git - submodule helpers

Below are some git commands which can be useful to resolve problems with submodules.

Get a list of commits inside a submodule

Submodules are identified by SHA-1 hashes so you may need to get a list of them. Do the following inside the submodule folder (or inside the separate submodule repository):

git log --oneline

5bd722f commit 5
b5c1524 commit 4
2444bfa commit 3
e0eadd5 commit 2
c180c5a commit 1
702fc8a commit 0

View current submodule commit

git submodule status

5bd722fa26dcdd64128392aa28e08849fe37f111 sub (heads/master)

Compare a submodule state with another branch

Assume we are on the “branch1” and want to compare ‘sub’ submodule state with master:

git diff master -- sub

diff --git a/sub b/sub
index 702fc8a..5bd722f 160000
--- a/sub
+++ b/sub
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 702fc8a7edcdf5ceba9929958bd6cd7f000eb369
+Subproject commit 5bd722fa26dcdd64128392aa28e08849fe37f111

Where “-Subproject commit” is another (master) branch state and “+Subproject commit” is a current branch state. VIEW CHANGES TO SUBMODULE STATE ON THE CURRENT BRANCH What we do is show a git log with diffs for submodule (named ‘sub’ in this case):

git log -p sub

commit 261aa4bdb6944c77fc98e52748d656e56969ba6a
Author: name
Date:   Thu Sep 13 15:20:48 2012 +0300
accidental sub switch to commit 5
diff --git a/sub b/sub
index b5c1524..5bd722f 160000
--- a/sub
+++ b/sub
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit b5c15241fe40f122d5225e5c76457802de3ad605
+Subproject commit 5bd722fa26dcdd64128392aa28e08849fe37f111

commit 073aaf160706d705c6c95ab21327388cd6683486
Author: name
Date:   Thu Sep 13 14:58:41 2012 +0300
sub commit 4
diff --git a/sub b/sub
index 2444bfa..b5c1524 160000
--- a/sub
+++ b/sub
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 2444bfa760b5d3cc974658bd18482f9679f52b69
+Subproject commit b5c15241fe40f122d5225e5c76457802de3ad605

...

Where “-Subproject commit” is a previous submodule state and “+Subproject commit” is a new submodule state.

GitSubmoduleTutorial

Pro Git: 6.6 Git Tools - Submodules

Stackoverflow: git submodule update

Understanding Git Submodules

git Submodules Explained

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