to all my sites. The “site” folder holds the second repo that contains the files for that site. The second option is to rewrite my framework so that its stored in its own folder and gets called by a new index.php. However this is a major rewrite with a pathing nightmare do to the way its written. Plus the issue of dealing with the .htaccess file since that has to be in the root. Sure I could copy it but then any changes to that file would not get updated in a pull. But at this point i think its the only way.
Hope this makes sense. I’m out of ideas but really want to get this to work.
You can always just clone the second repository where ever inside the first you like, then add the second’s folder to your
.gitignorefile.In your example above, you’d just add:
to your
.gitignore.