--------
[verse]
'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b <branch>] [-f|--force] [--name <name>]
- [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
+ [--reference <repository>] [--
depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] deinit [-f|--force] [--] <path>...
'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [--remote] [-N|--no-fetch]
- [-f|--force] [--rebase] [--reference <repository>]
- [--
merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
+ [-f|--force] [--rebase|--merge|--checkout] [--reference <repository>]
+ [--
depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [(-n|--summary-limit) <n>]
[commit] [--] [<path>...]
'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
update::
Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and
- checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
- This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless `--rebase` or
- `--merge` is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
- `rebase`, `merge` or `none`. `none` can be overridden by specifying
- `--checkout`.
+ checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing
+ repository. The update mode defaults to `checkout`, but can be
+ configured with the `submodule.<name>.update` setting or the
+ `--rebase`, `--merge`, or `--checkout` options.
++
+For updates that clone missing submodules, checkout-mode updates will
+create submodules with detached HEADs; all other modes will create
+submodules with a local branch named after `submodule.<path>.branch`.
++
+For updates that do not clone missing submodules, the submodule's HEAD
+is only touched when the remote reference does not match the
+submodule's HEAD (for none-mode updates, the submodule is never
+touched). The remote reference is usually the gitlinked commit from
+the superproject's tree, but with `--remote` it is the upstream
+subproject's `submodule.<name>.branch`. This remote reference is
+integrated with the submodule's HEAD using the specified update mode.
+For checkout-mode updates, that will result in a detached HEAD. For
+rebase- and merge-mode updates, the commit referenced by the
+submodule's HEAD may change, but the symbolic reference will remain
+unchanged (i.e. checked-out branches will still be checked-out
+branches, and detached HEADs will still be detached HEADs). If none
+of the builtin modes fit your needs, set `submodule.<name>.update` to
+`!command` to configure a custom integration command. `command` can
+be any arbitrary shell command that takes a single argument, namely
+the sha1 to update to.
+
If the submodule is not yet initialized, and you just want to use the
setting as stored in .gitmodules, you can automatically initialize the
--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
+ 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 `master`, but the branch name may
be overridden by setting the `submodule.<name>.branch` option in
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::
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 linkgit:git-clone[1]
+
+
<path>...::
Paths to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
to only operate on the submodules found at the specified paths.