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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]
d27b876b 12'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [-f|--force]
1414e578 13 [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
64b19ffe 14'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
b1889c36 15'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
7d40f891 16'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
b13fd5c1 17 [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
1c244f6e 18'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
15fc56a8 19'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
2327f61e 20'git submodule' [--quiet] sync [--] [<path>...]
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21
22
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23DESCRIPTION
24-----------
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25Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
26a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
27at a particular commit.
28
29They are not to be confused with remotes, which are meant mainly
30for branches of the same project; submodules are meant for
31different projects you would like to make part of your source tree,
32while the history of the two projects still stays completely
33independent and you cannot modify the contents of the submodule
34from within the main project.
35If you want to merge the project histories and want to treat the
36aggregated whole as a single project from then on, you may want to
37add a remote for the other project and use the 'subtree' merge strategy,
38instead of treating the other project as a submodule. Directories
39that come from both projects can be cloned and checked out as a whole
40if you choose to go that route.
41
42Submodules are composed from a so-called `gitlink` tree entry
43in the main repository that refers to a particular commit object
44within the inner repository that is completely separate.
45A record in the `.gitmodules` file at the root of the source
46tree assigns a logical name to the submodule and describes
47the default URL the submodule shall be cloned from.
48The logical name can be used for overriding this URL within your
49local repository configuration (see 'submodule init').
50
51This command will manage the tree entries and contents of the
52gitmodules file for you, as well as inspect the status of your
53submodules and update them.
54When adding a new submodule to the tree, the 'add' subcommand
55is to be used. However, when pulling a tree containing submodules,
56these will not be checked out by default;
57the 'init' and 'update' subcommands will maintain submodules
58checked out and at appropriate revision in your working tree.
59You can briefly inspect the up-to-date status of your submodules
60using the 'status' subcommand and get a detailed overview of the
61difference between the index and checkouts using the 'summary'
62subcommand.
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63
64
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65COMMANDS
66--------
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67add::
68 Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
ec05df35 69 to the changeset to be committed next to the current
77ef80a8 70 project: the current project is termed the "superproject".
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72This requires at least one argument: <repository>. The optional
73argument <path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule
74to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not given, the
75"humanish" part of the source repository is used ("repo" for
76"/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git").
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77+
78<repository> is the URL of the new submodule's origin repository.
79This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./
80or ../), the location relative to the superproject's origin
81repository.
82+
83<path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to
84exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist, then the
85submodule is created by cloning from the named URL. If <path> does
86exist and is already a valid git repository, then this is added
87to the changeset without cloning. This second form is provided
88to ease creating a new submodule from scratch, and presumes
89the user will later push the submodule to the given URL.
90+
91In either case, the given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for
92use by subsequent users cloning the superproject. If the URL is
93given relative to the superproject's repository, the presumption
94is the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
95together in the same relative location, and only the
04c8ce9c 96superproject's URL needs to be provided: git-submodule will correctly
ec05df35 97locate the submodule using the relative URL in .gitmodules.
ecda0723 98
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99status::
100 Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
101 currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
0b444cdb 102 submodule path and the output of 'git describe' for the
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103 SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is not
104 initialized and `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
105 does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
0b444cdb 106 repository. This command is the default command for 'git submodule'.
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107+
108If '--recursive' is specified, this command will recurse into nested
109submodules, and show their status as well.
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110
111init::
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112 Initialize the submodules, i.e. register each submodule name
113 and url found in .gitmodules into .git/config.
114 The key used in .git/config is `submodule.$name.url`.
115 This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
116 You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
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117 for your local setup and proceed to `git submodule update`;
118 you can also just use `git submodule update --init` without
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119 the explicit 'init' step if you do not intend to customize
120 any submodule locations.
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121
122update::
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123 Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
124 checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
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125 This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless '--rebase' or
126 '--merge' is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
127 `rebase` or `merge`.
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128+
129If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
130setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
131submodule with the --init option.
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132+
133If '--recursive' is specified, this command will recurse into the
134registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
70c7ac22 135
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136summary::
137 Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
138 working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
139 in the submodule between the given super project commit and the
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140 index or working tree (switched by --cached) are shown. If the option
141 --files is given, show the series of commits in the submodule between
ef92e1a4 142 the index of the super project and the working tree of the submodule
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143 (this option doesn't allow to use the --cached option or to provide an
144 explicit commit).
70c7ac22 145
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146foreach::
147 Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
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148 The command has access to the variables $name, $path, $sha1 and
149 $toplevel:
1e7f2aad 150 $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
19a31f9c 151 $path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
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152 superproject, $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject,
153 and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level of the superproject.
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154 Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
155 ignored by this command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name
156 of each submodule before evaluating the command.
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157 If --recursive is given, submodules are traversed recursively (i.e.
158 the given shell command is evaluated in nested submodules as well).
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159 A non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes
160 the processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding '|| :'
161 to the end of the command.
162+
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163As an example, +git submodule foreach \'echo $path {backtick}git
164rev-parse HEAD{backtick}'+ will show the path and currently checked out
165commit for each submodule.
19a31f9c 166
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167sync::
168 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
169 to the value specified in .gitmodules. This is useful when
170 submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update your local
171 repositories accordingly.
172+
173"git submodule sync" synchronizes all submodules while
174"git submodule sync -- A" synchronizes submodule "A" only.
19a31f9c 175
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176OPTIONS
177-------
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178-q::
179--quiet::
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180 Only print error messages.
181
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182-b::
183--branch::
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184 Branch of repository to add as submodule.
185
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186-f::
187--force::
188 This option is only valid for the add command.
189 Allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path.
190
70c7ac22 191--cached::
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192 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
193 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
194 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
195
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196--files::
197 This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
198 compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
199 when this option is used.
200
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201-n::
202--summary-limit::
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203 This option is only valid for the summary command.
204 Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
51836e9e 205 Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
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206 (the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
207 size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
70c7ac22 208
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209-N::
210--no-fetch::
211 This option is only valid for the update command.
212 Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
213
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214--merge::
215 This option is only valid for the update command.
216 Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch
217 of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will
218 not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
219 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with the
220 usual conflict resolution tools.
221 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `merge`, this option is
222 implicit.
223
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224--rebase::
225 This option is only valid for the update command.
226 Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the
227 superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
6a5d0b0a 228 be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will have
ca2cedba 229 to resolve these failures with linkgit:git-rebase[1].
32948425 230 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
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231 implicit.
232
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233--reference <repository>::
234 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
235 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
236 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
237+
238*NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
239for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s --reference and --shared options carefully.
240
15fc56a8 241--recursive::
64b19ffe 242 This option is only valid for foreach, update and status commands.
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243 Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is performed not
244 only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
245 in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
246
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247<path>...::
248 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
70c7ac22 249 to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
ec05df35 250 (This argument is required with add).
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251
252FILES
253-----
211b7f19 254When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level directory
70c7ac22 255of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
c4585701 256This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
5162e697 257to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
6fbe42c7 258for details.
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259
260
261AUTHOR
262------
263Written by Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com>
264
265GIT
266---
9e1f0a85 267Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite