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>] [--ref-format <format>] [--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.

If --ref-format <format> is specified, the ref storage format of
newly cloned submodules will be set accordingly.

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>]
[--ref-format <format>] [--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 --ref-format <format> is specified, the ref storage format of
newly cloned submodules will be set accordingly.

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

-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

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 2.48.1 2025-01-13 GIT-SUBMODULE(1)