An easy-to-use Git (Sub)modules alternative to make the cloning process easier.
The project is still WIP and still contains minor bugs. It is recommended to use it in small projects until the tool is fairly stable.

• Cloning repositories is now super easier: anyone can clone your repository without the need for Git. No more clone recursive or submodule update commands!
• Subtree addition/update is automated by GitHub Actions (if desired), making it easier to integrate into your projects.
• Lightweight and documented codebase written in Lua v5.3.3.
• Git Submodules can sometimes be messy or confusing, which this tool aims to solve.
• Lets you choose the desired branch of the repository, unlike Git Submodules which automatically chooses the default branch.
• Easily take a look at the changes directly in the PR without extra effort. Git Submodules changes cannot be seen via the PR diff.
• The scripts support both Linux (preferred) and Windows, which means that you can easily run the scripts on your machine or Gitpod without using GitHub Actions.

1. Create a new file named repos.lua (or as you desire) with all your selected repositories (template file). You can place it in any directory, just make sure to specify the directory in your workflow (see the next step).

Your repos.lua file should look similar to the following.

local config = {
    labels_fetch = "repo-fetch,dependencies"
    labels_update = "dependencies",
}

local repos = {
    {
        name = "opencv",
        url = "https://github.com/opencv/opencv",
        dir = "libs/",
        def_branch = "master"
    },
    {
        name = "texto",
        url = "https://github.com/realstealthninja/texto",
        dir = "libs/"
    },
    {
        name = "panqkart",
        url = "https://github.com/panqkart/panqkart",
        dir = "games/"
    }
}

-- Fully needed, so that the scripts can access the configurations.
return {
    repos = repos,
    config = config
}

This GitHub Action workflow will automatically update or clone the desired repositories.
You can choose to update, clone, or do both actions. You can also configure how the script works.

name: Submodules Alternative
on:
  schedule:
  #        ┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
  #        │  ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
  #        │  │ ┌───────────── day of the month (1 - 31)
  #        │  │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12 or JAN-DEC)
  #        │  │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of the week (0 - 6 or SUN-SAT)
  #        │  │ │ │ │
  #        │  │ │ │ │
  #        │  │ │ │ │
  #        *  * * * *
  - cron: '0 0 * * 1' # This would run weekly on Monday at 00:00 UTC
  workflow_dispatch: # This allows you to manually run the workflow whenever you want.
jobs:
  update-repos:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0 # This pulls changes before doing any changes
      - uses: Panquesito7/submodules-alternative@v1.7.0
        with:
          repos_filename: repos.lua                   # Both `repos.lua` and `repos` will work.
          use_pr: true                                # Whether to create a pull request when updating/adding the repositories.
          branch_name: repo-update                    # The branch name to use (only if `use_pr` is enabled).
          commit_message: 'Update'                    # Commit message used when adding new repositories.
          commit_message_update: 'Bump repositories'  # Commit message used when updating all the repositories.
          add_repos: false                            # If enabled, this will clone all the repositories listed in your repos file.
          update_repos: true                          # When enabled, this will attempt to update all the repositories.
          squash_commits: false                       # Whether to squash all commits or not on every repository update/addition. Cannot be used if `one_pr` is disabled.
          one_pr: false                               # Creates one single PR for everything if enabled. Works only for `update_repos` if disabled.

Always use single-quoting for commit messages if you want to include special symbols such as !.

After a PR is merged, its branch won't be automatically deleted, thus, the script will fail if there's a new update when the outdated branch still exists.
If you want your branches to automatically delete after being merged, you should consider one of the following options:

1. Automatically delete branches on PR merging (recommended).
2. Manually delete the branches (not recommended).
3. Use a GitHub Action like Delete Merged Branch.

You can also configure to run the workflow manually by using workflow_dispatch instead of schedule.
For more information about Cron, you can check CronHub.

1. Run fetch-repos.lua to clone all the repositories automatically.

Note

You will need to install Lua v5.3.3 in your
machine in case you do not have it installed.
Git Software is also required to run a few commands.

Download Lua: https://www.lua.org/download.html
Download Git Software: https://git-scm.com/downloads

Both fetch-repos.lua and update-repos.lua require
helper-functions.lua for extra functions and safety checks.

lua fetch-repos.lua <repos_filename> <squash_commits> <commit_message>

2. Once done, you can push changes. Committing is already done by the script.

git push

Please note that commit messages should include quoting ('' or ""), else, the script will detect it as multiple parameters.

3. Done! All of your subtrees are now available in your project and can be updated later on. 🎉

If you've updated your subtrees list, you can always run the script again and it'll clone the new subtrees.

By using GitHub Actions, the subtrees will be updated automatically.
If you wish to do that manually, you can run the following script.

Remember to use (single-)quoting around the commit message!

lua update-repos.lua <repos_filename> <commit_message> <squash_commits>

After running the script, you can push changes to the desired branch.
The script already takes care of committing everything.

All the pending work and to-do list can be found here: https://github.com/users/Panquesito7/projects/3

See LICENSE.md for full information.