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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 07/02/2025 GIT-SUBMODULE(1)