GITMODULES(5)                                                Git Manual                                               GITMODULES(5)

NAME
       gitmodules - Defining submodule properties

SYNOPSIS
       $GIT_WORK_TREE/.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 the 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. For security reasons, the !command form is not accepted here.

       submodule.<name>.branch
           A remote branch name for tracking updates in the upstream submodule. If the option is not specified, it defaults to the
           remote HEAD. 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
           submodule’s 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 modifications 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 submodule’s 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-submodules 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.

NOTES
       Git does not allow the .gitmodules file within a working tree to be a symbolic link, and will refuse to check out such a
       tree entry. This keeps behavior consistent when the file is accessed from the index or a tree versus from the filesystem,
       and helps Git reliably enforce security checks of the file contents.

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), gitsubmodules(7), git-config(1)

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.39.2                                                   04/24/2023                                               GITMODULES(5)