Changing an existing submodule's branch

Question

When I initially added my submodule, I specified a particular branch, as seen in the .gitmodule file:

[submodule "externals/grpc/grpc"]
    path = externals/grpc/grpc
    url = git@github.com:me/grpc.git
    branch = release-1.0

I want to change to the master branch of my submodule, so I changed the branch in .gitmodules from release-1.0 to master, and for good measure, just deleted the submodule from my parent git tree:

cd $submodules
rm -rf grpc
cd $gitroot
git submodule sync
git submodule update --init --recursive

Now, when I go back to my submodule, it's still checked out from a commit on the release-1.0 branch, not the latest master commit.

What steps am I missing to switch my submodule's branch?

score 59 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 26 '15 at 20:15

59

Go into the directory where the submodule resides and git checkout the correct branch/commit. Then go up one level and git add and git commit the directory. This will check in the submodule with the correct commit.

And don't forget to run git submodule update --recursive on the other clients after updating them.

answered Apr 26 '15 at 20:15

Marcus Ilgner

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It is interesting that while git still points to the right commit (in the branch), the `.gitmodules` file does not include the branch field. It seems to work regardless of that, though. – Eduardo Reis Jun 21 '22 at 16:08

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 14 '21 at 21:34

32

If you want to switch to a branch you've never tracked before.

After you have changed the branch in .gitmodules, do the following:

git submodule update --init --recursive --remote
cd submodule_name
git checkout new_branch_name

answered Feb 14 '21 at 21:34

SergO

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For me the first line (git update) was enough – pogosama Dec 03 '21 at 09:34
This almost worked for me. My error message included the line `Unable to find current origin/origin/main revision in submodule path`. My `.gitmodules` had the branch as `branch = origin/main`, so I changed it to just `branch = main`, then all was well. – rcriii Mar 01 '23 at 17:37

http8086 · Answer 3 · 2023-03-15T13:50:47.057

23

Since v2.22 (thanks to @VonC in comments)

Suppose you have submodule xyz, the .gitmodules looks like

$ cat .gitmodules
[submodule "xyz"]
        path = xyz
        url = git@git.com:xyz.git
        branch = main

And you can check it with

$ git config --file=.gitmodules -l
submodule.xyz.path=xyz
submodule.xyz.url=git@git.com:xyz.git
submodule.xyz.branch=main

Now you want to ref branch v1.0.0 for xyz, you can run

git submodule set-branch -b v1.0.0 xyz

Then run for brand new update

git submodule sync
git submodule update --init --recursive --remote

edited Mar 15 '23 at 13:50

answered Aug 24 '22 at 14:28

http8086

1,306
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Note: it was [introduced with Git 2.22 (Q3 2019)](https://stackoverflow.com/a/55885186/6309). – VonC Aug 24 '22 at 16:08
`git submodule sync` is what I was missing (not mentioned in a number of other answers)! – Wasserwaage Apr 04 '23 at 06:44

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 12 '20 at 09:24

The answer above (@milgner) didn't work me (git version 2.17.0). Maybe I did something wrong.

The below is what worked for me:

nano .gitmodules # substitute the needed branch here
git submodule update submodule_name # update the submodule
git add .gitmodules && git commit -m 'some comment' # add and commit
git submodule status # check that changes have been applied

Changing an existing submodule's branch

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