GIT-SUBMODULE(1) Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
NAME
git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
SYNOPSIS
git submodule [--quiet] [--cached]
git submodule [--quiet] add [<options>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
git submodule [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
git submodule [--quiet] update [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] set-branch [<options>] [--] <path>
git submodule [--quiet] set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
git submodule [--quiet] summary [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
git submodule [--quiet] sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] absorbgitdirs [--] [<path>...]
DESCRIPTION
Inspects, updates and manages submodules.
For more information about submodules, see gitsubmodules(7).
COMMANDS
With no arguments, shows the status of existing submodules. Several
subcommands are available to perform operations on the submodules.
add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference
<repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path to the
changeset to be committed next to the current project: the current
project is termed the "superproject".
<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).
The default remote is the remote of the remote-tracking branch of
the current branch. If no such remote-tracking branch exists or the
HEAD is detached, "origin" is assumed to be the default remote. If
the superproject doesn't have a default remote configured the
superproject is its own authoritative upstream and the current
working directory is used instead.
The optional argument <path> is the relative location for the
cloned submodule to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not
given, the canonical part of the source repository is used ("repo"
for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git"). If
<path> exists and is already a valid Git repository, then it is
staged for commit without cloning. The <path> is also used as the
submodule's logical name in its configuration entries unless --name
is used to specify a logical name.
The given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for use by subsequent
users cloning the superproject. If the URL is given relative to the
superproject's repository, the presumption is the superproject and
submodule repositories will be kept together in the same relative
location, and only the superproject's URL needs to be provided.
git-submodule will correctly locate the submodule using the
relative URL in .gitmodules.
status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
submodule path and the output of git describe for the SHA-1. Each
SHA-1 will possibly be prefixed with - if the submodule is not
initialized, + if the currently checked out submodule commit does
not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing repository
and U if the submodule has merge conflicts.
If --cached is specified, this command will instead print the SHA-1
recorded in the superproject for each submodule.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into nested
submodules, and show their status as well.
If you are only interested in changes of the currently initialized
submodules with respect to the commit recorded in the index or the
HEAD, git-status(1) and git-diff(1) will provide that information
too (and can also report changes to a submodule's work tree).
init [--] [<path>...]
Initialize the submodules recorded in the index (which were added
and committed elsewhere) by setting submodule.$name.url in
.git/config. It uses the same setting from .gitmodules as a
template. If the URL is relative, it will be resolved using the
default remote. If there is no default remote, the current
repository will be assumed to be upstream.
Optional <path> arguments limit which submodules will be
initialized. If no path is specified and submodule.active has been
configured, submodules configured to be active will be initialized,
otherwise all submodules are initialized.
When present, it will also copy the value of
submodule.$name.update. This command does not alter existing
information in .git/config. You can then customize the submodule
clone URLs in .git/config for your local setup and proceed to git
submodule update; you can also just use git submodule update --init
without the explicit init step if you do not intend to customize
any submodule locations.
See the add subcommand for the definition of default remote.
deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole
submodule.$name section from .git/config together with their work
tree. Further calls to git submodule update, git submodule foreach
and git submodule sync will skip any unregistered submodules until
they are initialized again, so use this command if you don't want
to have a local checkout of the submodule in your working tree
anymore.
When the command is run without pathspec, it errors out, instead of
deinit-ing everything, to prevent mistakes.
If --force is specified, the submodule's working tree will be
removed even if it contains local modifications.
If you really want to remove a submodule from the repository and
commit that use git-rm(1) instead. See gitsubmodules(7) for removal
options.
update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [--[no-]recommend-shallow]
[-f|--force] [--checkout|--rebase|--merge] [--reference <repository>]
[--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--jobs <n>] [--[no-]single-branch]
[--] [<path>...]
Update the registered submodules to match what the superproject
expects by cloning missing submodules, fetching missing commits in
submodules and updating the working tree of the submodules. The
"updating" can be done in several ways depending on command line
options and the value of submodule.<name>.update configuration
variable. The command line option takes precedence over the
configuration variable. If neither is given, a checkout is
performed. The update procedures supported both from the command
line as well as through the submodule.<name>.update configuration
are:
checkout
the commit recorded in the superproject will be checked out in
the submodule on a detached HEAD.
If --force is specified, the submodule will be checked out
(using git checkout --force), even if the commit specified in
the index of the containing repository already matches the
commit checked out in the submodule.
rebase
the current branch of the submodule will be rebased onto the
commit recorded in the superproject.
merge
the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged into the
current branch in the submodule.
The following update procedures are only available via the
submodule.<name>.update configuration variable:
custom command
arbitrary shell command that takes a single argument (the sha1
of the commit recorded in the superproject) is executed. When
submodule.<name>.update is set to !command, the remainder after
the exclamation mark is the custom command.
none
the submodule is not updated.
If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use
the setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically
initialize the submodule with the --init option.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into the
registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
set-branch (-b|--branch) <branch> [--] <path>, set-branch
(-d|--default) [--] <path>
Sets the default remote tracking branch for the submodule. The
--branch option allows the remote branch to be specified. The
--default option removes the submodule.<name>.branch configuration
key, which causes the tracking branch to default to master.
set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
Sets the URL of the specified submodule to <newurl>. Then, it will
automatically synchronize the submodule's new remote URL
configuration.
summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>] [commit] [--]
[<path>...]
Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of
commits in the submodule between the given super project commit and
the index or working tree (switched by --cached) are shown. If the
option --files is given, show the series of commits in the
submodule between the index of the super project and the working
tree of the submodule (this option doesn't allow to use the
--cached option or to provide an explicit commit).
Using the --submodule=log option with git-diff(1) will provide that
information too.
foreach [--recursive] <command>
Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
The command has access to the variables $name, $sm_path,
$displaypath, $sha1 and $toplevel: $name is the name of the
relevant submodule section in .gitmodules, $sm_path is the path of
the submodule as recorded in the immediate superproject,
$displaypath contains the relative path from the current working
directory to the submodules root directory, $sha1 is the commit as
recorded in the immediate superproject, and $toplevel is the
absolute path to the top-level of the immediate superproject. Note
that to avoid conflicts with $PATH on Windows, the $path variable
is now a deprecated synonym of $sm_path variable. Any submodules
defined in the superproject but not checked out are ignored by this
command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name of each
submodule before evaluating the command. If --recursive is given,
submodules are traversed recursively (i.e. the given shell command
is evaluated in nested submodules as well). A non-zero return from
the command in any submodule causes the processing to terminate.
This can be overridden by adding || : to the end of the command.
As an example, the command below will show the path and currently
checked out commit for each submodule:
git submodule foreach 'echo $sm_path `git rev-parse HEAD`'
sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting to the
value specified in .gitmodules. It will only affect those
submodules which already have a URL entry in .git/config (that is
the case when they are initialized or freshly added). This is
useful when submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update
your local repositories accordingly.
git submodule sync synchronizes all submodules while git submodule
sync -- A synchronizes submodule "A" only.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into the
registered submodules, and sync any nested submodules within.
absorbgitdirs
If a git directory of a submodule is inside the submodule, move the
git directory of the submodule into its superproject's
$GIT_DIR/modules path and then connect the git directory and its
working directory by setting the core.worktree and adding a .git
file pointing to the git directory embedded in the superprojects
git directory.
A repository that was cloned independently and later added as a
submodule or old setups have the submodules git directory inside
the submodule instead of embedded into the superprojects git
directory.
This command is recursive by default.
OPTIONS
-q, --quiet
Only print error messages.
--progress
This option is only valid for add and update commands. Progress
status is reported on the standard error stream by default when it
is attached to a terminal, unless -q is specified. This flag forces
progress status even if the standard error stream is not directed
to a terminal.
--all
This option is only valid for the deinit command. Unregister all
submodules in the working tree.
-b <branch>, --branch <branch>
Branch of repository to add as submodule. The name of the branch is
recorded as submodule.<name>.branch in .gitmodules for update
--remote. A special value of . is used to indicate that the name
of the branch in the submodule should be the same name as the
current branch in the current repository. If the option is not
specified, it defaults to master.
-f, --force
This option is only valid for add, deinit and update commands. When
running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path. When
running deinit the submodule working trees will be removed even if
they contain local changes. When running update (only effective
with the checkout procedure), throw away local changes in
submodules when switching to a different commit; and always run a
checkout operation in the submodule, even if the commit listed in
the index of the containing repository matches the commit checked
out in the submodule.
--cached
This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
--files
This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
when this option is used.
-n, --summary-limit
This option is only valid for the summary command. Limit the
summary size (number of commits shown in total). Giving 0 will
disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited (the
default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The size
is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
--remote
This option is only valid for the update command. Instead of using
the superproject's recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the
status of the submodule's remote-tracking branch. The remote used
is branch's remote (branch.<name>.remote), defaulting to origin.
The remote branch used defaults to master, but the branch name may
be overridden by setting the submodule.<name>.branch option in
either .gitmodules or .git/config (with .git/config taking
precedence).
This works for any of the supported update procedures (--checkout,
--rebase, etc.). The only change is the source of the target SHA-1.
For example, submodule update --remote --merge will merge upstream
submodule changes into the submodules, while submodule update
--merge will merge superproject gitlink changes into the
submodules.
In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, update --remote
fetches the submodule's remote repository before calculating the
SHA-1. If you don't want to fetch, you should use submodule update
--remote --no-fetch.
Use this option to integrate changes from the upstream subproject
with your submodule's current HEAD. Alternatively, you can run git
pull from the submodule, which is equivalent except for the remote
branch name: update --remote uses the default upstream repository
and submodule.<name>.branch, while git pull uses the submodule's
branch.<name>.merge. Prefer submodule.<name>.branch if you want to
distribute the default upstream branch with the superproject and
branch.<name>.merge if you want a more native feel while working in
the submodule itself.
-N, --no-fetch
This option is only valid for the update command. Don't fetch new
objects from the remote site.
--checkout
This option is only valid for the update command. Checkout the
commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD in the
submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of this
option is to override submodule.$name.update when set to a value
other than checkout. If the key submodule.$name.update is either
not explicitly set or set to checkout, this option is implicit.
--merge
This option is only valid for the update command. Merge the commit
recorded in the superproject into the current branch of the
submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with
the usual conflict resolution tools. If the key
submodule.$name.update is set to merge, this option is implicit.
--rebase
This option is only valid for the update command. Rebase the
current branch onto the commit recorded in the superproject. If
this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not be detached. If
a merge failure prevents this process, you will have to resolve
these failures with git-rebase(1). If the key
submodule.$name.update is set to rebase, this option is implicit.
--init
This option is only valid for the update command. Initialize all
submodules for which "git submodule init" has not been called so
far before updating.
--name
This option is only valid for the add command. It sets the
submodule's name to the given string instead of defaulting to its
path. The name must be valid as a directory name and may not end
with a /.
--reference <repository>
This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
NOTE: Do not use this option unless you have read the note for git-
clone(1)'s --reference, --shared, and --dissociate options
carefully.
--dissociate
This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
NOTE: see the NOTE for the --reference option.
--recursive
This option is only valid for foreach, update, status and sync
commands. Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is
performed not only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
--depth
This option is valid for add and update commands. Create a shallow
clone with a history truncated to the specified number of
revisions. See git-clone(1)
--[no-]recommend-shallow
This option is only valid for the update command. The initial clone
of a submodule will use the recommended submodule.<name>.shallow as
provided by the .gitmodules file by default. To ignore the
suggestions use --no-recommend-shallow.
-j <n>, --jobs <n>
This option is only valid for the update command. Clone new
submodules in parallel with as many jobs. Defaults to the
submodule.fetchJobs option.
--[no-]single-branch
This option is only valid for the update command. Clone only one
branch during update: HEAD or one specified by --branch.
<path>...
Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the
command to only operate on the submodules found at the specified
paths. (This argument is required with add).
FILES
When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level
directory of the containing repository is used to find the url of each
submodule. This file should be formatted in the same way as
$GIT_DIR/config. The key to each submodule url is
"submodule.$name.url". See gitmodules(5) for details.
SEE ALSO
gitsubmodules(7), gitmodules(5).
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.27.0 06/01/2020 GIT-SUBMODULE(1)