init [--] [<path>...]::
Initialize the submodules recorded in the index (which were
added and committed elsewhere) by setting `submodule.$name.url`
- in .git/config. It uses the same setting from `.gitmodules` as
+ in `.git/config`, using the same setting from `.gitmodules` as
a template. If the URL is relative, it will be resolved using
the default remote. If there is no default remote, the current
repository will be assumed to be upstream.
configured to be active will be initialized, otherwise all submodules are
initialized.
+
-When present, it will also copy the value of `submodule.$name.update`.
-This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
-You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
+It will also copy the value of `submodule.$name.update`, if present in
+the `.gitmodules` file, to `.git/config`, but (1) this command does not
+alter existing information in `.git/config`, and (2) `submodule.$name.update`
+that is set to a custom command is *not* copied for security reasons.
++
+You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in `.git/config`
for your local setup and proceed to `git submodule update`;
you can also just use `git submodule update --init` without
the explicit 'init' step if you do not intend to customize
on command line options and the value of `submodule.<name>.update`
configuration variable. The command line option takes precedence over
the configuration variable. If neither is given, a 'checkout' is performed.
+(note: what is in `.gitmodules` file is irrelevant at this point;
+see `git submodule init` above for how `.gitmodules` is used).
The 'update' procedures supported both from the command line as well as
through the `submodule.<name>.update` configuration are:
merge;; the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged
into the current branch in the submodule.
-The following 'update' procedures are only available via the
-`submodule.<name>.update` configuration variable:
+The following update procedures have additional limitations:
- custom command;; arbitrary shell command that takes a single
- argument (the sha1 of the commit recorded in the
- superproject) is executed. When `submodule.<name>.update`
- is set to '!command', the remainder after the exclamation mark
- is the custom command.
+ custom command;; mechanism for running arbitrary commands with the
+ commit ID as an argument. Specifically, if the
+ `submodule.<name>.update` configuration variable is set to
+ `!custom command`, the object name of the commit recorded in the
+ superproject for the submodule is appended to the `custom command`
+ string and executed. Note that this mechanism is not supported in
+ the `.gitmodules` file or on the command line.
- none;; the submodule is not updated.
+ none;; the submodule is not updated. This update procedure is not
+ allowed on the command line.
If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
setting as stored in `.gitmodules`, you can automatically initialize the
command in the superproject. This is only used by `git
submodule init` to initialize the configuration variable of
the same name. Allowed values here are 'checkout', 'rebase',
- 'merge' or 'none'. See description of 'update' command in
- linkgit:git-submodule[1] for their meaning. For security
- reasons, the '!command' form is not accepted here.
+ 'merge' or 'none', but not '!command' (for security reasons).
+ See the description of the 'update' command in
+ linkgit:git-submodule[1] for more details.
submodule.<name>.branch::
A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.