updating_submodules.rst

Handling Git Submodules

The following is an overview of how to clone and update a repository that contains git submodules. The purpose of this document is to have a step by step guide on how to do it.

Cloning the Repository

After cloning the repository normally, the submodules inside of it will be empty. To fetch all of the submodules we need to run the following 2 commands.

$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

This will populate the submodules with the last commit that was in the original modules (not the latest update from the submodules).

Updating the Submodules

To update the submodules simply run the command:

$ git submodule update --remote

After running the three commands the submodules should be updated.