git-submodule
(1)
Name
git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
Synopsis
git submodule [--quiet] add [-b branch] [-f|--force]
[--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
git submodule [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
[--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
[commit] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
git submodule [--quiet] sync [--] [<path>...]
Description
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
NAME
git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
SYNOPSIS
git submodule [--quiet] add [-b branch] [-f|--force]
[--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
git submodule [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
[--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
[commit] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
git submodule [--quiet] sync [--] [<path>...]
DESCRIPTION
Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
at a particular commit.
They are not to be confused with remotes, which are meant
mainly for branches of the same project; submodules are
meant for different projects you would like to make part of
your source tree, while the history of the two projects
still stays completely independent and you cannot modify the
contents of the submodule from within the main project. If
you want to merge the project histories and want to treat
the aggregated whole as a single project from then on, you
may want to add a remote for the other project and use the
subtree merge strategy, instead of treating the other
project as a submodule. Directories that come from both
projects can be cloned and checked out as a whole if you
choose to go that route.
Submodules are composed from a so-called gitlink tree entry
in the main repository that refers to a particular commit
object within the inner repository that is completely
separate. A record in the .gitmodules file at the root of
the source tree assigns a logical name to the submodule and
describes the default URL the submodule shall be cloned
from. The logical name can be used for overriding this URL
within your local repository configuration (see submodule
init).
This command will manage the tree entries and contents of
the gitmodules file for you, as well as inspect the status
of your submodules and update them. When adding a new
submodule to the tree, the add subcommand is to be used.
However, when pulling a tree containing submodules, these
will not be checked out by default; the init and update
subcommands will maintain submodules checked out and at
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 1
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
appropriate revision in your working tree. You can briefly
inspect the up-to-date status of your submodules using the
status subcommand and get a detailed overview of the
difference between the index and checkouts using the summary
subcommand.
COMMANDS
add
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".
This requires at least one argument: <repository>. The
optional argument <path> is the relative location for
the cloned submodule to exist in the superproject. If
<path> is not given, the "humanish" part of the source
repository is used ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and
"foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git").
<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 origin 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). If the superproject doesn't
have an origin configured the superproject is its own
authoritative upstream and the current working directory
is used instead.
<path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule
to exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist,
then the submodule is created by cloning from the named
URL. If <path> does exist and is already a valid git
repository, then this is added to the changeset without
cloning. This second form is provided to ease creating a
new submodule from scratch, and presumes the user will
later push the submodule to the given URL.
In either case, 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.
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 2
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
status
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 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.
This command is the default command for git 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
Initialize the submodules, i.e. register each submodule
name and url found in .gitmodules into .git/config. It
will also copy the value of submodule.$name.update into
.git/config. The key used in .git/config is
submodule.$name.url. This command does not alter
existing information in .git/config. 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.
update
Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing
submodules and checkout the commit specified in the
index of the containing repository. This will make the
submodules HEAD be detached unless --rebase or --merge
is specified or the key submodule.$name.update is set to
rebase, merge or none.
If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just
want to use the setting as stored in .gitmodules, you
can automatically initialize the submodule with the
--init option.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse
into the registered submodules, and update any nested
submodules within.
If the configuration key submodule.$name.update is set
to none the submodule with name $name will not be
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 3
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
updated by default. This can be overriden by adding
--checkout to the command.
summary
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
Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out
submodule. The command has access to the variables
$name, $path, $sha1 and $toplevel: $name is the name of
the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules, $path is
the name of the submodule directory relative to the
superproject, $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the
superproject, and $toplevel is the absolute path to the
top-level of the superproject. 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, git submodule foreach 'echo $path `git
rev-parse HEAD`' will show the path and currently
checked out commit for each submodule.
sync
Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration
setting to the value specified in .gitmodules. It will
only affect those submodules which already have an 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"
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 4
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
only.
OPTIONS
-q, --quiet
Only print error messages.
-b, --branch
Branch of repository to add as submodule.
-f, --force
This option is only valid for add and update commands.
When running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored
submodule path. When running update, throw away local
changes in submodules when switching to a different
commit.
--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.
-N, --no-fetch
This option is only valid for the update command. Don't
fetch new objects from the remote site.
--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
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 5
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
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.
--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 and --shared options
carefully.
--recursive
This option is only valid for foreach, update and status
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).
<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(4) for details.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 6
Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | developer/versioning/git |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://git-
core.googlecode.com/files/git-1.7.9.2.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://git-scm.com/.
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 7