Git submodule is in "detached head" state after cloning and submodule update

user_706628 0
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When I clone my git repo, one of the submodules is in a branch with a strange name, which I think means it has a "detached head" (I'm not even sure what that means).

If I checkout my main branch for the submodule, then run "git submodule update --init --recursive" it happens again.

Does anybody know what's going on?

git
4 Answers

Adding a branch option in .gitmodule is NOT related to the detached behavior of submodules at all.

From git submodule --help, HEAD detached is the default behavior of git submodule update --remote.

First, there's no need to specify a branch to be tracked. origin/master is the default branch to be tracked.

--remote

Instead of using the superproject's recorded SHA-1 to update the submodule, use the status of the submodule's remote-tracking branch. The remote used is branch's remote (branch.<name>.remote), defaulting to origin. The remote branch used defaults to master.

Why

So why is HEAD detached after update? Because the default behavior of submodule.$name.update is checkout.

--checkout

Checkout the commit recorded in the superproject on a detached HEAD in the submodule. This is the default behavior, the main use of this option is to override submodule.$name.update when set to a value other than checkout.

How

If you want the submodule merged with remote branch automatically, use --merge or --rebase.

--merge

This option is only valid for the update command. Merge the commit recorded in the superproject into the current branch of the submodule. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not be detached.

--rebase

Rebase the current branch onto the commit recorded in the superproject. If this option is given, the submodule's HEAD will not be detached.

All you need to do is,

git submodule update --remote --merge
# or
git submodule update --remote --rebase

There's also an option to make --merge or --rebase as the default behavior of git submodule update, by setting submodule.$name.update to merge or rebase.

Here's an example about how to config the default update behavior of submodule update in .gitmodule.

[submodule "bash/plugins/dircolors-solarized"]
    path = bash/plugins/dircolors-solarized
    url = https://github.com/seebi/dircolors-solarized.git
    update = merge # <-- this is what you need to add

My whole answer is based on the manual. git submodule --help.

user_51011480
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