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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMANDS | OPTIONS | FILES | SEE ALSO | GIT | COLOPHON |
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GIT-SUBMODULE(1) Git Manual GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
git-submodule - Initialize, update or inspect submodules
git submodule [--quiet] [--cached]
git submodule [--quiet] add [<options>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
git submodule [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
git submodule [--quiet] update [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] set-branch [<options>] [--] <path>
git submodule [--quiet] set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
git submodule [--quiet] summary [<options>] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
git submodule [--quiet] sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
git submodule [--quiet] absorbgitdirs [--] [<path>...]
Inspects, updates and manages submodules.
For more information about submodules, see gitsubmodules(7).
With no arguments, shows the status of existing submodules.
Several subcommands are available to perform operations on the
submodules.
add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>] [--reference
<repository>] [--ref-format <format>] [--depth <depth>] [--]
<repository> [<path>]
Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path to
the changeset to be committed next to the current project: the
current project is termed the "superproject".
<repository> is the URL of the new submodule’s origin
repository. This may be either an absolute URL, or (if it
begins with ./ or ../), the location relative to the
superproject’s default remote repository (Please note that to
specify a repository foo.git which is located right next to a
superproject bar.git, you’ll have to use ../foo.git instead of
./foo.git - as one might expect when following the rules for
relative URLs - because the evaluation of relative URLs in Git
is identical to that of relative directories).
The default remote is the remote of the remote-tracking branch
of the current branch. If no such remote-tracking branch
exists or the HEAD is detached, "origin" is assumed to be the
default remote. If the superproject doesn’t have a default
remote configured the superproject is its own authoritative
upstream and the current working directory is used instead.
The optional argument <path> is the relative location for the
cloned submodule to exist in the superproject. If <path> is
not given, the canonical part of the source repository is used
("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for
"host.xz:foo/.git"). If <path> exists and is already a valid
Git repository, then it is staged for commit without cloning.
The <path> is also used as the submodule’s logical name in its
configuration entries unless --name is used to specify a
logical name.
The given URL is recorded into .gitmodules for use by
subsequent users cloning the superproject. If the URL is given
relative to the superproject’s repository, the presumption is
the superproject and submodule repositories will be kept
together in the same relative location, and only the
superproject’s URL needs to be provided. git-submodule will
correctly locate the submodule using the relative URL in
.gitmodules.
If --ref-format <format> is specified, the ref storage format
of newly cloned submodules will be set accordingly.
status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
Show the status of the submodules. This will print the SHA-1
of the currently checked out commit for each submodule, along
with the submodule path and the output of git describe for the
SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will possibly be prefixed with - if the
submodule is not initialized, + if the currently checked out
submodule commit does not match the SHA-1 found in the index
of the containing repository and U if the submodule has merge
conflicts.
If --cached is specified, this command will instead print the
SHA-1 recorded in the superproject for each submodule.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into
nested submodules, and show their status as well.
If you are only interested in changes of the currently
initialized submodules with respect to the commit recorded in
the index or the HEAD, git-status(1) and git-diff(1) will
provide that information too (and can also report changes to a
submodule’s work tree).
init [--] [<path>...]
Initialize the submodules recorded in the index (which were
added and committed elsewhere) by setting submodule.$name.url
in .git/config, using the same setting from .gitmodules as a
template. If the URL is relative, it will be resolved using
the default remote. If there is no default remote, the current
repository will be assumed to be upstream.
Optional <path> arguments limit which submodules will be
initialized. If no path is specified and submodule.active has
been configured, submodules configured to be active will be
initialized, otherwise all submodules are initialized.
It will also copy the value of submodule.$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.$name.update that is set to a custom command
is not copied for security reasons.
You can then customize the submodule clone URLs in .git/config
for your local setup and proceed to git submodule update; you
can also just use git submodule update --init without the
explicit init step if you do not intend to customize any
submodule locations.
See the add subcommand for the definition of default remote.
deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>...)
Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole
submodule.$name section from .git/config together with their
work tree. Further calls to git submodule update, git
submodule foreach and git submodule sync will skip any
unregistered submodules until they are initialized again, so
use this command if you don’t want to have a local checkout of
the submodule in your working tree anymore.
When the command is run without pathspec, it errors out,
instead of deinit-ing everything, to prevent mistakes.
If --force is specified, the submodule’s working tree will be
removed even if it contains local modifications.
If you really want to remove a submodule from the repository
and commit that use git-rm(1) instead. See gitsubmodules(7)
for removal options.
update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch]
[--[no-]recommend-shallow] [-f|--force]
[--checkout|--rebase|--merge] [--reference <repository>]
[--ref-format <format>] [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--jobs
<n>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--filter <filter-spec>] [--]
[<path>...]
Update the registered submodules to match what the
superproject expects by cloning missing submodules, fetching
missing commits in submodules and updating the working tree of
the submodules. The "updating" can be done in several ways
depending 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:
checkout
the commit recorded in the superproject will be checked
out in the submodule on a detached HEAD.
If --force is specified, the submodule will be checked out
(using git checkout --force), even if the commit specified
in the index of the containing repository already matches
the commit checked out in the submodule.
rebase
the current branch of the submodule will be rebased onto
the commit recorded in the superproject.
merge
the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged
into the current branch in the submodule.
The following update procedures have additional limitations:
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. 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 submodule with the --init option.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into
the registered submodules, and update any nested submodules
within.
If --ref-format <format> is specified, the ref storage format
of newly cloned submodules will be set accordingly.
If --filter <filter-spec> is specified, the given partial
clone filter will be applied to the submodule. See
git-rev-list(1) for details on filter specifications.
set-branch (-b|--branch) <branch> [--] <path>, set-branch
(-d|--default) [--] <path>
Sets the default remote tracking branch for the submodule. The
--branch option allows the remote branch to be specified. The
--default option removes the submodule.<name>.branch
configuration key, which causes the tracking branch to default
to the remote HEAD.
set-url [--] <path> <newurl>
Sets the URL of the specified submodule to <newurl>. Then, it
will automatically synchronize the submodule’s new remote URL
configuration.
summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>] [commit]
[--] [<path>...]
Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to
HEAD) and working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a
series of commits in the submodule between the given super
project commit and the index or working tree (switched by
--cached) are shown. If the option --files is given, show the
series of commits in the submodule between the index of the
super project and the working tree of the submodule (this
option doesn’t allow to use the --cached option or to provide
an explicit commit).
Using the --submodule=log option with git-diff(1) will provide
that information too.
foreach [--recursive] <command>
Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out
submodule. The command has access to the variables $name,
$sm_path, $displaypath, $sha1 and $toplevel: $name is the name
of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules, $sm_path is
the path of the submodule as recorded in the immediate
superproject, $displaypath contains the relative path from the
current working directory to the submodules root directory,
$sha1 is the commit as recorded in the immediate superproject,
and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level of the
immediate superproject. Note that to avoid conflicts with
$PATH on Windows, the $path variable is now a deprecated
synonym of $sm_path variable. Any submodules defined in the
superproject but not checked out are ignored by this command.
Unless given --quiet, foreach prints the name of each
submodule before evaluating the command. If --recursive is
given, submodules are traversed recursively (i.e. the given
shell command is evaluated in nested submodules as well). A
non-zero return from the command in any submodule causes the
processing to terminate. This can be overridden by adding || :
to the end of the command.
As an example, the command below will show the path and
currently checked out commit for each submodule:
git submodule foreach 'echo $sm_path `git rev-parse HEAD`'
sync [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting to
the value specified in .gitmodules. It will only affect those
submodules which already have a URL entry in .git/config (that
is the case when they are initialized or freshly added). This
is useful when submodule URLs change upstream and you need to
update your local repositories accordingly.
git submodule sync synchronizes all submodules while git
submodule sync -- A synchronizes submodule "A" only.
If --recursive is specified, this command will recurse into
the registered submodules, and sync any nested submodules
within.
absorbgitdirs
If a git directory of a submodule is inside the submodule,
move the git directory of the submodule into its
superproject’s $GIT_DIR/modules path and then connect the git
directory and its working directory by setting the
core.worktree and adding a .git file pointing to the git
directory embedded in the superprojects git directory.
A repository that was cloned independently and later added as
a submodule or old setups have the submodules git directory
inside the submodule instead of embedded into the
superprojects git directory.
This command is recursive by default.
-q, --quiet
Only print error messages.
--progress
This option is only valid for add and update commands.
Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by
default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q is
specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
--all
This option is only valid for the deinit command. Unregister
all submodules in the working tree.
-b <branch>, --branch <branch>
Branch of repository to add as submodule. The name of the
branch is recorded as submodule.<name>.branch in .gitmodules
for update --remote. A special value of . is used to indicate
that the name of the branch in the submodule should be the
same name as the current branch in the current repository. If
the option is not specified, it defaults to the remote HEAD.
-f, --force
This option is only valid for add, deinit and update commands.
When running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule
path. This option is also used to bypass a check that the
submodule’s name is not already in use. By default, git
submodule add will fail if the proposed name (which is derived
from the path) is already registered for another submodule in
the repository. Using --force allows the command to proceed by
automatically generating a unique name by appending a number
to the conflicting name (e.g., if a submodule named child
exists, it will try child1, and so on). When running deinit
the submodule working trees will be removed even if they
contain local changes. When running update (only effective
with the checkout procedure), throw away local changes in
submodules when switching to a different commit; and always
run a checkout operation in the submodule, even if the commit
listed in the index of the containing repository matches the
commit checked out in the submodule.
--cached
This option is only valid for status and summary commands.
These commands typically use the commit found in the submodule
HEAD, but with this option, the commit stored in the index is
used instead.
--files
This option is only valid for the summary command. This
command compares the commit in the index with that in the
submodule HEAD when this option is used.
-n, --summary-limit
This option is only valid for the summary command. Limit the
summary size (number of commits shown in total). Giving 0 will
disable the summary; a negative number means unlimited (the
default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged
submodules.
--remote
This option is only valid for the update command. Instead of
using the superproject’s recorded SHA-1 to update the
submodule, use the status of the submodule’s remote-tracking
branch. The remote used is branch’s remote
(branch.<name>.remote), defaulting to origin. The remote
branch used defaults to the remote HEAD, but the branch name
may be overridden by setting the submodule.<name>.branch
option in either .gitmodules or .git/config (with .git/config
taking precedence).
This works for any of the supported update procedures
(--checkout, --rebase, etc.). The only change is the source of
the target SHA-1. For example, submodule update --remote
--merge will merge upstream submodule changes into the
submodules, while submodule update --merge will merge
superproject gitlink changes into the submodules.
In order to ensure a current tracking branch state, update
--remote fetches the submodule’s remote repository before
calculating the SHA-1. If you don’t want to fetch, you should
use submodule update --remote --no-fetch.
Use this option to integrate changes from the upstream
subproject with your submodule’s current HEAD. Alternatively,
you can run git pull from the submodule, which is equivalent
except for the remote branch name: update --remote uses the
default upstream repository and submodule.<name>.branch, while
git pull uses the submodule’s branch.<name>.merge. Prefer
submodule.<name>.branch if you want to distribute the default
upstream branch with the superproject and branch.<name>.merge
if you want a more native feel while working in the submodule
itself.
-N, --no-fetch
This option is only valid for the update command. Don’t fetch
new objects from the remote site.
--checkout
This option is only valid for the update command. Checkout the
commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD in the
submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of this
option is to override submodule.$name.update when set to a
value other than checkout. If the key submodule.$name.update
is either not explicitly set or set to checkout, this option
is implicit.
--merge
This option is only valid for the update command. Merge the
commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch of
the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule’s HEAD
will not be detached. If a merge failure prevents this
process, you will have to resolve the resulting conflicts
within the submodule with the usual conflict resolution tools.
If the key submodule.$name.update is set to merge, this option
is implicit.
--rebase
This option is only valid for the update command. Rebase the
current branch onto the commit recorded in the superproject.
If this option is given, the submodule’s HEAD will not be
detached. If a merge failure prevents this process, you will
have to resolve these failures with git-rebase(1). If the key
submodule.$name.update is set to rebase, this option is
implicit.
--init
This option is only valid for the update command. Initialize
all submodules for which "git submodule init" has not been
called so far before updating.
--name
This option is only valid for the add command. It sets the
submodule’s name to the given string instead of defaulting to
its path. The name must be valid as a directory name and may
not end with a /.
--reference <repository>
This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this
case, this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
NOTE: Do not use this option unless you have read the note for
git-clone(1)'s --reference, --shared, and --dissociate options
carefully.
--dissociate
This option is only valid for add and update commands. These
commands sometimes need to clone a remote repository. In this
case, this option will be passed to the git-clone(1) command.
NOTE: see the NOTE for the --reference option.
--recursive
This option is only valid for foreach, update, status and sync
commands. Traverse submodules recursively. The operation is
performed not only in the submodules of the current repo, but
also in any nested submodules inside those submodules (and so
on).
--depth
This option is valid for add and update commands. Create a
shallow clone with a history truncated to the specified number
of revisions. See git-clone(1)
--[no-]recommend-shallow
This option is only valid for the update command. The initial
clone of a submodule will use the recommended
submodule.<name>.shallow as provided by the .gitmodules file
by default. To ignore the suggestions use
--no-recommend-shallow.
-j <n>, --jobs <n>
This option is only valid for the update command. Clone new
submodules in parallel with as many jobs. Defaults to the
submodule.fetchJobs option.
--[no-]single-branch
This option is only valid for the update command. Clone only
one branch during update: HEAD or one specified by --branch.
<path>...
Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the
command to only operate on the submodules found at the
specified paths. (This argument is required with add).
When initializing submodules, a .gitmodules file in the top-level
directory of the containing repository is used to find the url of
each submodule. This file should be formatted in the same way as
$GIT_DIR/config. The key to each submodule url is
"submodule.$name.url". See gitmodules(5) for details.
gitsubmodules(7), gitmodules(5).
Part of the git(1) suite
This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
system) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩. This page was obtained
from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that time,
the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2025-08-07.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
Git 2.51.0.rc1 2025-08-07 GIT-SUBMODULE(1)
Pages that refer to this page: git(1), git-checkout(1), git-config(1), git-diff(1), git-diff-files(1), git-diff-index(1), git-diff-pairs(1), git-diff-tree(1), git-log(1), git-rm(1), git-show(1), git-status(1), git-switch(1), gitmodules(5), gitglossary(7), gitsubmodules(7)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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