[fanf2]

I had awful problems with git submodules in the Ansible repo. When I wanted to change branch, I couldn’t use `git checkout` as usual: I had to blow away the submodules, switch branch, then reinitialize them again. Appalling failure to leave submodules so unfinished that branching doesn’t work properly any more.

[michaelmior]

I haven't had a problem in general with switching branches and submodules. You just change branches and then `git submodule update`. Or `git checkout --recurse-submodules`. You can also set this as the default behavior so that checkout automatically updates submodules.

`git config --global submodule.recurse true`

[fanf2]

I think the worst problems happened when switching between branches where the same directory changed between being a submodule or being part of the parent repo.

Having to set a configuration option to make submodules work is another example of the feature being unfinished.

[michaelmior]

They work just fine without that option. But I can see why having that as a default might be a better choice.

[baby]

I had that command set previously, and OMG it made every checkout slow as hell! There's like a dozen submodules in the repo I work in, it's a nightmare.