Re: [PATCH] bootstrap: When a commit hash is specified, do a shallow fetch if possible

[Simon Josefsson]

Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org> writes:

>> > Also, I would expect that the GNULIB_REVISION environment variable is not
>> > so frequently used, and that the more frequent use is with git submodules.
>> > Is it possible to apply the same trick to the git submodules case? Or does
>> > the use of submodules always require a deep clone?
>> 
>> Honestly, I don't have much experience with or knowledge of submodules,
>> so I don't feel I can provide a good answer. I suspect that the answer
>> is that this trick can be used. I've not looked in to it because the
>> project that I'm working on does not use gnulib as a git submodule.
>
> OK, then let's leave that part to the next person who actually observes
> the issue in a context with submodules.

I have noticed that fetching the gnulib git submodule is painfully slow
via ./bootstrap on GitLab CI/CD builds -- but I've recently realized
that I can ask GitLab CI/CD to check out submodules for me by using the
following in .gitlab-ci.yml:

variables:
  GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: normal

Then ./bootstrap does not have to check out the gnulib submodule, and
things are fast again.

So I've observed the issue, but I prefer the GitLab-specific workaround
as it appears better than even doing a shallow clone in ./bootstrap.
Other CI/CD environments may not have this feature though, so maybe
someone else is bitten by this problem too eventually.

/Simon

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