git-submodule

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>] [--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.

       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. It uses 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.

           When present, it will also copy the value of
           submodule.$name.update. 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.

           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>]
       [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--jobs <n>] [--] [<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. 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 are only available via the
           submodule.<name>.update configuration variable:

           custom command
               arbitrary shell command that takes a single argument (the sha1
               of the commit recorded in the superproject) is executed. When
               submodule.<name>.update is set to !command, the remainder after
               the exclamation mark is the custom command.

           none
               the submodule is not updated.

           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.

       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 master.

       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 master.

       -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 master, 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.

       <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 2.25.1                        04/26/2023                  GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
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