SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [--] <repository> [<path>]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--] [<path>...]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] [init|update] [--] [<path>...]
-'git-submodule' [--quiet] summary [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] add [-b branch] [-f|--force]
+ [--reference <repository>] [--] <repository> [<path>]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] status [--cached] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] init [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] update [--init] [-N|--no-fetch] [--rebase]
+ [--reference <repository>] [--merge] [--recursive] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] summary [--cached|--files] [--summary-limit <n>] [commit] [--] [<path>...]
+'git submodule' [--quiet] foreach [--recursive] <command>
+'git submodule' [--quiet] sync [--] [<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 at least one argument: <repository>. The optional
+argument <path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule
+to exist in the superproject. If <path> is not given, the
+"humanish" part of the source repository is used ("repo" for
+"/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git").
++
+<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'.
++
+If '--recursive' is specified, this command will recurse into nested
+submodules, and show their status as well.
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
checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository.
- This will make the submodules HEAD be detached.
+ This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless '--rebase' or
+ '--merge' is specified or the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to
+ `rebase` or `merge`.
++
+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.
summary::
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.
+ 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).
+
+foreach::
+ Evaluates an arbitrary shell command in each checked out submodule.
+ The command has access to the variables $name, $path, $sha1 and
+ $toplevel:
+ $name is the name of the relevant submodule section in .gitmodules,
+ $path is the name of the submodule directory relative to the
+ superproject, $sha1 is the commit as recorded in the superproject,
+ and $toplevel is the absolute path to the top-level of the superproject.
+ 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, +git submodule foreach \'echo $path {backtick}git
+rev-parse HEAD{backtick}'+ will show the path and currently checked out
+commit for each submodule.
+
+sync::
+ Synchronizes submodules' remote URL configuration setting
+ to the value specified in .gitmodules. 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.
OPTIONS
-------
--q, --quiet::
+-q::
+--quiet::
Only print error messages.
--b, --branch::
+-b::
+--branch::
Branch of repository to add as submodule.
+-f::
+--force::
+ This option is only valid for the add command.
+ Allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path.
+
--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.
--n, --summary-limit::
+--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.
-<path>::
- Path to submodule(s). When specified this will restrict the command
+-N::
+--no-fetch::
+ This option is only valid for the update command.
+ Don't fetch new objects from the remote site.
+
+--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 linkgit:git-rebase[1].
+ If the key `submodule.$name.update` is set to `rebase`, this option is
+ implicit.
+
+--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 linkgit:git-clone[1] command.
++
+*NOTE*: Do *not* use this option unless you have read the note
+for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s --reference and --shared options carefully.
+
+--recursive::
+ This option is only valid for foreach, update and status 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).
+
+<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
-----
GIT
---
-Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite