How to handle nested submodule dependencies

Question

I have a git repo with nested submodule dependencies (see picture as an example). There are duplications because each repo needs to be compiled standalone in a pipeline so that the corresponding test executable can be run. Currently, this is solved with submodules. If E gets a new commit, I need to

• update submodule pointer D->E from A->B->D and from A->C->B->D
• update submodule pointer B->E from A->B and from A->C->B

Which is annoying and makes cloning A take forever, because the whole B branch exists twice. How are structures with nested dependencies like this handled best? Is there an easy way to handle this with binaries?

Answer 1

You've not specified the langauge, but if the submodules are reasonably slow to change and can be versioned separately, then it may make sense to compile them and ship packages.