Use submodules to easy bootstrap new lesson

[carpentries]

Use submodules to easy bootstrap new lesson

[jduckles]

My main motivating factor for this approach is that it could remove the ./bin/lesson_initialize.py python dependency. This could enable a workflow for lesson creation that would not require any local cloning. This would enable a workflow for lesson creation that could be done entirely in the GitHub web interface.

[rgaiacs]

Prototypo:

• submodule: https://github.com/rgaiacs/swc-proto-sub
• lesson: https://github.com/rgaiacs/swc-proto-lesson

[rgaiacs]

I don't know how create

commit f779b6dee156c50ae7ff6c2705ce22cb1edbd9ed
Author: Raniere Silva <[email protected]>
Date:   Tue Mar 28 15:58:29 2017 +0100

    Fix submodule commit

diff --git a/jekyll-files b/jekyll-files
index d5b3b9c..092a9a8 160000
--- a/jekyll-files
+++ b/jekyll-files
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit d5b3b9c753c5d263575805431b748d8f540b8295
+Subproject commit 092a9a88bbccfef1e17e9ceefe1f7f25ed7b6062

using GitHub interface.

[gvwilson]

Submodules are the right technical solution, but our previous experience using them (in the days of the bc repository) was unhappy: it is very easy for inexperienced Git users to mess things up that they cannot then fix themselves (which is why we built lesson_initialize.py). They could certainly learn to use submodules eventually, but I believe it would be yet another obstacle to contribution.

[jduckles]

Right now the requirement of having Python installed to start lesson development is a bigger obstacle to contribution than the confusion of submodules. I had a learner in a mini-workshop yesterday tell me he's an R dev and he has no intention of installing Python so he can test our template. With submodules we can have a web-only workflow for lesson developers to get started, lowering the initial barrier to entry.

[jduckles]

@rgaiacs I imported https://github.com/rgaiacs/swc-proto-lesson and the submodule link is preserved. I immediately have a working GitHub pages website: https://jduckles.github.io/test-proto-lesson

I think we can put documentation for changing the submodule for those who find it necessary.

For local clones we will want to make sure we guide people to do:

git clone --recursive