How to clone only a folder from a git submodule?

Question

I'm trying to get just a folder from an external github repo to use in my project.

I want my project setup to be like this:

-my_project
    -submodule
        -code.py
    -MY_README
    -.git

And I have the remote repo named some-submodule with following structure:

-submodule
    -code.py
-README
-.gitignore

So I just want the submodule folder added to my project.

But I end up with this after

git submodule add http://github.com/user/submodule.git submodule

-my_project
    -submodule
        -submodule
            -code.py
        -README
        -.gitignore
    -MY_README
    -.gitignore

I am new to git so I really don't know if it possible using just git. If it is of some help I'm using msysgit on windows.

So, is there anyway that I can get a clean submodule folder in my project from a public repo?

If you're curious of exactly what I'm trying to do I'm trying to take directly from their repos these django plugins 1 2 to add them to my project.

Exact duplicate of [How can I add a specific folder from a git repo as a git submodule?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3158597/how-can-i-add-a-specific-folder-from-a-git-repo-as-a-git-submodule) — Dan Dascalescu, Mar 25 '14 at 08:57
Possible duplicate of [How to change a git submodule to point to a subfolder?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5303496/how-to-change-a-git-submodule-to-point-to-a-subfolder) — Captain Man, Feb 22 '19 at 15:58

score 61 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

61

What you want to do is not feasible because you cannot clone a part of a repository.

See details in duplicate How to change a git submodule to point to a subfolder?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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1

answered Sep 11 '12 at 06:39

dregad

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15

While, strictly speaking, _cloning_ only parts of a repository is not possible there is **sparse checkout** since Git 1.7 to solve what the OP probably wants. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/600079/how-do-i-clone-a-subdirectory-only-of-a-git-repository – Peterino Oct 31 '17 at 17:05

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '10 at 19:34

9

If you:

git submodule add http://github.com/user/submodule.git

directly under my_project, you should end up with the desired organization of directories.

From git submodule add man page:

The optional argument <path> is the relative location for the cloned submodule to exist in the superproject.
If <path> is not given, the "humanish" part of the source repository is used ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo" for "host.xz:foo/.git").

answered Oct 05 '10 at 19:34

VonC

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Awesome! I was following tutorials all the way and I didn't read the manual... I thought that I would end up with README file of the submodule in my own project... Thanks a lot! – demula Oct 05 '10 at 19:47
1

There's a problem though... it only works if the repo of the submodule has the same name as the folder I want to use but if not ie: repo->django-submodule folder name->submodule it doesn't work anymore. Let's see if I find some workaround – demula Oct 05 '10 at 21:34
I'm sorry man, I tried your solution with one of the repos that was well structured and I thought the problem was already solved... my bad. – demula Oct 05 '10 at 21:58

score -3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 20 '18 at 11:54

-3

just

git submodule update --init --recursive

in the root-directory of your project and it should do what you want

answered Apr 20 '18 at 11:54

Immanuel

161
2
2

How to clone only a folder from a git submodule?

3 Answers3

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