Confusing relative path to remote repository

[tclune]

A user has complained that the use of ../GEOSgcm_GridComp.git is confusing in the context of a work tree. The suggestion was to instead support something like a ROOT variable ala:

  remote:   $REMOTE/GEOSgcm_GridComp.git

Probably worth a separate discussion for the best choice of name for the new pseudo-variable.

If this breaks our ability to use anonymous clones then we should push back.

[mathomp4]

You can have variable substitution in YAML? I didn't know that was possible. I've read a bit about yglu, but I'm not sure there is an yglu library in Python. I guess I'll look.

[mathomp4]

Note that I used this syntax because it is what Git itself does in its submodules support:

<repository> is the URL of the new submodule’s origin repository. This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./ or ../), the location relative to the superproject’s default remote repository (Please note that to specify a repository foo.git which is located right next to a superproject bar.git, you’ll have to use ../foo.git instead of ./foo.git - as one might expect when following the rules for relative URLs - because the evaluation of relative URLs in Git is identical to that of relative directories).

Since I think of mepo as sort of like git submodules, I used that syntax. I'll try looking around if something similar exists in git submodules but I don't think so per the man page linked to above.

ETA: Yeah, it doesn't look like git itself supports anything else: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitmodules#Documentation/gitmodules.txt-submoduleltnamegturl