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1git-submodule(1)
2================
3
4NAME
5----
6git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
7
8
9SYNOPSIS
10--------
b2493649 11[verse]
68cabbfd 12'git submodule' [--quiet] [--cached]
eb2f2f5f 13'git submodule' [--quiet] add [<options>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
64b19ffe 14'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
b1889c36 15'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
f6a52799 16'git submodule' [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
eb2f2f5f 17'git submodule' [--quiet] update [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
b57e8119 18'git submodule' [--quiet] set-branch [<options>] [--] <path>
26b06100 19'git submodule' [--quiet] set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
eb2f2f5f 20'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
15fc56a8 21'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
9393ae79 22'git submodule' [--quiet] sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
f6f85861 23'git submodule' [--quiet] absorbgitdirs [--] [<path>...]
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24
25
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26DESCRIPTION
27-----------
ec48a763 28Inspects, updates and manages submodules.
c47f1024 29
d4803455 30For more information about submodules, see linkgit:gitsubmodules[7].
e38953ab 31
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32COMMANDS
33--------
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34With no arguments, shows the status of existing submodules. Several
35subcommands are available to perform operations on the submodules.
36
eb2f2f5f 37add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference <repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<path>]::
ecda0723 38 Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
ec05df35 39 to the changeset to be committed next to the current
77ef80a8 40 project: the current project is termed the "superproject".
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42<repository> is the URL of the new submodule's origin repository.
43This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./
d1b3b81a 44or ../), the location relative to the superproject's default remote
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45repository (Please note that to specify a repository 'foo.git'
46which is located right next to a superproject 'bar.git', you'll
68ed71b5 47have to use `../foo.git` instead of `./foo.git` - as one might expect
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48when following the rules for relative URLs - because the evaluation
49of relative URLs in Git is identical to that of relative directories).
d1b3b81a 50+
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51The default remote is the remote of the remote-tracking branch
52of the current branch. If no such remote-tracking branch exists or
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53the HEAD is detached, "origin" is assumed to be the default remote.
54If the superproject doesn't have a default remote configured
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55the superproject is its own authoritative upstream and the current
56working directory is used instead.
ec05df35 57+
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58The optional argument <path> is the relative location for the cloned
59submodule to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not given, the
60canonical part of the source repository is used ("repo" for
61"/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git"). If <path>
62exists and is already a valid Git repository, then it is staged
63for commit without cloning. The <path> is also used as the submodule's
64logical name in its configuration entries unless `--name` is used
65to specify a logical name.
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67The given URL is recorded into `.gitmodules` for use by subsequent users
68cloning the superproject. If the URL is given relative to the
69superproject's repository, the presumption is the superproject and
70submodule repositories will be kept together in the same relative
71location, and only the superproject's URL needs to be provided.
72git-submodule will correctly locate the submodule using the relative
73URL in `.gitmodules`.
ecda0723 74
eb2f2f5f 75status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]::
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76 Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
77 currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
0b444cdb 78 submodule path and the output of 'git describe' for the
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79 SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will possibly be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is
80 not initialized, `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
70c7ac22 81 does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
313ee0d6 82 repository and `U` if the submodule has merge conflicts.
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84If `--cached` is specified, this command will instead print the SHA-1
85recorded in the superproject for each submodule.
86+
402e8a6d 87If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into nested
64b19ffe 88submodules, and show their status as well.
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89+
90If you are only interested in changes of the currently initialized
91submodules with respect to the commit recorded in the index or the HEAD,
92linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-diff[1] will provide that information
93too (and can also report changes to a submodule's work tree).
70c7ac22 94
eb2f2f5f 95init [--] [<path>...]::
3244eb9b 96 Initialize the submodules recorded in the index (which were
d1b3b81a 97 added and committed elsewhere) by setting `submodule.$name.url`
beebc6df 98 in .git/config. It uses the same setting from `.gitmodules` as
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99 a template. If the URL is relative, it will be resolved using
100 the default remote. If there is no default remote, the current
101 repository will be assumed to be upstream.
102+
103Optional <path> arguments limit which submodules will be initialized.
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104If no path is specified and submodule.active has been configured, submodules
105configured to be active will be initialized, otherwise all submodules are
106initialized.
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107+
108When present, it will also copy the value of `submodule.$name.update`.
109This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
110You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
111for your local setup and proceed to `git submodule update`;
112you can also just use `git submodule update --init` without
113the explicit 'init' step if you do not intend to customize
114any submodule locations.
115+
64127575 116See the add subcommand for the definition of default remote.
70c7ac22 117
eb2f2f5f 118deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)::
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119 Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole
120 `submodule.$name` section from .git/config together with their work
121 tree. Further calls to `git submodule update`, `git submodule foreach`
122 and `git submodule sync` will skip any unregistered submodules until
123 they are initialized again, so use this command if you don't want to
d4803455 124 have a local checkout of the submodule in your working tree anymore.
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126When the command is run without pathspec, it errors out,
127instead of deinit-ing everything, to prevent mistakes.
128+
129If `--force` is specified, the submodule's working tree will
130be removed even if it contains local modifications.
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131+
132If you really want to remove a submodule from the repository and commit
133that use linkgit:git-rm[1] instead. See linkgit:gitsubmodules[7] for removal
134options.
cf419828 135
132f600b 136update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch] [--[no-]recommend-shallow] [-f|--force] [--checkout|--rebase|--merge] [--reference <repository>] [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--jobs <n>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--] [<path>...]::
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138--
139Update the registered submodules to match what the superproject
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140expects by cloning missing submodules, fetching missing commits
141in submodules and updating the working tree of
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142the submodules. The "updating" can be done in several ways depending
143on command line options and the value of `submodule.<name>.update`
fc01a5d2 144configuration variable. The command line option takes precedence over
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145the configuration variable. If neither is given, a 'checkout' is performed.
146The 'update' procedures supported both from the command line as well as
147through the `submodule.<name>.update` configuration are:
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148
149 checkout;; the commit recorded in the superproject will be
fc01a5d2 150 checked out in the submodule on a detached HEAD.
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151+
152If `--force` is specified, the submodule will be checked out (using
e1b3f3dd 153`git checkout --force`), even if the commit specified
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154in the index of the containing repository already matches the commit
155checked out in the submodule.
156
157 rebase;; the current branch of the submodule will be rebased
fc01a5d2 158 onto the commit recorded in the superproject.
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159
160 merge;; the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged
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161 into the current branch in the submodule.
162
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163The following 'update' procedures are only available via the
164`submodule.<name>.update` configuration variable:
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165
166 custom command;; arbitrary shell command that takes a single
167 argument (the sha1 of the commit recorded in the
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168 superproject) is executed. When `submodule.<name>.update`
169 is set to '!command', the remainder after the exclamation mark
170 is the custom command.
5c31acfb 171
fc01a5d2 172 none;; the submodule is not updated.
5c31acfb 173
be4d2c83 174If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
beebc6df 175setting as stored in `.gitmodules`, you can automatically initialize the
402e8a6d 176submodule with the `--init` option.
5c31acfb 177
402e8a6d 178If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into the
b13fd5c1 179registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
5c31acfb 180--
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181set-branch (-b|--branch) <branch> [--] <path>::
182set-branch (-d|--default) [--] <path>::
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183 Sets the default remote tracking branch for the submodule. The
184 `--branch` option allows the remote branch to be specified. The
185 `--default` option removes the submodule.<name>.branch configuration
f0a96e8d 186 key, which causes the tracking branch to default to the remote 'HEAD'.
b57e8119 187
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188set-url [--] <path> <newurl>::
189 Sets the URL of the specified submodule to <newurl>. Then, it will
190 automatically synchronize the submodule's new remote URL
191 configuration.
192
eb2f2f5f 193summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]::
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194 Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
195 working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
196 in the submodule between the given super project commit and the
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197 index or working tree (switched by `--cached`) are shown. If the option
198 `--files` is given, show the series of commits in the submodule between
ef92e1a4 199 the index of the super project and the working tree of the submodule
402e8a6d 200 (this option doesn't allow to use the `--cached` option or to provide an
1c244f6e 201 explicit commit).
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202+
203Using the `--submodule=log` option with linkgit:git-diff[1] will provide that
204information too.
70c7ac22 205
eb2f2f5f 206foreach [--recursive] <command>::
19a31f9c 207 Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
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208 The command has access to the variables $name, $sm_path, $displaypath,
209 $sha1 and $toplevel:
beebc6df 210 $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in `.gitmodules`,
f0fd0dc5 211 $sm_path is the path of the submodule as recorded in the immediate
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212 superproject, $displaypath contains the relative path from the
213 current working directory to the submodules root directory,
214 $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the immediate
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215 superproject, and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level
216 of the immediate superproject.
217 Note that to avoid conflicts with '$PATH' on Windows, the '$path'
218 variable is now a deprecated synonym of '$sm_path' variable.
19a31f9c 219 Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
402e8a6d 220 ignored by this command. Unless given `--quiet`, foreach prints the name
19a31f9c 221 of each submodule before evaluating the command.
402e8a6d 222 If `--recursive` is given, submodules are traversed recursively (i.e.
15fc56a8 223 the given shell command is evaluated in nested submodules as well).
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224 A non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes
225 the processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding '|| :'
226 to the end of the command.
227+
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228As an example, the command below will show the path and currently
229checked out commit for each submodule:
230+
231--------------
04e5b3f0 232git submodule foreach 'echo $sm_path `git rev-parse HEAD`'
e91461b3 233--------------
19a31f9c 234
eb2f2f5f 235sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]::
2327f61e 236 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
beebc6df 237 to the value specified in `.gitmodules`. It will only affect those
a7793a74 238 submodules which already have a URL entry in .git/config (that is the
ccee6086 239 case when they are initialized or freshly added). This is useful when
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240 submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update your local
241 repositories accordingly.
242+
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243`git submodule sync` synchronizes all submodules while
244`git submodule sync -- A` synchronizes submodule "A" only.
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245+
246If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into the
247registered submodules, and sync any nested submodules within.
19a31f9c 248
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249absorbgitdirs::
250 If a git directory of a submodule is inside the submodule,
5814d44d 251 move the git directory of the submodule into its superproject's
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252 `$GIT_DIR/modules` path and then connect the git directory and
253 its working directory by setting the `core.worktree` and adding
254 a .git file pointing to the git directory embedded in the
255 superprojects git directory.
256+
257A repository that was cloned independently and later added as a submodule or
258old setups have the submodules git directory inside the submodule instead of
259embedded into the superprojects git directory.
260+
261This command is recursive by default.
262
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263OPTIONS
264-------
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265-q::
266--quiet::
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267 Only print error messages.
268
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269--progress::
270 This option is only valid for add and update commands.
271 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
272 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
273 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
274 standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
275
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276--all::
277 This option is only valid for the deinit command. Unregister all
278 submodules in the working tree.
279
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280-b <branch>::
281--branch <branch>::
ecda0723 282 Branch of repository to add as submodule.
15d64936 283 The name of the branch is recorded as `submodule.<name>.branch` in
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284 `.gitmodules` for `update --remote`. A special value of `.` is used to
285 indicate that the name of the branch in the submodule should be the
7a4bb55f 286 same name as the current branch in the current repository. If the
f0a96e8d 287 option is not specified, it defaults to the remote 'HEAD'.
ecda0723 288
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289-f::
290--force::
cf419828 291 This option is only valid for add, deinit and update commands.
9db31bdf 292 When running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path.
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293 When running deinit the submodule working trees will be removed even
294 if they contain local changes.
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295 When running update (only effective with the checkout procedure),
296 throw away local changes in submodules when switching to a
297 different commit; and always run a checkout operation in the
298 submodule, even if the commit listed in the index of the
299 containing repository matches the commit checked out in the
300 submodule.
d27b876b 301
70c7ac22 302--cached::
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303 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
304 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
305 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
306
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307--files::
308 This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
309 compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
310 when this option is used.
311
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312-n::
313--summary-limit::
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314 This option is only valid for the summary command.
315 Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
51836e9e 316 Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
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317 (the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
318 size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
70c7ac22 319
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320--remote::
321 This option is only valid for the update command. Instead of using
322 the superproject's recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the
d6ac1d21 323 status of the submodule's remote-tracking branch. The remote used
06b1abb5 324 is branch's remote (`branch.<name>.remote`), defaulting to `origin`.
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325 The remote branch used defaults to the remote `HEAD`, but the branch
326 name may be overridden by setting the `submodule.<name>.branch`
327 option in either `.gitmodules` or `.git/config` (with `.git/config`
328 taking precedence).
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329+
330This works for any of the supported update procedures (`--checkout`,
331`--rebase`, etc.). The only change is the source of the target SHA-1.
332For example, `submodule update --remote --merge` will merge upstream
333submodule changes into the submodules, while `submodule update
334--merge` will merge superproject gitlink changes into the submodules.
335+
336In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, `update --remote`
337fetches the submodule's remote repository before calculating the
338SHA-1. If you don't want to fetch, you should use `submodule update
339--remote --no-fetch`.
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340+
341Use this option to integrate changes from the upstream subproject with
342your submodule's current HEAD. Alternatively, you can run `git pull`
343from the submodule, which is equivalent except for the remote branch
344name: `update --remote` uses the default upstream repository and
345`submodule.<name>.branch`, while `git pull` uses the submodule's
346`branch.<name>.merge`. Prefer `submodule.<name>.branch` if you want
347to distribute the default upstream branch with the superproject and
348`branch.<name>.merge` if you want a more native feel while working in
349the submodule itself.
06b1abb5 350
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351-N::
352--no-fetch::
353 This option is only valid for the update command.
354 Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
355
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356--checkout::
357 This option is only valid for the update command.
358 Checkout the commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD
359 in the submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of
360 this option is to override `submodule.$name.update` when set to
5c31acfb 361 a value other than `checkout`.
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362 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is either not explicitly set or
363 set to `checkout`, this option is implicit.
364
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365--merge::
366 This option is only valid for the update command.
367 Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch
368 of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will
369 not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
370 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with the
371 usual conflict resolution tools.
372 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `merge`, this option is
373 implicit.
374
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375--rebase::
376 This option is only valid for the update command.
377 Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the
378 superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
6a5d0b0a 379 be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will have
ca2cedba 380 to resolve these failures with linkgit:git-rebase[1].
32948425 381 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
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382 implicit.
383
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384--init::
385 This option is only valid for the update command.
386 Initialize all submodules for which "git submodule init" has not been
387 called so far before updating.
388
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389--name::
390 This option is only valid for the add command. It sets the submodule's
391 name to the given string instead of defaulting to its path. The name
392 must be valid as a directory name and may not end with a '/'.
393
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394--reference <repository>::
395 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
396 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
397 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
398+
399*NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
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400for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s `--reference`, `--shared`, and `--dissociate`
401options carefully.
402
403--dissociate::
404 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
405 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
406 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
407+
408*NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--reference` option.
d92a3959 409
15fc56a8 410--recursive::
e7220c40 411 This option is only valid for foreach, update, status and sync commands.
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412 Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is performed not
413 only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
414 in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
415
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416--depth::
417 This option is valid for add and update commands. Create a 'shallow'
418 clone with a history truncated to the specified number of revisions.
419 See linkgit:git-clone[1]
420
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421--[no-]recommend-shallow::
422 This option is only valid for the update command.
423 The initial clone of a submodule will use the recommended
beebc6df 424 `submodule.<name>.shallow` as provided by the `.gitmodules` file
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425 by default. To ignore the suggestions use `--no-recommend-shallow`.
426
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427-j <n>::
428--jobs <n>::
429 This option is only valid for the update command.
430 Clone new submodules in parallel with as many jobs.
431 Defaults to the `submodule.fetchJobs` option.
275cd184 432
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433--[no-]single-branch::
434 This option is only valid for the update command.
435 Clone only one branch during update: HEAD or one specified by --branch.
436
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437<path>...::
438 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
70c7ac22 439 to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
ec05df35 440 (This argument is required with add).
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441
442FILES
443-----
beebc6df 444When initializing submodules, a `.gitmodules` file in the top-level directory
70c7ac22 445of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
c4585701 446This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
5162e697 447to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
6fbe42c7 448for details.
70c7ac22 449
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450SEE ALSO
451--------
452linkgit:gitsubmodules[7], linkgit:gitmodules[5].
453
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454GIT
455---
9e1f0a85 456Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite