SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [--] <repository> [<path>]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--] [<path>...]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--] [<path>...]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] summary [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [--] <repository> <path>
+'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
+a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
+at a particular commit.
+
+They are not to be confused with remotes, which are meant mainly
+for branches of the same project; submodules are meant for
+different projects you would like to make part of your source tree,
+while the history of the two projects still stays completely
+independent and you cannot modify the contents of the submodule
+from within the main project.
+If you want to merge the project histories and want to treat the
+aggregated whole as a single project from then on, you may want to
+add a remote for the other project and use the 'subtree' merge strategy,
+instead of treating the other project as a submodule. Directories
+that come from both projects can be cloned and checked out as a whole
+if you choose to go that route.
+
+Submodules are composed from a so-called `gitlink` tree entry
+in the main repository that refers to a particular commit object
+within the inner repository that is completely separate.
+A record in the `.gitmodules` file at the root of the source
+tree assigns a logical name to the submodule and describes
+the default URL the submodule shall be cloned from.
+The logical name can be used for overriding this URL within your
+local repository configuration (see 'submodule init').
+
+This command will manage the tree entries and contents of the
+gitmodules file for you, as well as inspect the status of your
+submodules and update them.
+When adding a new submodule to the tree, the 'add' subcommand
+is to be used. However, when pulling a tree containing submodules,
+these will not be checked out by default;
+the 'init' and 'update' subcommands will maintain submodules
+checked out and at appropriate revision in your working tree.
+You can briefly inspect the up-to-date status of your submodules
+using the 'status' subcommand and get a detailed overview of the
+difference between the index and checkouts using the 'summary'
+subcommand.
COMMANDS
--------
add::
Add the given repository as a submodule at the given path
- to the changeset to be committed next. If path is a valid
- repository within the project, it is added as is. Otherwise,
- repository is cloned at the specified path. path is added to the
- changeset and registered in .gitmodules. If no path is
- specified, the path is deduced from the repository specification.
- If the repository url begins with ./ or ../, it is stored as
- given but resolved as a relative path from the main project's
- url when cloning.
+ to the changeset to be committed next to the current
+ project: the current project is termed the "superproject".
++
+This requires two arguments: <repository> and <path>.
++
+<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 origin
+repository.
++
+<path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to
+exist in the superproject. If <path> does not exist, then the
+submodule is created by cloning from the named URL. If <path> does
+exist and is already a valid git repository, then this is added
+to the changeset without cloning. This second form is provided
+to ease creating a new submodule from scratch, and presumes
+the user will later push the submodule to the given URL.
++
+In either case, 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.
status::
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 linkgit:git-describe[1] for the
+ submodule path and the output of 'git-describe' for the
SHA-1. Each SHA-1 will be prefixed with `-` if the submodule is not
initialized and `+` if the currently checked out submodule commit
does not match the SHA-1 found in the index of the containing
- repository. This command is the default command for git-submodule.
+ repository. This command is the default command for 'git-submodule'.
init::
- Initialize the submodules, i.e. register in .git/config each submodule
- name and url found in .gitmodules. The key used in .git/config is
- `submodule.$name.url`. This command does not alter existing information
- in .git/config.
+ Initialize the submodules, i.e. register each submodule name
+ and url found in .gitmodules into .git/config.
+ The key used in .git/config is `submodule.$name.url`.
+ This command does not alter existing information in .git/config.
+ 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.
update::
Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
(the default). This limit only applies to modified submodules. The
size is always limited to 1 for added/deleted/typechanged submodules.
-<path>::
- Path to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
+<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).
FILES
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