git-submodule(1) — Linux manual page

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GIT-SUBMODULE(1)               Git Manual               GIT-SUBMODULE(1)

NAME         top

       git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules

SYNOPSIS         top

       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         top

       Inspects, updates and manages submodules.

       For more information about submodules, see gitsubmodules(7).

COMMANDS         top

       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, using 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.

           It will also copy the value of submodule.$name.update, if
           present in the .gitmodules file, to .git/config, but (1) this
           command does not alter existing information in .git/config,
           and (2) submodule.$name.update that is set to a custom
           command is not copied for security reasons.

           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]
       [--filter <filter spec>] [--] [<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. (note: what is
           in .gitmodules file is irrelevant at this point; see git
           submodule init above for how .gitmodules is used). 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 have additional limitations:

           custom command
               mechanism for running arbitrary commands with the commit
               ID as an argument. Specifically, if the
               submodule.<name>.update configuration variable is set to
               !custom command, the object name of the commit recorded
               in the superproject for the submodule is appended to the
               custom command string and executed. Note that this
               mechanism is not supported in the .gitmodules file or on
               the command line.

           none
               the submodule is not updated. This update procedure is
               not allowed on the command line.

           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.

           If --filter <filter spec> is specified, the given partial
           clone filter will be applied to the submodule. See
           git-rev-list(1) for details on filter specifications.

       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 the remote HEAD.

       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         top

       -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
           the remote HEAD.

       -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 the remote HEAD, 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         top

       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         top

       gitsubmodules(7), gitmodules(5).

GIT         top

       Part of the git(1) suite

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
       system) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this manual
       page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩.  This page was obtained
       from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2023-12-20.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

Git 2.43.0.174.g055bb6         2023-12-20               GIT-SUBMODULE(1)

Pages that refer to this page: git(1)git-checkout(1)git-config(1)git-diff(1)git-diff-files(1)git-diff-index(1)git-diff-tree(1)git-log(1)git-rm(1)git-show(1)git-status(1)git-switch(1)gitmodules(5)gitglossary(7)gitsubmodules(7)