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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]
681b036f 12'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>]
1414e578 13 [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
64b19ffe 14'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
b1889c36 15'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
cf419828 16'git submodule' [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] [--] <path>...
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17'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch]
18 [-f|--force] [--rebase] [--reference <repository>]
19 [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
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20'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
21 [commit] [--] [<path>...]
15fc56a8 22'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
2327f61e 23'git submodule' [--quiet] sync [--] [<path>...]
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24
25
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26DESCRIPTION
27-----------
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28Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
29a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
30at a particular commit.
31
32They are not to be confused with remotes, which are meant mainly
33for branches of the same project; submodules are meant for
34different projects you would like to make part of your source tree,
35while the history of the two projects still stays completely
36independent and you cannot modify the contents of the submodule
37from within the main project.
38If you want to merge the project histories and want to treat the
39aggregated whole as a single project from then on, you may want to
40add a remote for the other project and use the 'subtree' merge strategy,
41instead of treating the other project as a submodule. Directories
42that come from both projects can be cloned and checked out as a whole
43if you choose to go that route.
44
45Submodules are composed from a so-called `gitlink` tree entry
46in the main repository that refers to a particular commit object
47within the inner repository that is completely separate.
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48A record in the `.gitmodules` (see linkgit:gitmodules[5]) file at the
49root of the source tree assigns a logical name to the submodule and
50describes the default URL the submodule shall be cloned from.
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51The logical name can be used for overriding this URL within your
52local repository configuration (see 'submodule init').
53
54This command will manage the tree entries and contents of the
55gitmodules file for you, as well as inspect the status of your
56submodules and update them.
57When adding a new submodule to the tree, the 'add' subcommand
58is to be used. However, when pulling a tree containing submodules,
59these will not be checked out by default;
60the 'init' and 'update' subcommands will maintain submodules
61checked out and at appropriate revision in your working tree.
62You can briefly inspect the up-to-date status of your submodules
63using the 'status' subcommand and get a detailed overview of the
64difference between the index and checkouts using the 'summary'
65subcommand.
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66
67
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68COMMANDS
69--------
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70add::
71 Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
ec05df35 72 to the changeset to be committed next to the current
77ef80a8 73 project: the current project is termed the "superproject".
ec05df35 74+
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75This requires at least one argument: <repository>. The optional
76argument <path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule
77to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not given, the
78"humanish" part of the source repository is used ("repo" for
79"/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git").
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80+
81<repository> is the URL of the new submodule's origin repository.
82This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it begins with ./
83or ../), the location relative to the superproject's origin
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84repository (Please note that to specify a repository 'foo.git'
85which is located right next to a superproject 'bar.git', you'll
86have to use '../foo.git' instead of './foo.git' - as one might expect
87when following the rules for relative URLs - because the evaluation
88of relative URLs in Git is identical to that of relative directories).
89If the superproject doesn't have an origin configured
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90the superproject is its own authoritative upstream and the current
91working directory is used instead.
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92+
93<path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to
94exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist, then the
95submodule is created by cloning from the named URL. If <path> does
2de9b711 96exist and is already a valid Git repository, then this is added
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97to the changeset without cloning. This second form is provided
98to ease creating a new submodule from scratch, and presumes
99the user will later push the submodule to the given URL.
100+
101In either case, the given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for
102use by subsequent users cloning the superproject. If the URL is
103given relative to the superproject's repository, the presumption
104is the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
105together in the same relative location, and only the
04c8ce9c 106superproject's URL needs to be provided: git-submodule will correctly
ec05df35 107locate the submodule using the relative URL in .gitmodules.
ecda0723 108
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109status::
110 Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1 of the
111 currently checked out commit for each submodule, along with the
0b444cdb 112 submodule path and the output of 'git describe' for the
70c7ac22 113 SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is not
313ee0d6 114 initialized, `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
70c7ac22 115 does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
313ee0d6 116 repository and `U` if the submodule has merge conflicts.
64b19ffe 117+
402e8a6d 118If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into nested
64b19ffe 119submodules, and show their status as well.
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120+
121If you are only interested in changes of the currently initialized
122submodules with respect to the commit recorded in the index or the HEAD,
123linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-diff[1] will provide that information
124too (and can also report changes to a submodule's work tree).
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125
126init::
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127 Initialize the submodules, i.e. register each submodule name
128 and url found in .gitmodules into .git/config.
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129 It will also copy the value of `submodule.$name.update` into
130 .git/config.
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131 The key used in .git/config is `submodule.$name.url`.
132 This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
133 You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
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134 for your local setup and proceed to `git submodule update`;
135 you can also just use `git submodule update --init` without
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136 the explicit 'init' step if you do not intend to customize
137 any submodule locations.
70c7ac22 138
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139deinit::
140 Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole
141 `submodule.$name` section from .git/config together with their work
142 tree. Further calls to `git submodule update`, `git submodule foreach`
143 and `git submodule sync` will skip any unregistered submodules until
144 they are initialized again, so use this command if you don't want to
145 have a local checkout of the submodule in your work tree anymore. If
146 you really want to remove a submodule from the repository and commit
147 that use linkgit:git-rm[1] instead.
148+
149If `--force` is specified, the submodule's work tree will be removed even if
150it contains local modifications.
151
70c7ac22 152update::
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153 Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
154 checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
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155 This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless `--rebase` or
156 `--merge` is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
8d8136c3 157 `rebase`, `merge` or `none`. `none` can be overridden by specifying
e6a1c43a 158 `--checkout`.
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159+
160If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
161setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
402e8a6d 162submodule with the `--init` option.
b13fd5c1 163+
402e8a6d 164If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into the
b13fd5c1 165registered submodules, and update any nested submodules within.
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166+
167If `--force` is specified, the submodule will be checked out (using
168`git checkout --force` if appropriate), even if the commit specified in the
169index of the containing repository already matches the commit checked out in
170the submodule.
70c7ac22 171
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172summary::
173 Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
174 working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
175 in the submodule between the given super project commit and the
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176 index or working tree (switched by `--cached`) are shown. If the option
177 `--files` is given, show the series of commits in the submodule between
ef92e1a4 178 the index of the super project and the working tree of the submodule
402e8a6d 179 (this option doesn't allow to use the `--cached` option or to provide an
1c244f6e 180 explicit commit).
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181+
182Using the `--submodule=log` option with linkgit:git-diff[1] will provide that
183information too.
70c7ac22 184
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185foreach::
186 Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
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187 The command has access to the variables $name, $path, $sha1 and
188 $toplevel:
1e7f2aad 189 $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
19a31f9c 190 $path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
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191 superproject, $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject,
192 and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level of the superproject.
19a31f9c 193 Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
402e8a6d 194 ignored by this command. Unless given `--quiet`, foreach prints the name
19a31f9c 195 of each submodule before evaluating the command.
402e8a6d 196 If `--recursive` is given, submodules are traversed recursively (i.e.
15fc56a8 197 the given shell command is evaluated in nested submodules as well).
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198 A non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes
199 the processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding '|| :'
200 to the end of the command.
201+
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202As an example, +git submodule foreach \'echo $path {backtick}git
203rev-parse HEAD{backtick}'+ will show the path and currently checked out
204commit for each submodule.
19a31f9c 205
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206sync::
207 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
ccee6086 208 to the value specified in .gitmodules. It will only affect those
a7793a74 209 submodules which already have a URL entry in .git/config (that is the
ccee6086 210 case when they are initialized or freshly added). This is useful when
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211 submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update your local
212 repositories accordingly.
213+
214"git submodule sync" synchronizes all submodules while
565e135a 215"git submodule sync \-- A" synchronizes submodule "A" only.
19a31f9c 216
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217OPTIONS
218-------
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219-q::
220--quiet::
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221 Only print error messages.
222
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223-b::
224--branch::
ecda0723 225 Branch of repository to add as submodule.
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226 The name of the branch is recorded as `submodule.<path>.branch` in
227 `.gitmodules` for `update --remote`.
ecda0723 228
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229-f::
230--force::
cf419828 231 This option is only valid for add, deinit and update commands.
9db31bdf 232 When running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path.
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233 When running deinit the submodule work trees will be removed even if
234 they contain local changes.
9db31bdf 235 When running update, throw away local changes in submodules when
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236 switching to a different commit; and always run a checkout operation
237 in the submodule, even if the commit listed in the index of the
238 containing repository matches the commit checked out in the submodule.
d27b876b 239
70c7ac22 240--cached::
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241 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
242 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
243 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
244
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245--files::
246 This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
247 compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
248 when this option is used.
249
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250-n::
251--summary-limit::
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252 This option is only valid for the summary command.
253 Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
51836e9e 254 Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
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255 (the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
256 size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
70c7ac22 257
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258--remote::
259 This option is only valid for the update command. Instead of using
260 the superproject's recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the
261 status of the submodule's remote tracking branch. The remote used
262 is branch's remote (`branch.<name>.remote`), defaulting to `origin`.
263 The remote branch used defaults to `master`, but the branch name may
264 be overridden by setting the `submodule.<name>.branch` option in
265 either `.gitmodules` or `.git/config` (with `.git/config` taking
266 precedence).
267+
268This works for any of the supported update procedures (`--checkout`,
269`--rebase`, etc.). The only change is the source of the target SHA-1.
270For example, `submodule update --remote --merge` will merge upstream
271submodule changes into the submodules, while `submodule update
272--merge` will merge superproject gitlink changes into the submodules.
273+
274In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, `update --remote`
275fetches the submodule's remote repository before calculating the
276SHA-1. If you don't want to fetch, you should use `submodule update
277--remote --no-fetch`.
278
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279-N::
280--no-fetch::
281 This option is only valid for the update command.
282 Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
283
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284--merge::
285 This option is only valid for the update command.
286 Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch
287 of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will
288 not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
289 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with the
290 usual conflict resolution tools.
291 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `merge`, this option is
292 implicit.
293
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294--rebase::
295 This option is only valid for the update command.
296 Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the
297 superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
6a5d0b0a 298 be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will have
ca2cedba 299 to resolve these failures with linkgit:git-rebase[1].
32948425 300 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
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301 implicit.
302
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303--init::
304 This option is only valid for the update command.
305 Initialize all submodules for which "git submodule init" has not been
306 called so far before updating.
307
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308--name::
309 This option is only valid for the add command. It sets the submodule's
310 name to the given string instead of defaulting to its path. The name
311 must be valid as a directory name and may not end with a '/'.
312
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313--reference <repository>::
314 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
315 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
316 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
317+
318*NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
402e8a6d 319for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s `--reference` and `--shared` options carefully.
d92a3959 320
15fc56a8 321--recursive::
64b19ffe 322 This option is only valid for foreach, update and status commands.
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323 Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is performed not
324 only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
325 in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
326
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327<path>...::
328 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
70c7ac22 329 to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
ec05df35 330 (This argument is required with add).
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331
332FILES
333-----
211b7f19 334When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level directory
70c7ac22 335of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
c4585701 336This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
5162e697 337to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
6fbe42c7 338for details.
70c7ac22 339
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340GIT
341---
9e1f0a85 342Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite