Git pull submodule from branch. Navigate back to the root of your main repository: cd .

Git pull submodule from branch. May 14, 2014 · This happens to be a limitation of submodule branch tracking – git submodule add -b simply adds information about a branch in the . main, master). This article will guide you through the process of pulling from a specific branch in Git. gitmodules file When you use Git submodules, your project should have a file named . The git pull command is used for this purpose. If that doesn't discard changes, try git submodule foreach --recursive git reset --hard first. Jul 1, 2011 · Managing Git submodules can be tricky, especially for teams new to the concept. git submodule foreach git pull origin master How can I pull only one submodule from specific branch? A submodule allows you to keep another Git repository in a subdirectory of your repository. After cloning the repository containing your submodules, the following command will checkout the master branch on all of these in one go: git submodule foreach --recursive git checkout master Nov 24, 2015 · My answer checkout_branch_not_refs This command will checkout the branch itself. When selecting this option, a dialog pops up: Figure 2. Git submodules allow you to keep, as a subdirectory of your repository, another repository at a particular snapshot in time, in this way incorporating and tracking version history of the external code. Nov 3, 2024 · Why Use Git Submodules? Some advantages of using Git submodules in managing multi-repo projects include: Modularity: Each submodule is self-contained, making it easy to reuse, replace, or update Is there a way to automatically have git submodule update (or preferably git submodule update --init called whenever git pull is done? Looking for a git config setting, or a git alias to help with Sep 26, 2010 · How do I clone a git repository so that it also clones its submodules? Running git clone $REPO_URL merely creates empty submodule directories. And don't forget to run git submodule update --recursive on the other clients after updating them. Step 5: Update the Parent Repository After updating the submodule, you need to update the reference in the parent repository to point to the new commit. Here you will also find out how to pull the latest git submodule in a relatively fast and easy way. In this Answer, we'll explore specifying a branch or tag when adding In submodules, the branch will point to the submodule commit in the superproject’s <start-point> but the branch’s tracking information will be set up based on the submodule’s branches and remotes e. update Defines what to do when the submodule is updated by the superproject. This allows the superproject to reference a particular version of the submodule, making it easy to include third-party libraries or shared codebases as part of your project while maintaining Apr 29, 2020 · Hi I have a superproject that contains a submodule. A Git submodule is a reference to a specific commit in another Git repository. Sometimes, you might need to add a specific branch or tag as a submodule. This guide shows you how to seamlessly execute git pull submodules after clone for efficient collaboration. The add submodule dialog Aug 31, 2018 · Using Git SubModules with Visual Studio Ever wondered how to use Git Submodules inside your Visual Studio solution? Disclaimer: I’m not a Git guru, so information in this post might not be the Jan 29, 2017 · As I mention in "git submodule tracking latest", you can since git 1. A git submodule is git’s official way to have a repo within a repo. A git submodule points to a specific commit in an external repository. But I don't Aug 19, 2025 · Find out how to sync your PyCharm project with a remote git repository: fetch and pull changes, update a branch or the whole project. About the Api-changing update, all dependant modules The `git submodule. gitmodules. Git Submodules Before proceeding, you may find it useful to check out a couple of related posts from our team that explore similar challenges. Oct 24, 2023 · There is a lot of variants to update submodules, but as I think easier is to user flag ` --recurse-submodules ` with commands `git clone ` or git pull . 8. 22. Feb 26, 2024 · The command 'git submodule foreach git pull origin master' is a convenient solution to update all submodules within a Git repository. It’s crucial to remember that this approach aggregates changes from both repositories, allowing for a smoother development One would use git submodules in order to maintain strict version management over your external dependencies. This allows you to maintain a repository of dependencies or related projects alongside your main project. Else, when I finally update submodules, I'll be in for a huge inconsistency. Git submodules allow you to include and manage a Git repository as a subdirectory within another Git repository. That's the answer to why we have to run git pull in the submodule after. It fetches changes from a remote repository and merges them into your current branch. Using absolute URLs When no remote is specified, by default the origin remote will be used, unless there’s an upstream branch configured for the current branch. You have multiple options to configure it to work in a GitLab CI/CD job. git submodule foreach git pull origin master git submodule update does nothing. To update proj B to reference the HEAD of the remote tracking branch for proj A, you'll want to do git submodule update --remote --merge as shown in Paul Hatcher's answer below. In my "parent" repository I have created a feature branch: myfeature that requires some changes to the sub module. The add submodule dialog Oct 9, 2025 · This is where Git submodules come into play. ASCII art: HEAD --> local branch --> Commit It is a prerequisite to this answer to understand the difference between a local branch and a remote branch. Jan 27, 2024 · After cloning a repository with submodules, you need to initialize them: git submodule init This initializes your local configuration file, and Git is now aware that there are submodules that need to be checked out. Why does it happen? I have to always do: git branch git checkout mas Mar 25, 2025 · GitHub If your sources are in GitHub, then this option publishes the status of your build to GitHub using GitHub Checks or Status APIs. May 6, 2025 · Learn how Git submodules can streamline dependency management, reduce code duplication, and improve collaboration in multi-repo projects. Apr 27, 2015 · Go into the directory where the submodule resides and git checkout the correct branch/commit. The submodule master also shows up when I list branches, but I have to explicitly check it out if I want that. g. You can change the branch per submodule in . Here using the TortoiseGit → Submodules Add option a foreign repository can be embedded into a dedicated sub directory of the source tree. This will give you an overview of which submodules have local changes and need to be updated. gitmodule file and allows you the option to manually update the submodule object to the latest commit of that specified branch. 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. I'm trying to use git submodules for aggregating 10+ repositories into one structure for easy development. Use Submodules to Pull a Specific Folder in Git Git submodules allow you to include another Git repository as a subdirectory within your repository. Here’s a guide on how to do that efficiently. This is valuable for Learn all about Git submodules, their purpose/ uses, how to add & remove a submodule, and how to pull/ commit changes with the help of syntax & examples. This powerful feature allows developers to include and manage external repository content as part of their own project. To quote the official documentation: You can, however, set this to something different if you want. Updating Submodules To update your submodules, use: git submodule update This will fetch and update the files in the submodules to match the version described in the main Git addresses this issue using submodules. For example, if you want to Feb 20, 2015 · With default configuration, this will check out the code of the submodule. In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of working with Git submodules and demonstrate practical usage with examples. This lets you clone another repository into your project and keep your commits separate. Mar 3, 2018 · So, updating all my submodules is done by running git submodule foreach 'git pull origin master' How do I update a specific submodule, located in say bundle/syntastic, without updating any other Learn more about git submodules in this short tutorial. Jul 23, 2025 · When you first clone a repository with submodules, you need to run: git submodule init git submodule update The git submodule init command initializes your local configuration file, and git submodule update fetches all the data from the submodules and checks out the appropriate commit specified in the main repository. You can change the default branch for future calls with: In Git, submodules allow you to include or embed one or more repositories as a sub-folder inside another repository. Instead, the module is checked I am using Git submodules. This interactive tutorial provides hands-on examples and practical guidance to help you confidently add, update, and remove submodules in your projects According to the book of git, if you want to "pull" the default branch of a submodule into the local repo that you currently working on, try git submodule update --remote. Feb 2, 2024 · We obtained the method above from Stack Overflow, and it only shows that it can pull a specific folder from a remote repository. Feb 5, 2014 · (git 1. 14 (Q3 2017, 6 years after the OP's question) or more with " git pull --rebase --recurse-submodules ", which learned to rebase the branch in the submodules to an updated base. <name>. submodule. If you are using submodules like a gitified internal directory, they're not really meant for that. This guide will explain how to effectively fetch submodules in Git, ensuring you have the latest changes from external repositories included in your project. <name>. It is supposed to clone the module and checkout a branch. recurse` configuration option allows you to automatically update or initialize submodules when performing operations like `git clone` or `git pull`, ensuring that all dependencies are correctly managed. The other repository has its own history, which does not interfere with the history of the current repository. 2. Jul 29, 2025 · ANS: git submodule update --recursive updates the working tree of the submodules to the specific commit recorded in the superproject’s index. It effectively tracks changes to source code, enabling easy branching, merging, and versioning. Dec 15, 2017 · Rather we do git pull --rebase origin master --recurse-submodules, so that each submodule gets rebase d with master (irrespective of which branch is currently checked-out in submodule s). However, the submodules need to be handled separately to ensure they reflect the latest changes from their respective repositories. Using another project while maintaining independent history. Jan 27, 2024 · One of the common solutions to this challenge in Git-centric workflows is using Git submodules. Submodules allow you to keep a Git repository as a subdirectory of another Git repository. Unlike traditional merging or copying, submodules provide a way to include and track the exact state of another repository. I have been double-checking the library directory manually each time to make sure whether the additional submodule appeared or not. How do I pull the latest changes for all git submodules? Jul 23, 2025 · To pull the latest changes for all submodules, you need to update each submodule to the latest commit on its respective branch. The main repository, known as the superproject, tracks the submodule's state via a specific commit hash. Mar 9, 2012 · To make sure to involve submodule, use Git 2. When using git submodule, you are not actually adding any code through the submodule but instead adding information about the submodule. merge. 2 (March 2013) make a submodule track the HEAD of branch: git submodule add -b <branch> <repository> [<path>] A submodule SHA1 is still recorded in the parent repo as a gitlink (special entry in the index) But a git submodule update --remote will update that entry to the SHA1 matching the HEAD of a branch of the submodule Jul 23, 2025 · Git is a widely used distributed version control and source code management system. During development, we often want to just go grab the latest version of every dependent submodule. Dec 13, 2014 · For a while now I've been using $ git submodule foreach git pull origin master to pull in the latest changes for all of these guys. May 22, 2017 · git submodule status gives the appropriate SHA, version, and name information for each, while still lacking the one that I want. What is a Git Submodule? A Git submodule is a repository inside another repository. git repository to the path-to-submodule directory, and will add information to the main repository about this submodule, which contains the commit the submodule points to, which will be the current commit of the default branch (usually the master or main branch) at the Aug 19, 2025 · Find out how to sync your JetBrains Rider project with a remote git repository: fetch and pull changes, update a branch or the whole project. Aug 14, 2018 · For pull all the submodules from the master branch I'm using this command. Jul 23, 2025 · What Are Git Submodules? A Git submodule is basically a pointer to a commit in another repository. May 15, 2022 · A guide to updating Git submodules, including how to update to the latest version, a specific version, and how to commit changes. By executing this command, developers fetch the latest changes from the remote repository (origin) and merge them into each submodule's master branch, facilitating synchronization of the leading project and its More precisely, git pull runs git fetch with the given parameters and then depending on configuration options or command line flags, will call either git rebase or git merge to reconcile diverging branches. It is static 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. Both settings can be overridden on the command line by using the --[no-]recurse-submodules option to git fetch and git pull. In this article, we will explore the concept of Git submodules, their benefits, and best practices for integrating them into your development workflow. gitmodules file right? But in most other use cases, if I had refactored out common code into a repo and made it a submodule, i would want to keep my repo up to date with that in every commit. The article also offers advice for working with submodules. This information may be used by scripts or other git commands, such as git-pull [1]. Jul 23, 2025 · Adding submodules in Git is a great way to include and manage external repositories within your own project. Use Git submodules to keep a Git repository as a subdirectory of another Git repository. This pulls in new commits into the main repository and its submodules. Here are the steps to achieve this: 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. However, none of the other branches appear for the submodule, and I can’t find a way to check them out when I need to. If rebase, the current branch of the submodule will be rebased onto the commit specified in the superproject. This also allows A submodule allows you to keep another Git repository in a subdirectory of your repository. branch, while git pull uses the submodule’s branch. Aug 20, 2020 · The main repo checks out the master branch, but my submodule checks out the latest commit as a detached HEAD. Submodules are like dependencies. Submodules allow you to contain the working tree of another project within your own working tree while keeping the history of both projects separate. A submodule is always checked out at a specific commit SHA1 (the "gitlink", special entry in the index of the parent repo) But one can request to update that submodule to the latest commit of a branch of the submodule remote repo. The `git pull` command essentially performs two actions: it fetches changes from a remote branch and merges them into your current branch. When recursing through submodules, git fetch always attempts to fetch "changed" submodules, that is, a submodule that has commits that are referenced by a newly fetched superproject commit but are missing in the local submodule clone. Then go up one level and git add and git commit the directory. The submodule should be worked on independently of the repo's they're included in, eg what you called the supermodules. git/FETCH_HEAD. Nov 1, 2024 · This is a git submodule “Quick Start” guide. This article is perfect for developers looking to streamline their workflow and keep their projects up-to-date. 2 or later) git pull git submodule update --merge --remote Here are the corresponding screens of TortoiseGit to perform the task. Jun 21, 2017 · Working with git submodules A walkthrough Introduction A Git submodule is a fast and neutral way to re-use code across multiple projects and in different technologies. Feb 20, 2015 · With default configuration, this will check out the code of the submodule. Submodules When you want to embed foreign repositories into a working tree/git repository, this is called a submodule. The names of refs that are fetched, together with the object names they point at, are written to . May 27, 2024 · When working with Git, you often need to update your local repository with changes made in a remote repository. Oct 8, 2015 · If you track branches in your submodules, you can update them via the --remote parameter of the git submodule update command. HEAD -> Branch -> commit. On our buildserver I would like to pull as minimum as possible. If checkout (the default), the new commit specified in the superproject will be checked out in the submodule on a detached HEAD. This is especially useful when your project depends on external libraries or projects. Use it to get your team on-boarded…1. So the submodule maintainer just wouldn't branch or commit in the supermodule at all. The submodule is tracked by a branch name and not by a sha commit number. After pulling changes from server, many times my submodule head gets detached from master branch. Mar 11, 2025 · Learn how to pull the latest Git submodule in this comprehensive guide. More precisely, git pull runs git fetch with the given parameters and then depending on configuration options or command line flags, will call either git rebase or git merge to reconcile diverging branches. Each library is a separate repo brought into the dependent project as a submodule. It allows you to keep another Git repository as a subdirectory of your repository May 24, 2024 · Step 4: Pull the Latest Changes To ensure your submodule is up to date, pull the latest changes: git pull origin main This command pulls the latest changes from the specified branch. git branch --recurse-submodules topic origin/main will create the submodule branch "topic" that points to the submodule commit in the Jan 13, 2023 · git submodule update --remote --recursive This command updates all submodules (and their submodules because of --recursive) to use the latest commit on the default branch of their repository (e. With submodules, you can keep your project and the external dependencies separate yet connected, ensuring that your project points to specific versions of external repositories. Freeze them and update when your workflow permits. Nov 18, 2022 · Git submodule allows you to embed a repository within your main or ‘master’ repository. A git submodule update --init --remote is like: git submodule init: to initialize (checkout) the submodules recorded in the index git submodule update --remote: to pull from the registered branch (or master by default), once the submodule has been initialized (checked out). git pull --recurse-submodules performs a pull on the main project and then attempts to update the submodules to their remote tracking branches, which may result in a different commit hash than the one recorded previously. Jul 29, 2013 · I want to place submodule_A at master and place submodule_B at new_branch. Oct 28, 2023 · To pull the latest changes for all Git submodules, you can follow these steps: Step 1: Check the Status of Submodules Before pulling the latest changes, it's a good practice to check the status of your submodules. However, recently I learned about $ git pull --recurse-submodules and gave it a try but it seems that changes are only fetched so you need to $ git submodule update --recursive in order to actually checkout the git submodule update only works without flags when a commit has been pulled (in proj B) that updates the refs to the submodule (s) in question (proj A). The following values are supported: Here's how to add a submodule and checkout a specific branch: git submodule add -b <branch-name> <repository-url> <path> What Are Git Submodules? A submodule in Git is a repository embedded within another repository. Configure the . Discover how to git submodule change branch seamlessly. Git addresses this issue using submodules. This submodule information acts as a link to a specific commit. From this point forward, follow every git clone, git pull, or git checkout with git submodule update --init --recursive, which you run inside the outer repo. May 4, 2025 · This guide answers the question: “Is there a way to make VS Code automatically pull and push submodule changes when working with a master Git repository?” Here's how to achieve it using Git aliases and VS Code task automation. Sometimes, you may want to pull changes from a specific branch. Use the sparse checkout feature if you want to modify, commit, and push back to the remote. Understand the importance of Git submodules and discover the commands needed to clone, update, and manage them effectively. By default, git submodule update --remote will update the submodule to the latest commit on the main branch of the submodule remote. This can be used to have external dependencies such as third party libraries for example. . git submodule foreach git pull origin master How can I pull only one submodule from specific branch? Jun 23, 2025 · How can you pull the latest changes for all Git submodules in a project? This question explains how to keep your Git submodules up to date by fetching and updating them using commands like git submodule update and git pull --recurse-submodules. Also, since submodules are fixed to an arbitrary version, the other project can be independently developed without affecting the superproject, allowing the superproject project to fix Mar 3, 2019 · I have added a git submodule to my git repository and it works fine. This concise guide simplifies the process, ensuring you master this essential skill with ease. But, on the master, I can see both submodule_A and submodule_B in the repo. Navigate back to the root of your main repository: cd Sep 1, 2022 · Learn about Git submodules and submodule management commands in this easy guide. This will check in the submodule with the correct commit. To handle that case, we can specify a branch or tag or commit in the . Apr 29, 2011 · The git submodule update command actually tells Git that you want your submodules to each check out the commit already specified in the index of the superproject. How to separate the two submodules at the ri Jul 23, 2025 · What is a Git Submodule? A Git submodule is a repository embedded inside another Git repository. If you want to update your submodules to the latest commit available from their remote, you will need to do this directly in the submodules. If your build is triggered from a GitHub pull request, then you can view the status on the GitHub pull requests page. The `git submodule update` command synchronizes your submodules with the commit specified in your main repository, ensuring they are at the correct state when checking out a specific commit or branch. Performing a `git pull` with Submodules Execute the following command to pull changes for both your local branch and its submodules: git pull --recurse-submodules This command ensures that all submodules are fetched and updated according to their specified versions. This also allows you to set status policies within GitHub and automate merges. You can clone another repository into your project and keep your commits separate. So in summary: # Get the submodule initially git submodule add ssh://bla submodule_dir git Mar 13, 2017 · 22 What about git submodule update --init --recursive? It will update the submodule to the right commit, initialize it if needed, and do this for all submodules, even when they are inside other submodules. This is particularly useful when you want to include libraries or other projects, maintaining their original repository link. Jun 24, 2024 · AI-native platform for on-call and incident response with effortless monitoring, status pages, tracing, infrastructure monitoring and log management. So I tr Master the art of managing git submodules. Sometimes, you might want to pin a submodule to a particular branch, tag, or commit. ignore Defines under what circumstances git status and the diff family show a submodule as modified. qjrpxv 4zgw u0a9u tniw9f bpj 1mpgx edlf8b 9esyb 2ta gke4