[alex7734]

For projects where I can't trust that the people involved can deal with submodule bullshit correctly I just use these git aliases:

    box = !cd ${GIT_PREFIX:-.} && git config --get remote.origin.url > .gitboxinfo && git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD >> .gitboxinfo && git rev-parse HEAD >> .gitboxinfo && mv .git .gitbox && git add -f .gitboxinfo && true
    unbox = !cd ${GIT_PREFIX:-.} && mv .gitbox .git && true

Then I add the .gitbox folder to gitignore. Whenever I need to interact with the "submodule" repo I unbox, otherwise I leave it boxed and as far as everyone else in the project is concerned, the dependency was just copied n pasted in the project.

If you ever need to regenerate the gitbox folder from scratch you can take a peek at the gitboxinfo file and git clone and reset the dependency repo in a temp folder, then move the git folder next to the gitboxinfo file.

Plus unlike submodules with this you can have local changes to the submodule files without having to fork the submodule itself.

[beagle3]

This sounds like git-subtree, which has been part of git for a quite a few years now.

https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/git-subtree