Git update submodules recursively

Question

My project struture

ProjectA
-FrameworkA (submodule)
--Twig (submodule of FrameworkA)

How I can update submodules recursively? I already tried some git commands (on ProjectA root)

git submodule foreach git pull origin master

or

git submodule foreach --recursive git pull origin master

but cannot pull files of Twig.

Overarch

How about git-deep? – Grimbly

Answer 1

git submodule update --recursive

You will also probably want to use the --init option which will make it initialize any uninitialized submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Note: in some older versions of Git, if you use the --init option, already-initialized submodules may not be updated. In that case, you should also run the command without --init option.

Ponderable

How about recursive add submodule? "git submodule add FrameworkA.git" just pull files of FrameworkA. – Overarch

You can just do a "git submodule add blah" and then "git submodule update --init --recursive". – Ponderable

Is this different than my way below? – Greaves

@Irineau The note about already-initialized submodules not being updated if --init is used does not match my experiences on Git 2.2.2. I see both top-level and nested submodules that have already been initialized getting the correct commit checked out when I use git submodule update --init --recursive, and I think the claim that you need to run the command with and without --init is simply wrong. Unless somebody can either show evidence that this is the behaviour or demonstrate that it's changed between versions and was once true, I plan to edit it out altogether. – Carpeting

@MarkAmery, I remember this being a problem in some version of git that I cannot remember. I just tested it in 1.9.3 and the problem does not seem to exist anymore. I updated the answer to refer to a vague "older versions". If anyone can specify which version changed this behavior, that would be great. – Ponderable

Answer 2

The way I use is:

git submodule update --init --recursive
git submodule foreach --recursive git fetch
git submodule foreach git merge origin master

Greaves

I worked with changing the last line to: git submodule foreach git pull --ff-only origin master – Akim

I also would add --recursive to the last line: "git submodule foreach --recursive git merge origin master" otherwise you can get a dirty submodule when it itself has updated a submodule. – Orlantha

Been looking for this for the past three hours. Thank you sir. To add to this, you can also use these commands for committing, such as: git submodule foreach --recursive 'git commit -a | :'. The : makes it loop regardless of result. See link#19729433. – Arterio

Answer 3

As it may happens that the default branch of your submodules are not master (which happens a lot in my case), this is how I automate the full Git submodules upgrades:

git submodule init
git submodule update
git submodule foreach 'git fetch origin; git checkout $(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD); git reset --hard origin/$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD); git submodule update --recursive; git clean -dfx'

Gwyngwyneth

I tryed to add this command in my generic Makefile yet I'm still stucked to make GNU Make ignore the interpretation of the $(...) sequence, despite it's presence within simple quotes. Anybody have an idea? – Gwyngwyneth

Your command is what I needed thank you! But I get: Entering 'Core' fatal: ambiguous argument 'origin/HEAD': unknown revision or path not in the working tree. where Core is the submodule – Shorthanded

Also, I guess you need to figure out this comment https://mcmap.net/q/12635/-how-can-i-reconcile-detached-head-with-master-origin – Daylong

not having the recursive option means this only works if your submodules don't include submodules again. – Mokpo

This answer needs a warning for newbies: reset --hard and clean -dfx. – Mcphee

Answer 4

In recent Git (I'm using v2.15.1), the following will merge upstream submodule changes into the submodules recursively:

git submodule update --recursive --remote --merge

You may add --init to initialize any uninitialized submodules and use --rebase if you want to rebase instead of merge.

You need to commit the changes afterwards:

git add . && git commit -m 'Update submodules to latest revisions'

Morry

This, I thought I was doing something wrong but your answer confirmed to me that git submodule update --remote my-dir/my-submodule works just as well – Acred

Answer 5

How about

git config --global submodule.recurse true

and forget it?

See the git book documentation.

Teno

Answer 6

You can add the following to your Makefile:

submodule:
    git submodule update --init --recursive
    git submodule foreach 'git fetch origin; git checkout $$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD); git reset --hard origin/$$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD); git submodule update --recursive; git clean -dfx'

Then you can simple run make submodule everytime you want to update submodules.

Mun

Answer 7

I had one submodule causing issues (the 'fatal:...' that Sanandrea reported, above). Navigated to the submodule and used 'git clean -dfx' resolved it.

Roller

If you're adding new information, could you complete your answer once you've fully solved the issue? "trying to use same" leaves me unsure whether this is an answer or just a comment. – Edelstein