git-subclone.txt

james@debbay:~/.vim$ git --version 
git version 1.7.4.1

james@debbay:~/.vim$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 2 commits.
#
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

james@debbay:~/.vim$ mkdir bundle; cd bundle
james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ git clone git://github.com/tpope/vim-abolish.git
Cloning into vim-abolish...
remote: Counting objects: 37, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (17/17), done.
remote: Total 37 (delta 8), reused 37 (delta 8)
Receiving objects: 100% (37/37), 12.28 KiB, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (8/8), done.

james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ cd ..
james@debbay:~/.vim$ git add bundle
james@debbay:~/.vim$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 2 commits.
#
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
# new file: bundle/vim-abolish
#

james@debbay:~/.vim$ git commit -m "Add tpope's abolish"
[master 30c96e3] Add tpope's abolish
 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 160000 bundle/vim-abolish

james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 3 commits.
#
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ touch vim-abolish/test
james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 3 commits.
#
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#   (commit or discard the untracked or modified content in submodules)
#
#       modified:   vim-abolish (untracked content)
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ rm vim-abolish/test

james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ cd vim-abolish/
james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle/vim-abolish$ git checkout HEAD^
Note: checking out 'HEAD^'.

You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
state without impacting any branches by performing another checkout.

If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
do so (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example:

  git checkout -b new_branch_name

HEAD is now at 91b5a44... Update email address

james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle/vim-abolish$ cd ..
james@debbay:~/.vim/bundle$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master' by 3 commits.
#
# Changes not staged for commit:
#   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
#   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#       modified:   vim-abolish (new commits)
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

What kind of special treatment is the cloned sub-repository getting? It gets committed as a file with mode 160000, and git seems aware that it is a repository.