1GIT-SUBMODULE(1) Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
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6 git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
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9 git submodule [--quiet] [--cached]
10 git submodule [--quiet] add [<options>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
11 git submodule [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
12 git submodule [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
13 git submodule [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
14 git submodule [--quiet] update [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
15 git submodule [--quiet] set-branch [<options>] [--] <path>
16 git submodule [--quiet] set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
17 git submodule [--quiet] summary [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
18 git submodule [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
19 git submodule [--quiet] sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
20 git submodule [--quiet] absorbgitdirs [--] [<path>...]
21
23 Inspects, updates and manages submodules.
24 For more information about submodules, see gitsubmodules(7).
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28 With no arguments, shows the status of existing submodules. Several
29 subcommands are available to perform operations on the submodules.
30 add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference
32 <repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
33 Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path to the
34 changeset to be committed next to the current project: the current
35 project is termed the "superproject".
36 <repository> is the URL of the new submodule’s origin repository.
38 This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./ or
39 ../), the location relative to the superproject’s default remote
40 repository (Please note that to specify a repository foo.git which
41 is located right next to a superproject bar.git, you’ll have to use
42 ../foo.git instead of ./foo.git - as one might expect when
43 following the rules for relative URLs - because the evaluation of
44 relative URLs in Git is identical to that of relative directories).
45 The default remote is the remote of the remote-tracking branch of
47 the current branch. If no such remote-tracking branch exists or the
48 HEAD is detached, "origin" is assumed to be the default remote. If
49 the superproject doesn’t have a default remote configured the
50 superproject is its own authoritative upstream and the current
51 working directory is used instead.
52 The optional argument <path> is the relative location for the
54 cloned submodule to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not
55 given, the canonical part of the source repository is used ("repo"
56 for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git"). If
57 <path> exists and is already a valid Git repository, then it is
58 staged for commit without cloning. The <path> is also used as the
59 submodule’s logical name in its configuration entries unless --name
60 is used to specify a logical name.
61 The given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for use by subsequent
63 users cloning the superproject. If the URL is given relative to the
64 superproject’s repository, the presumption is the superproject and
65 submodule repositories will be kept together in the same relative
66 location, and only the superproject’s URL needs to be provided.
67 git-submodule will correctly locate the submodule using the
68 relative URL in .gitmodules.
69 status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
71 Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
72 currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
73 submodule path and the output of git describe for the SHA-1. Each
74 SHA-1 will possibly be prefixed with - if the submodule is not
75 initialized, + if the currently checked out submodule commit does
76 not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing repository
77 and U if the submodule has merge conflicts.
78 If --cached is specified, this command will instead print the SHA-1
80 recorded in the superproject for each submodule.
81 If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into nested
83 submodules, and show their status as well.
84 If you are only interested in changes of the currently initialized
86 submodules with respect to the commit recorded in the index or the
87 HEAD, git-status(1) and git-diff(1) will provide that information
88 too (and can also report changes to a submodule’s work tree).
89 init [--] [<path>...]
91 Initialize the submodules recorded in the index (which were added
92 and committed elsewhere) by setting submodule.$name.url in
93 .git/config. It uses the same setting from .gitmodules as a
94 template. If the URL is relative, it will be resolved using the
95 default remote. If there is no default remote, the current
96 repository will be assumed to be upstream.
97 Optional <path> arguments limit which submodules will be
99 initialized. If no path is specified and submodule.active has been
100 configured, submodules configured to be active will be initialized,
101 otherwise all submodules are initialized.
102 When present, it will also copy the value of
104 submodule.$name.update. This command does not alter existing
105 information in .git/config. You can then customize the submodule
106 clone URLs in .git/config for your local setup and proceed to git
107 submodule update; you can also just use git submodule update --init
108 without the explicit init step if you do not intend to customize
109 any submodule locations.
110 See the add subcommand for the definition of default remote.
112 deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
114 Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole
115 submodule.$name section from .git/config together with their work
116 tree. Further calls to git submodule update, git submodule foreach
117 and git submodule sync will skip any unregistered submodules until
118 they are initialized again, so use this command if you don’t want
119 to have a local checkout of the submodule in your working tree
120 anymore.
121 When the command is run without pathspec, it errors out, instead of
123 deinit-ing everything, to prevent mistakes.
124 If --force is specified, the submodule’s working tree will be
126 removed even if it contains local modifications.
127 If you really want to remove a submodule from the repository and
129 commit that use git-rm(1) instead. See gitsubmodules(7) for removal
130 options.
131 update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [--[no-]recommend-shallow]
133 [-f|--force] [--checkout|--rebase|--merge] [--reference <repository>]
134 [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--jobs <n>] [--[no-]single-branch]
135 [--] [<path>...]
136 Update the registered submodules to match what the superproject
137 expects by cloning missing submodules, fetching missing commits in
138 submodules and updating the working tree of the submodules. The
139 "updating" can be done in several ways depending on command line
140 options and the value of submodule.<name>.update configuration
141 variable. The command line option takes precedence over the
142 configuration variable. If neither is given, a checkout is
143 performed. The update procedures supported both from the command
144 line as well as through the submodule.<name>.update configuration
145 are:
146 checkout
148 the commit recorded in the superproject will be checked out in
149 the submodule on a detached HEAD.
150 If --force is specified, the submodule will be checked out
152 (using git checkout --force), even if the commit specified in
153 the index of the containing repository already matches the
154 commit checked out in the submodule.
155 rebase
157 the current branch of the submodule will be rebased onto the
158 commit recorded in the superproject.
159 merge
161 the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged into the
162 current branch in the submodule.
163 The following update procedures are only available via the
165 submodule.<name>.update configuration variable:
166 custom command
168 arbitrary shell command that takes a single argument (the sha1
169 of the commit recorded in the superproject) is executed. When
170 submodule.<name>.update is set to !command, the remainder after
171 the exclamation mark is the custom command.
172 none
174 the submodule is not updated.
175 If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use
177 the setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically
178 initialize the submodule with the --init option.
179 If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into the
181 registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
182 set-branch (-b|--branch) <branch> [--] <path>, set-branch
184 (-d|--default) [--] <path>
185 Sets the default remote tracking branch for the submodule. The
186 --branch option allows the remote branch to be specified. The
187 --default option removes the submodule.<name>.branch configuration
188 key, which causes the tracking branch to default to master.
189 set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
191 Sets the URL of the specified submodule to <newurl>. Then, it will
192 automatically synchronize the submodule’s new remote URL
193 configuration.
194 summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>] [commit] [--]
196 [<path>...]
197 Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
198 working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of
199 commits in the submodule between the given super project commit and
200 the index or working tree (switched by --cached) are shown. If the
201 option --files is given, show the series of commits in the
202 submodule between the index of the super project and the working
203 tree of the submodule (this option doesn’t allow to use the
204 --cached option or to provide an explicit commit).
205 Using the --submodule=log option with git-diff(1) will provide that
207 information too.
208 foreach [--recursive] <command>
210 Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
211 The command has access to the variables $name, $sm_path,
212 $displaypath, $sha1 and $toplevel: $name is the name of the
213 relevant submodule section in .gitmodules, $sm_path is the path of
214 the submodule as recorded in the immediate superproject,
215 $displaypath contains the relative path from the current working
216 directory to the submodules root directory, $sha1 is the commit as
217 recorded in the immediate superproject, and $toplevel is the
218 absolute path to the top-level of the immediate superproject. Note
219 that to avoid conflicts with $PATH on Windows, the $path variable
220 is now a deprecated synonym of $sm_path variable. Any submodules
221 defined in the superproject but not checked out are ignored by this
222 command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name of each
223 submodule before evaluating the command. If --recursive is given,
224 submodules are traversed recursively (i.e. the given shell command
225 is evaluated in nested submodules as well). A non-zero return from
226 the command in any submodule causes the processing to terminate.
227 This can be overridden by adding || : to the end of the command.
228 As an example, the command below will show the path and currently
230 checked out commit for each submodule:
231 git submodule foreach 'echo $sm_path `git rev-parse HEAD`'
233 sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
235 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting to the
236 value specified in .gitmodules. It will only affect those
237 submodules which already have a URL entry in .git/config (that is
238 the case when they are initialized or freshly added). This is
239 useful when submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update
240 your local repositories accordingly.
241 git submodule sync synchronizes all submodules while git submodule
243 sync -- A synchronizes submodule "A" only.
244 If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into the
246 registered submodules, and sync any nested submodules within.
247 absorbgitdirs
249 If a git directory of a submodule is inside the submodule, move the
250 git directory of the submodule into its superproject’s
251 $GIT_DIR/modules path and then connect the git directory and its
252 working directory by setting the core.worktree and adding a .git
253 file pointing to the git directory embedded in the superprojects
254 git directory.
255 A repository that was cloned independently and later added as a
257 submodule or old setups have the submodules git directory inside
258 the submodule instead of embedded into the superprojects git
259 directory.
260 This command is recursive by default.
262
264 -q, --quiet
265 Only print error messages.
266 --progress
268 This option is only valid for add and update commands. Progress
269 status is reported on the standard error stream by default when it
270 is attached to a terminal, unless -q is specified. This flag forces
271 progress status even if the standard error stream is not directed
272 to a terminal.
273 --all
275 This option is only valid for the deinit command. Unregister all
276 submodules in the working tree.
277 -b <branch>, --branch <branch>
279 Branch of repository to add as submodule. The name of the branch is
280 recorded as submodule.<name>.branch in .gitmodules for update
281 --remote. A special value of . is used to indicate that the name
282 of the branch in the submodule should be the same name as the
283 current branch in the current repository. If the option is not
284 specified, it defaults to master.
285 -f, --force
287 This option is only valid for add, deinit and update commands. When
288 running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path. When
289 running deinit the submodule working trees will be removed even if
290 they contain local changes. When running update (only effective
291 with the checkout procedure), throw away local changes in
292 submodules when switching to a different commit; and always run a
293 checkout operation in the submodule, even if the commit listed in
294 the index of the containing repository matches the commit checked
295 out in the submodule.
296 --cached
298 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
299 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
300 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
301 --files
303 This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
304 compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
305 when this option is used.
306 -n, --summary-limit
308 This option is only valid for the summary command. Limit the
309 summary size (number of commits shown in total). Giving 0 will
310 disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited (the
311 default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The size
312 is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
313 --remote
315 This option is only valid for the update command. Instead of using
316 the superproject’s recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the
317 status of the submodule’s remote-tracking branch. The remote used
318 is branch’s remote (branch.<name>.remote), defaulting to origin.
319 The remote branch used defaults to master, but the branch name may
320 be overridden by setting the submodule.<name>.branch option in
321 either .gitmodules or .git/config (with .git/config taking
322 precedence).
323 This works for any of the supported update procedures (--checkout,
325 --rebase, etc.). The only change is the source of the target SHA-1.
326 For example, submodule update --remote --merge will merge upstream
327 submodule changes into the submodules, while submodule update
328 --merge will merge superproject gitlink changes into the
329 submodules.
330 In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, update --remote
332 fetches the submodule’s remote repository before calculating the
333 SHA-1. If you don’t want to fetch, you should use submodule update
334 --remote --no-fetch.
335 Use this option to integrate changes from the upstream subproject
337 with your submodule’s current HEAD. Alternatively, you can run git
338 pull from the submodule, which is equivalent except for the remote
339 branch name: update --remote uses the default upstream repository
340 and submodule.<name>.branch, while git pull uses the submodule’s
341 branch.<name>.merge. Prefer submodule.<name>.branch if you want to
342 distribute the default upstream branch with the superproject and
343 branch.<name>.merge if you want a more native feel while working in
344 the submodule itself.
345 -N, --no-fetch
347 This option is only valid for the update command. Don’t fetch new
348 objects from the remote site.
349 --checkout
351 This option is only valid for the update command. Checkout the
352 commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD in the
353 submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of this
354 option is to override submodule.$name.update when set to a value
355 other than checkout. If the key submodule.$name.update is either
356 not explicitly set or set to checkout, this option is implicit.
357 --merge
359 This option is only valid for the update command. Merge the commit
360 recorded in the superproject into the current branch of the
361 submodule. If this option is given, the submodule’s HEAD will not
362 be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
363 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with
364 the usual conflict resolution tools. If the key
365 submodule.$name.update is set to merge, this option is implicit.
366 --rebase
368 This option is only valid for the update command. Rebase the
369 current branch onto the commit recorded in the superproject. If
370 this option is given, the submodule’s HEAD will not be detached. If
371 a merge failure prevents this process, you will have to resolve
372 these failures with git-rebase(1). If the key
373 submodule.$name.update is set to rebase, this option is implicit.
374 --init
376 This option is only valid for the update command. Initialize all
377 submodules for which "git submodule init" has not been called so
378 far before updating.
379 --name
381 This option is only valid for the add command. It sets the
382 submodule’s name to the given string instead of defaulting to its
383 path. The name must be valid as a directory name and may not end
384 with a /.
385 --reference <repository>
387 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
388 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
389 this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
390 NOTE: Do not use this option unless you have read the note for git-
392 clone(1)'s --reference, --shared, and --dissociate options
393 carefully.
394 --dissociate
396 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
397 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
398 this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
399 NOTE: see the NOTE for the --reference option.
401 --recursive
403 This option is only valid for foreach, update, status and sync
404 commands. Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is
405 performed not only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
406 in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
407 --depth
409 This option is valid for add and update commands. Create a shallow
410 clone with a history truncated to the specified number of
411 revisions. See git-clone(1)
412 --[no-]recommend-shallow
414 This option is only valid for the update command. The initial clone
415 of a submodule will use the recommended submodule.<name>.shallow as
416 provided by the .gitmodules file by default. To ignore the
417 suggestions use --no-recommend-shallow.
418 -j <n>, --jobs <n>
420 This option is only valid for the update command. Clone new
421 submodules in parallel with as many jobs. Defaults to the
422 submodule.fetchJobs option.
423 --[no-]single-branch
425 This option is only valid for the update command. Clone only one
426 branch during update: HEAD or one specified by --branch.
427 <path>...
429 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the
430 command to only operate on the submodules found at the specified
431 paths. (This argument is required with add).
432
434 When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level
435 directory of the containing repository is used to find the url of each
436 submodule. This file should be formatted in the same way as
437 $GIT_DIR/config. The key to each submodule url is
438 "submodule.$name.url". See gitmodules(5) for details.
439
441 gitsubmodules(7), gitmodules(5).
442
444 Part of the git(1) suite
445Git 2.26.2 2020-04-20 GIT-SUBMODULE(1)