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-rw-r--r--Documentation/git-submodule.txt121
1 files changed, 72 insertions, 49 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
index 8e6af65da0..1572f058f5 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-submodule.txt
@@ -25,22 +25,17 @@ SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Submodules allow foreign repositories to be embedded within
-a dedicated subdirectory of the source tree, always pointed
-at a particular commit.
+Inspects, updates and manages submodules.
-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.
+A submodule allows you to keep another Git repository in a subdirectory
+of your repository. The other repository has its own history, which does not
+interfere with the history of the current repository. This can be used to
+have external dependencies such as third party libraries for example.
+
+When cloning or pulling a repository containing submodules however,
+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.
Submodules are composed from a so-called `gitlink` tree entry
in the main repository that refers to a particular commit object
@@ -51,19 +46,18 @@ 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.
-
+Submodules are not to be confused with remotes, which are other
+repositories 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.
COMMANDS
--------
@@ -154,27 +148,51 @@ If `--force` is specified, the submodule's work tree will be removed even if
it contains local modifications.
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.$name.update` is set to
- `rebase`, `merge` or `none`. `none` can be overridden by specifying
- `--checkout`. Setting the key `submodule.$name.update` to `!command`
- will cause `command` to be run. `command` can be any arbitrary shell
- command that takes a single argument, namely the sha1 to update to.
+
+--
+Update the registered submodules to match what the superproject
+expects by cloning missing submodules and updating the working tree of
+the submodules. The "updating" can be done in several ways depending
+on command line options and the value of `submodule.<name>.update`
+configuration variable. Supported update procedures are:
+
+ checkout;; the commit recorded in the superproject will be
+ checked out in the submodule on a detached HEAD. This is
+ done when `--checkout` option is given, or no option is
+ given, and `submodule.<name>.update` is unset, or if it is
+ set to 'checkout'.
++
+If `--force` is specified, the submodule will be checked out (using
+`git checkout --force` if appropriate), even if the commit specified
+in the index of the containing repository already matches the commit
+checked out in the submodule.
+
+ rebase;; the current branch of the submodule will be rebased
+ onto the commit recorded in the superproject. This is done
+ when `--rebase` option is given, or no option is given, and
+ `submodule.<name>.update` is set to 'rebase'.
+
+ merge;; the commit recorded in the superproject will be merged
+ into the current branch in the submodule. This is done
+ when `--merge` option is given, or no option is given, and
+ `submodule.<name>.update` is set to 'merge'.
+
+ custom command;; arbitrary shell command that takes a single
+ argument (the sha1 of the commit recorded in the
+ superproject) is executed. This is done when no option is
+ given, and `submodule.<name>.update` has the form of
+ '!command'.
+
+When no option is given and `submodule.<name>.update` is set to 'none',
+the submodule is not updated.
+
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.
-+
-If `--force` is specified, the submodule will be checked out (using
-`git checkout --force` if appropriate), even if the commit specified in the
-index of the containing repository already matches the commit checked out in
-the submodule.
-
+--
summary::
Show commit summary between the given commit (defaults to HEAD) and
working tree/index. For a submodule in question, a series of commits
@@ -219,6 +237,9 @@ sync::
+
"git submodule sync" synchronizes all submodules while
"git submodule sync \-- A" synchronizes submodule "A" only.
++
+If `--recursive` is specified, this command will recurse into the
+registered submodules, and sync any nested submodules within.
OPTIONS
-------
@@ -238,10 +259,12 @@ OPTIONS
When running add, allow adding an otherwise ignored submodule path.
When running deinit the submodule work trees will be removed even if
they contain local changes.
- When running update, throw away local changes in submodules when
- switching to a different commit; and always run a checkout operation
- in the submodule, even if the commit listed in the index of the
- containing repository matches the commit checked out in the submodule.
+ When running update (only effective with the checkout procedure),
+ throw away local changes in submodules when switching to a
+ different commit; and always run a checkout operation in the
+ submodule, even if the commit listed in the index of the
+ containing repository matches the commit checked out in the
+ submodule.
--cached::
This option is only valid for status and summary commands. These
@@ -302,7 +325,7 @@ the submodule itself.
Checkout the commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD
in the submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of
this option is to override `submodule.$name.update` when set to
- `merge`, `rebase` or `none`.
+ a value other than `checkout`.
If the key `submodule.$name.update` is either not explicitly set or
set to `checkout`, this option is implicit.
@@ -344,7 +367,7 @@ the submodule itself.
for linkgit:git-clone[1]'s `--reference` and `--shared` options carefully.
--recursive::
- This option is only valid for foreach, update and status commands.
+ This option is only valid for foreach, update, status and sync 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).