6 git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
12 'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch]
13 [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> <path>
14 'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--] [<path>...]
15 'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
16 'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
17 [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--] [<path>...]
18 'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached] [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
19 'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach <command>
20 'git submodule' [--quiet] sync [--] [<path>...]
25 Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
26 a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
27 at a particular commit.
29 They are not to be confused with remotes, which are meant mainly
30 for branches of the same project; submodules are meant for
31 different projects you would like to make part of your source tree,
32 while the history of the two projects still stays completely
33 independent and you cannot modify the contents of the submodule
34 from within the main project.
35 If you want to merge the project histories and want to treat the
36 aggregated whole as a single project from then on, you may want to
37 add a remote for the other project and use the 'subtree' merge strategy,
38 instead of treating the other project as a submodule. Directories
39 that come from both projects can be cloned and checked out as a whole
40 if you choose to go that route.
42 Submodules are composed from a so-called `gitlink` tree entry
43 in the main repository that refers to a particular commit object
44 within the inner repository that is completely separate.
45 A record in the `.gitmodules` file at the root of the source
46 tree assigns a logical name to the submodule and describes
47 the default URL the submodule shall be cloned from.
48 The logical name can be used for overriding this URL within your
49 local repository configuration (see 'submodule init').
51 This command will manage the tree entries and contents of the
52 gitmodules file for you, as well as inspect the status of your
53 submodules and update them.
54 When adding a new submodule to the tree, the 'add' subcommand
55 is to be used. However, when pulling a tree containing submodules,
56 these will not be checked out by default;
57 the 'init' and 'update' subcommands will maintain submodules
58 checked out and at appropriate revision in your working tree.
59 You can briefly inspect the up-to-date status of your submodules
60 using the 'status' subcommand and get a detailed overview of the
61 difference between the index and checkouts using the 'summary'
68 Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
69 to the changeset to be committed next to the current
70 project: the current project is termed the "superproject".
72 This requires two arguments: <repository> and <path>.
74 <repository> is the URL of the new submodule's origin repository.
75 This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./
76 or ../), the location relative to the superproject's origin
79 <path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to
80 exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist, then the
81 submodule is created by cloning from the named URL. If <path> does
82 exist and is already a valid git repository, then this is added
83 to the changeset without cloning. This second form is provided
84 to ease creating a new submodule from scratch, and presumes
85 the user will later push the submodule to the given URL.
87 In either case, the given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for
88 use by subsequent users cloning the superproject. If the URL is
89 given relative to the superproject's repository, the presumption
90 is the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
91 together in the same relative location, and only the
92 superproject's URL needs to be provided: git-submodule will correctly
93 locate the submodule using the relative URL in .gitmodules.
96 Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
97 currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
98 submodule path and the output of 'git-describe' for the
99 SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is not
100 initialized and `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
101 does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
102 repository. This command is the default command for 'git-submodule'.
105 Initialize the submodules, i.e. register each submodule name
106 and url found in .gitmodules into .git/config.
107 The key used in .git/config is `submodule.$name.url`.
108 This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
109 You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
110 for your local setup and proceed to 'git submodule update';
111 you can also just use 'git submodule update --init' without
112 the explicit 'init' step if you do not intend to customize
113 any submodule locations.
116 Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
117 checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
118 This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless '--rebase' or
119 '--merge' is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
122 If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
123 setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
124 submodule with the --init option.
127 Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
128 working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
129 in the submodule between the given super project commit and the
130 index or working tree (switched by --cached) are shown.
133 Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
134 The command has access to the variables $name, $path and $sha1:
135 $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
136 $path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
137 superproject, and $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject.
138 Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
139 ignored by this command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name
140 of each submodule before evaluating the command.
141 A non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes
142 the processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding '|| :'
143 to the end of the command.
145 As an example, +git submodule foreach \'echo $path {backtick}git
146 rev-parse HEAD{backtick}'+ will show the path and currently checked out
147 commit for each submodule.
150 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
151 to the value specified in .gitmodules. This is useful when
152 submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update your local
153 repositories accordingly.
155 "git submodule sync" synchronizes all submodules while
156 "git submodule sync -- A" synchronizes submodule "A" only.
162 Only print error messages.
166 Branch of repository to add as submodule.
169 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
170 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
171 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
175 This option is only valid for the summary command.
176 Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
177 Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
178 (the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
179 size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
183 This option is only valid for the update command.
184 Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
187 This option is only valid for the update command.
188 Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch
189 of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will
190 not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
191 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with the
192 usual conflict resolution tools.
193 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `merge`, this option is
197 This option is only valid for the update command.
198 Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the
199 superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
200 be detached. If a a merge failure prevents this process, you will have
201 to resolve these failures with linkgit:git-rebase[1].
202 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
205 --reference <repository>::
206 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
207 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
208 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
210 *NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
211 for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s --reference and --shared options carefully.
214 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
215 to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
216 (This argument is required with add).
220 When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level directory
221 of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
222 This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
223 to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
229 Written by Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com>
233 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
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