Documentation/gitmodules.txt

   1 gitmodules(5)
   2 =============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 gitmodules - Defining submodule properties
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 $GIT_WORK_TREE/.gitmodules
  11
  12
  13 DESCRIPTION
  14 -----------
  15
  16 The `.gitmodules` file, located in the top-level directory of a Git
  17 working tree, is a text file with a syntax matching the requirements
  18 of linkgit:git-config[1].
  19
  20 The file contains one subsection per submodule, and the subsection value
  21 is the name of the submodule. The name is set to the path where the
  22 submodule has been added unless it was customized with the `--name`
  23 option of 'git submodule add'. Each submodule section also contains the
  24 following required keys:
  25
  26 submodule.<name>.path::
  27         Defines the path, relative to the top-level directory of the Git
  28         working tree, where the submodule is expected to be checked out.
  29         The path name must not end with a `/`. All submodule paths must
  30         be unique within the `.gitmodules` file.
  31
  32 submodule.<name>.url::
  33         Defines a URL from which the submodule repository can be cloned.
  34         This may be either an absolute URL ready to be passed to
  35         linkgit:git-clone[1] or (if it begins with `./` or `../`) a location
  36         relative to the superproject's origin repository.
  37
  38 In addition, there are a number of optional keys:
  39
  40 submodule.<name>.update::
  41         Defines the default update procedure for the named submodule,
  42         i.e. how the submodule is updated by the `git submodule update`
  43         command in the superproject. This is only used by `git
  44         submodule init` to initialize the configuration variable of
  45         the same name. Allowed values here are 'checkout', 'rebase',
  46         'merge' or 'none', but not '!command' (for security reasons).
  47         See the description of the 'update' command in
  48         linkgit:git-submodule[1] for more details.
  49
  50 submodule.<name>.branch::
  51         A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.
  52         If the option is not specified, it defaults to the remote `HEAD`.
  53         A special value of `.` is used to indicate that the name of the branch
  54         in the submodule should be the same name as the current branch in the
  55         current repository.  See the `--remote` documentation in
  56         linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
  57
  58 submodule.<name>.fetchRecurseSubmodules::
  59         This option can be used to control recursive fetching of this
  60         submodule. If this option is also present in the submodule's entry in
  61         `.git/config` of the superproject, the setting there will override the
  62         one found in `.gitmodules`.
  63         Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the
  64         `--[no-]recurse-submodules` option to `git fetch` and `git pull`.
  65
  66 submodule.<name>.ignore::
  67         Defines under what circumstances `git status` and the diff family show
  68         a submodule as modified. The following values are supported:
  69 +
  70 --
  71         all;; The submodule will never be considered modified (but will
  72             nonetheless show up in the output of status and commit when it has
  73             been staged).
  74
  75         dirty;; All changes to the submodule's work tree will be ignored, only
  76             committed differences between the `HEAD` of the submodule and its
  77             recorded state in the superproject are taken into account.
  78
  79         untracked;; Only untracked files in submodules will be ignored.
  80             Committed differences and modifications to tracked files will show
  81             up.
  82
  83         none;; No modifications to submodules are ignored, all of committed
  84             differences, and modifications to tracked and untracked files are
  85             shown. This is the default option.
  86
  87 If this option is also present in the submodule's entry in `.git/config`
  88 of the superproject, the setting there will override the one found in
  89 `.gitmodules`.
  90
  91 Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the
  92 `--ignore-submodules` option. The `git submodule` commands are not
  93 affected by this setting.
  94 --
  95
  96 submodule.<name>.shallow::
  97         When set to true, a clone of this submodule will be performed as a
  98         shallow clone (with a history depth of 1) unless the user explicitly
  99         asks for a non-shallow clone.
 100
 101 NOTES
 102 -----
 103
 104 Git does not allow the `.gitmodules` file within a working tree to be a
 105 symbolic link, and will refuse to check out such a tree entry. This
 106 keeps behavior consistent when the file is accessed from the index or a
 107 tree versus from the filesystem, and helps Git reliably enforce security
 108 checks of the file contents.
 109
 110 EXAMPLES
 111 --------
 112
 113 Consider the following `.gitmodules` file:
 114
 115 ----
 116 [submodule "libfoo"]
 117         path = include/foo
 118         url = git://foo.com/git/lib.git
 119
 120 [submodule "libbar"]
 121         path = include/bar
 122         url = git://bar.com/git/lib.git
 123 ----
 124
 125 This defines two submodules, `libfoo` and `libbar`. These are expected to
 126 be checked out in the paths `include/foo` and `include/bar`, and for both
 127 submodules a URL is specified which can be used for cloning the submodules.
 128
 129 SEE ALSO
 130 --------
 131 linkgit:git-submodule[1], linkgit:gitsubmodules[7], linkgit:git-config[1]
 132
 133 GIT
 134 ---
 135 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite