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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]
d92a3959 12'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch]
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
ba020ef5 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
ba020ef5 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 and $sha1:
149 $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
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150 $path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
151 superproject, and $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject.
152 Any submodules defined in the superproject but not checked out are
153 ignored by this command. Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name
154 of each submodule before evaluating the command.
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155 If --recursive is given, submodules are traversed recursively (i.e.
156 the given shell command is evaluated in nested submodules as well).
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157 A non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes
158 the processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding '|| :'
159 to the end of the command.
160+
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161As an example, +git submodule foreach \'echo $path {backtick}git
162rev-parse HEAD{backtick}'+ will show the path and currently checked out
163commit for each submodule.
19a31f9c 164
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165sync::
166 Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
167 to the value specified in .gitmodules. This is useful when
168 submodule URLs change upstream and you need to update your local
169 repositories accordingly.
170+
171"git submodule sync" synchronizes all submodules while
172"git submodule sync -- A" synchronizes submodule "A" only.
19a31f9c 173
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174OPTIONS
175-------
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176-q::
177--quiet::
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178 Only print error messages.
179
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180-b::
181--branch::
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182 Branch of repository to add as submodule.
183
70c7ac22 184--cached::
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185 This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
186 commands typically use the commit found in the submodule HEAD, but
187 with this option, the commit stored in the index is used instead.
188
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189--files::
190 This option is only valid for the summary command. This command
191 compares the commit in the index with that in the submodule HEAD
192 when this option is used.
193
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194-n::
195--summary-limit::
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196 This option is only valid for the summary command.
197 Limit the summary size (number of commits shown in total).
51836e9e 198 Giving 0 will disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited
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199 (the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
200 size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
70c7ac22 201
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202-N::
203--no-fetch::
204 This option is only valid for the update command.
205 Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
206
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207--merge::
208 This option is only valid for the update command.
209 Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch
210 of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will
211 not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
212 have to resolve the resulting conflicts within the submodule with the
213 usual conflict resolution tools.
214 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `merge`, this option is
215 implicit.
216
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217--rebase::
218 This option is only valid for the update command.
219 Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the
220 superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not
221 be detached. If a a merge failure prevents this process, you will have
222 to resolve these failures with linkgit:git-rebase[1].
32948425 223 If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
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224 implicit.
225
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226--reference <repository>::
227 This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
228 commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this case,
229 this option will be passed to the linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
230+
231*NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
232for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s --reference and --shared options carefully.
233
15fc56a8 234--recursive::
64b19ffe 235 This option is only valid for foreach, update and status commands.
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236 Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is performed not
237 only in the submodules of the current repo, but also
238 in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so on).
239
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240<path>...::
241 Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
70c7ac22 242 to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.
ec05df35 243 (This argument is required with add).
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244
245FILES
246-----
211b7f19 247When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level directory
70c7ac22 248of the containing repository is used to find the url of each submodule.
c4585701 249This file should be formatted in the same way as `$GIT_DIR/config`. The key
5162e697 250to each submodule url is "submodule.$name.url". See linkgit:gitmodules[5]
6fbe42c7 251for details.
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252
253
254AUTHOR
255------
256Written by Lars Hjemli <hjemli@gmail.com>
257
258GIT
259---
9e1f0a85 260Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite