Add subproject as usual folder to repository

Question

I noticed that in my directory there were two modules that had been Subprojects of my Git repository. That happened because I moved them all to one Git repo and those modules (directories) had their own .git directory.

When I changed anything in those modules I would not see any changes in my main Git repository. I would see only this:

+Subproject commit e97ff0348e6adc697192ca4e6a367bdaeddcda6b-dirty

etc.

But I don't need that. I only need one Git repository without any subprojects. So I deleted .git directories inside those subprojects. And now I don't see any changes at all on my main repository.

I tried add * and git init. But it just does not see those directories even though it is inside repository. How can I make Git see those directories, so it would track their changes like other modules?

My Git repository looks something like this:

my_project/
 .git
 dir1
 dir2
 dir3 # Let's say this is the one directory that Git does not see. So any changes I make here are not tracked at all.
 ...
 ...

P.S. Those directories that are not tracked are not empty.

Update If I rename that directory, then doing this: git diff

I get this:

diff --git a/dir3 b/dir3
deleted file mode 160000
index e279fc4..0000000
--- a/dir3
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit e279fc481b9706ad79b24281efdbabd55179aee8

If I rename that directory back to original name, then doing git diff, returns nothing or just that there were no changes done.

Gwyngwyneth

Try to use git add -A / git add -all – Gist

Same thing. Does not see changes. When I try commit, it says nothing to commit. – Gwyngwyneth

possible duplicate of un-submodule a git submodule – Atiana

Related: here's my solution to this problem in general: https://mcmap.net/q/183491/-git-how-to-make-outer-repository-and-embedded-repository-work-as-common-standalone-repository. – Fritter

Answer 1

After suggestion I looked at this: un-submodule a git submodule

First tried:

git submodule deinit

After this it didn't change the old behavior. But when I did this:

git rm --cached yourSubmodule

Then it removed it as submodule and git started seeing those modules in main repository.

Gwyngwyneth

git rm --cached yourSubmodule is misleading, as you're not really removing a git submodule, but rather, just a directory containing another git repo. So, your example really should be git rm --cached path/to/your/subrepo/dir, no? And for your question specifically, since you mention my_project/dir3 is the culprit, it really should just be this, right? git rm --cached dir3. – Fritter

What you're really doing with git rm --cached path/to/tracked/file is stopping to track a file. See here: https://mcmap.net/q/11542/-how-do-i-make-git-forget-about-a-file-that-was-tracked-but-is-now-in-gitignore. In the case of a repo within a repo, git, by default, apparently tracks the entire sub-repo's directory as a single file which represents a directory. So, git rm --cached path/to/your/subrepo/dir just stops tracking that single file which represents the subrepo, & now, with its .git folder gone (or just renamed, as I like to do), git will treat it like a normal directory next time you add it. – Fritter

Its an old question, so dont remember. But probably yes. – Gwyngwyneth

Answer 2

For Windows

1. Enable Hidden Files.
2. Identify the .git folder in the subfolders
3. Open Git Bash
4. Navigate to the folder where .git exists
5. Type the following command rm -rf .git
6. This will remove the .git folder
7. Now again stage, commit and push This worked for me

Masteratarms