Github pages missing submodule?

Question

I followed the exact instructions (more than once) to make a github pages site, and I got an e-mail with this error

The page build failed with the following error:

The submodule `msgBored` was not properly initialized with a `.gitmodules` file.

The page it linked me to told me absolutely nothing about how to fix this, I am very new to Github, this is my first time attempting it. Thanks!

please see the answer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17441904/git-submodules-in-gitmodules-not-initialized — Amol Udage, Jun 26 '16 at 16:34
Thanks, but that doesn't really tell me much. I already found that answer when doing my own searching. That answer is 3 years old and doesn't appear to work, as the answer doesn't really specify how to use the submodule add command. — Treedot, Jun 26 '16 at 16:41
@Treedot hopefully, I might still be of assistance 3 years after my old answer. — VonC, Jun 26 '16 at 16:46
Ha, I didn't realize that was you. I ended up just upgrading to a real host rather than fooling around with Github. It may be good for some people, but it is really not user-friendly for beginners. — Treedot, Jun 26 '16 at 19:48

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

This is mentioned in "Page build failed: Missing submodule".

You can see if the submodule initializes with:

cd /path/to/main/repo
git submodule init
git submodule update

But if you don't have any .gitmodules, then it actually is a nested git repo, and you would need to remove that entry before (if you really need it), add it as a proper submodule

 cd /path/to/main/repo
 git rm mysubmodule # no trailing slash
 git submodule add -- /url/to/submodule/remote/repo

Github pages missing submodule?

1 Answers1