and if you don't, then linkgit:git-stash[1] can take these changes
away while you're doing the merge, and reapply them afterwards.
-If the changes are independant enough, Git will automatically complete
+If the changes are independent enough, Git will automatically complete
the merge and commit the result (or reuse an existing commit in case
of <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>, see below). On the other hand,
if there are conflicts--for example, if the same file is
Unable to checkout '261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24' in submodule path 'a'
-------------------------------------------------
+In older git versions it could be easily forgotten to commit new or modified
+files in a submodule, which silently leads to similar problems as not pushing
+the submodule changes. Starting with git 1.7.0 both "git status" and "git diff"
+in the superproject show submodules as modified when they contain new or
+modified files to protect against accidentally committing such a state. "git
+diff" will also add a "-dirty" to the work tree side when generating patch
+output or used with the --submodule option:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git diff
+diff --git a/sub b/sub
+--- a/sub
++++ b/sub
+@@ -1 +1 @@
+-Subproject commit 3f356705649b5d566d97ff843cf193359229a453
++Subproject commit 3f356705649b5d566d97ff843cf193359229a453-dirty
+$ git diff --submodule
+Submodule sub 3f35670..3f35670-dirty:
+-------------------------------------------------
+
You also should not rewind branches in a submodule beyond commits that were
ever recorded in any superproject.