The concept is not the problem. The submodule's problem is it has the most suck ui ever. The default 'git clone' don't ever setup the submodule. The checkout, r

The concept is not the problem. The submodule's problem is it has the most suck ui ever. The default 'git clone' don't ever setup the submodule. The checkout, rebase... etc works half of time. And some left submodule intact unless you add some weird parameters. It's pain in the ass even you are not the one writing submodule but just the one using it. In practice, a lot of repo add shell scripts just to… setup and update the submodule. This should be git's own task to do. But it really isn't done well. It will be much better if git just treat submodule as a readonly subdirectory and force sync everything unless I tell it I want to edit it. Package managers on the other end don't give you such pain. A 'npm install' will just correct every dependency to proper state without bother you about anything.