Documentation / gitmodules.txton commit Merge branch 'xf/user-manual-ff' into maint (684fea3)
   1gitmodules(5)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6gitmodules - defining submodule properties
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10$GIT_WORK_DIR/.gitmodules
  11
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15
  16The `.gitmodules` file, located in the top-level directory of a Git
  17working tree, is a text file with a syntax matching the requirements
  18of linkgit:git-config[1].
  19
  20The file contains one subsection per submodule, and the subsection value
  21is the name of the submodule. The name is set to the path where the
  22submodule has been added unless it was customized with the '--name'
  23option of 'git submodule add'. Each submodule section also contains the
  24following required keys:
  25
  26submodule.<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
  32submodule.<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
  38In addition, there are a number of optional keys:
  39
  40submodule.<name>.update::
  41        Defines the default update procedure for the named submodule,
  42        i.e. how the submodule is updated by "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'. See description of 'update' command in
  47        linkgit:git-submodule[1] for their meaning. Note that the
  48        '!command' form is intentionally ignored here for security
  49        reasons.
  50
  51submodule.<name>.branch::
  52        A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule.
  53        If the option is not specified, it defaults to 'master'.  See the
  54        `--remote` documentation in linkgit:git-submodule[1] for details.
  55
  56submodule.<name>.fetchRecurseSubmodules::
  57        This option can be used to control recursive fetching of this
  58        submodule. If this option is also present in the submodules entry in
  59        .git/config of the superproject, the setting there will override the
  60        one found in .gitmodules.
  61        Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the
  62        "--[no-]recurse-submodules" option to "git fetch" and "git pull".
  63
  64submodule.<name>.ignore::
  65        Defines under what circumstances "git status" and the diff family show
  66        a submodule as modified. When set to "all", it will never be considered
  67        modified (but will nonetheless show up in the output of status and
  68        commit when it has been staged), "dirty" will ignore all changes
  69        to the submodules work tree and
  70        takes only differences between the HEAD of the submodule and the commit
  71        recorded in the superproject into account. "untracked" will additionally
  72        let submodules with modified tracked files in their work tree show up.
  73        Using "none" (the default when this option is not set) also shows
  74        submodules that have untracked files in their work tree as changed.
  75        If this option is also present in the submodules entry in .git/config of
  76        the superproject, the setting there will override the one found in
  77        .gitmodules.
  78        Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the
  79        "--ignore-submodule" option. The 'git submodule' commands are not
  80        affected by this setting.
  81
  82
  83EXAMPLES
  84--------
  85
  86Consider the following .gitmodules file:
  87
  88        [submodule "libfoo"]
  89                path = include/foo
  90                url = git://foo.com/git/lib.git
  91
  92        [submodule "libbar"]
  93                path = include/bar
  94                url = git://bar.com/git/lib.git
  95
  96
  97This defines two submodules, `libfoo` and `libbar`. These are expected to
  98be checked out in the paths 'include/foo' and 'include/bar', and for both
  99submodules a URL is specified which can be used for cloning the submodules.
 100
 101SEE ALSO
 102--------
 103linkgit:git-submodule[1] linkgit:git-config[1]
 104
 105GIT
 106---
 107Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite