git submodules - 错误：无法锁定配置文件 .git/modules/path/to/vimlib/config：没有这样的文件或目录

Question

This is a weird one. I created a repo years ago: https://github.com/todd-dsm/vimSimple

I used submodules at the time; thought it was a good idea; it's been a PITA since then. I now need to update some of those submodules and I get this error on every single one

% git submodule deinit -f vim/bundle/tlib_vim 
Cleared directory 'vim/bundle/tlib_vim'
error: could not lock config file .git/modules/vim/bundle/tlib_vim/config: No such file or directory
warning: Could not unset core.worktree setting in submodule 'vim/bundle/tlib_vim'

It doesn't matter which submodule I choose, it's the same error as there is no 'modules' directory:

% ls -al .git/modules
ls: cannot access '.git/modules': No such file or directory

Effectively, I've created an 'updates' branch, deleted some submodules:

othree/html5.vim.git
rodjek/vim-puppet.git
rodjek/puppet-lint.git
pearofducks/ansible-vim
python-mode/python-mode
elzr/vim-json
hashivim/vim-hashicorp-tools

Now, I need to update the remaining submodules:

% git config --file .gitmodules --name-only --get-regexp path                      
submodule.vim/bundle/syntastic.path
submodule.vim/bundle/tlib_vim.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-addon-mw-utils.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-fugitive.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-snipmate.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-snippets.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-lint.path
submodule.vim/bundle/Dockerfile.path
submodule.vim/bundle/L9.path
submodule.vim/bundle/vim-autocomplpop.path

It seems like it used to work one way and now, years later, it works another. Is there any way out of this? How would one solve this problem?

Answer 1

It seems like it used to work one way and now, years later, it works another.

Yes, since Git 1.7.8 , the submodule is in $GIT_DIR/modules/<name>/ (that is .git/modules/<name> usually), and no longer in the submodule folder itself ( <name>/.git ).

Check if your own submodules were created pre 1.7.8 (meaning before Q3 2011, eleven years ago).

If so, the git submodule deinit would not be efficient, and simply removing your submodule root folder should be enough (as well as updating manually the .gitmodules file of your main repository).

From there, you can add those submodules back, using a recent Git.