How to change the remote repository for a git submodule?

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I've created a git repository with a submodule in it. I'm able to tell the submodule itself to change its remote repository path, but I'm not sure how to tell the parent repository how to change the remote repository path for the submodule.

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm somewhat out of luck and have to do things manually, as even deleting submodules isn't easy.

git-submodules git
9 Answers

You should just be able to edit the .gitmodules file to update the URL and then run git submodule sync --recursive to reflect that change to the superproject and your working copy.

Then you need to go to the .git/modules/path_to_submodule dir and change its config file to update git path.

If repo history is different then you need to checkout new branch manually:

git submodule sync --recursive
cd <submodule_dir> 

git fetch
git checkout origin/master
git branch master -f
git checkout master
Jim_Puls_60100

With Git 2.25 (Q1 2020), you can modify it.
See "Git submodule url changed" and the new command

git submodule set-url [--] <path> <newurl>

(On the -- separator, see "double hyphen as a signal to stop option interpretation and treat all following arguments literally")

Warning: Hi-Angel mentions in the comments (tested even with Git 2.31.1):

One should be careful with git submodule set-url because it has a bug:

If, inside your .gitmodules file, the path looks like this some-path, and then you execute a git submodule set-url some-path/ new-url (note the trailing slash /), then, instead of modifying existing submodule, the command will add another one.

Original answer (May 2009, ten years ago)

Actually, a patch has been submitted in April 2009 to clarify gitmodule role.

So now the gitmodule documentation does not yet include:

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 linkgit:git-config4.
[NEW]:
As this file is managed by Git, it tracks the +records of a project's submodules.
Information stored in this file is used as a hint to prime the authoritative version of the record stored in the project configuration file.
User specific record changes (e.g. to account for differences in submodule URLs due to networking situations) should be made to the configuration file, while record changes to be propagated (e.g. +due to a relocation of the submodule source) should be made to this file.

That pretty much confirm Jim's answer.

If you follow this git submodule tutorial, you see you need a "git submodule init" to add the submodule repository URLs to .git/config.

"git submodule sync" has been added in August 2008 precisely to make that task easier when URL changes (especially if the number of submodules is important).
The associate script with that command is straightforward enough:

module_list "$@" |
while read mode sha1 stage path
do
    name=$(module_name "$path")
    url=$(git config -f .gitmodules --get submodule."$name".url)
    if test -e "$path"/.git
    then
    (
        unset GIT_DIR
        cd "$path"
        remote=$(get_default_remote)
        say "Synchronizing submodule url for '$name'"
        git config remote."$remote".url "$url"
    )
    fi
done

The goal remains: git config remote."$remote".url "$url"

VonC_63090

Just edit your .git/config file. For example; if you have a "common" submodule you can do this in the super-module:

git config submodule.common.url /data/my_local_common
felipec_104740

A brute force approach:

  • update the .gitmodules file in the supermodule to point to the new submodule url,
  • add and commit the changes to supermodule/.gitmodules,
  • make a new clone of the supermodule somewhere else on your computer (making sure that the latest changes to the .gitmodules file are reflected in the clone),
  • change your working directory to the new clone of the supermodule,
  • run git submodule update --init --remote path-to-submodule on the submodule,

et voilà! The submodule in the new clone of the supermodule is properly configured!

user_42563460

A lot of people (both here and on the internet at large) suggest solutions that require manually editing or deleting multiple files. But that really isn't needed!

Even in environments where Git 2.25 (and thus git submodule set-url <path> <newurl>) are not available, the easiest solution is to simply "unregister" the submodule and add it again with the new URL.

Depending on Git version and submodule setup, you might need to manually remove <path> before adding it again. No other manual actions needed!

git submodule deinit <path>
rm -rf <path>
git submodule add <repository> [<path>]

After that the .gitmodules file will have a different URL and should be committed. All other places (config, working tree) have already been handled by git.

To explain what deinit does, I'd like to quote from the Git manual:

deinit [-f|--force] (--all|[--] <path>…​)

Unregister the given submodules, i.e. remove the whole submodule.$name section from .git/config together with their work tree. Further calls [..] will skip any unregistered submodules until they are initialized again

user_1530490
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