GITMODULES(5) Git Manual GITMODULES(5)
NAME
gitmodules - defining submodule properties
SYNOPSIS
$GIT_WORK_DIR/.gitmodules
DESCRIPTION
The .gitmodules file, located in the top-level directory of a Git working tree, is a text file with a syntax matching the requirements of
git-config(1).
The file contains one subsection per submodule, and the subsection value is the name of the submodule. The name is set to the path where
the submodule has been added unless it was customized with the --name option of git submodule add. Each submodule section also contains the
following required keys:
submodule.<name>.path
Defines the path, relative to the top-level directory of the Git working tree, where the submodule is expected to be checked out. The
path name must not end with a /. All submodule paths must be unique within the .gitmodules file.
submodule.<name>.url
Defines a URL from which the submodule repository can be cloned. This may be either an absolute URL ready to be passed to git-clone(1)
or (if it begins with ./ or ../) a location relative to the superproject's origin repository.
In addition, there are a number of optional keys:
submodule.<name>.update
Defines the default update procedure for the named submodule, i.e. how the submodule is updated by "git submodule update" command in
the superproject. This is only used by git submodule init to initialize the configuration variable of the same name. Allowed values
here are checkout, rebase, merge or none. See description of update command in git-submodule(1) for their meaning. Note that the
!command form is intentionally ignored here for security reasons.
submodule.<name>.branch
A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule. If the option is not specified, it defaults to master. A special
value of . is used to indicate that the name of the branch in the submodule should be the same name as the current branch in the
current repository. See the --remote documentation in git-submodule(1) for details.
submodule.<name>.fetchRecurseSubmodules
This option can be used to control recursive fetching of this submodule. If this option is also present in the submodules entry in
.git/config of the superproject, the setting there will override the one found in .gitmodules. Both settings can be overridden on the
command line by using the "--[no-]recurse-submodules" option to "git fetch" and "git pull".
submodule.<name>.ignore
Defines under what circumstances "git status" and the diff family show a submodule as modified. The following values are supported:
all
The submodule will never be considered modified (but will nonetheless show up in the output of status and commit when it has been
staged).
dirty
All changes to the submodule's work tree will be ignored, only committed differences between the HEAD of the submodule and its
recorded state in the superproject are taken into account.
untracked
Only untracked files in submodules will be ignored. Committed differences and modifications to tracked files will show up.
none
No modifiations to submodules are ignored, all of committed differences, and modifications to tracked and untracked files are
shown. This is the default option.
If this option is also present in the submodules entry in .git/config
of the superproject, the setting there will override the one found in
.gitmodules.
Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the
"--ignore-submodule" option. The 'git submodule' commands are not
affected by this setting.
submodule.<name>.shallow
When set to true, a clone of this submodule will be performed as a shallow clone (with a history depth of 1) unless the user explicitly
asks for a non-shallow clone.
EXAMPLES
Consider the following .gitmodules file:
[submodule "libfoo"]
path = include/foo
url = git://foo.com/git/lib.git
[submodule "libbar"]
path = include/bar
url = git://bar.com/git/lib.git
This defines two submodules, libfoo and libbar. These are expected to be checked out in the paths include/foo and include/bar, and for both
submodules a URL is specified which can be used for cloning the submodules.
SEE ALSO
git-submodule(1) git-config(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.17.1 10/05/2018 GITMODULES(5)