Docs build fails with "One or more submodule URLs are not valid."

[bramwelt]

Details

• Project URL: http://opnfvdocsdemo.readthedocs.io/
• Build URL (if applicable): First failure: http://readthedocs.org/projects/opnfvdocsdemo/builds/6933536/, Error message seen: http://readthedocs.org/projects/opnfvdocsdemo/builds/6940325/
• Read the Docs username (if applicable): opnfv-rtd

Expected Result

Given our .gitmodules file, the build succeeds.
The last change to our .gitmodules file was 8 days ago (March 19th).

Actual Result

An error:

One or more submodule URLs are not valid.

is displayed and the build fails.

[agjohnson]

Confirmed this is a bug. Gitpython reports submodules like:

git.Submodule(name=docs/submodules/apex, path=docs/submodules/apex, url=../apex, branch_path=refs/heads/.)

In the case of relative URLs, git operates not as we'd expect:

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

So for a parent project with remote origin of:
https://github.com/user/repo

And a submodule with URL of ../other-repo, the effective submodule URL is:
https://github.com/user/other-repo, not a local disk repo /path/repo/../other-repo/

[agjohnson]

I forgot to follow up here. This fix went live on monday, so issues with relative submodule urls should be resolved.