Adding git submodule that contains another submodule?

Question

I'm working on a project in one git repository (A) that is including another git repository (B), which in turn includes a third git repository (C). In A, I added B via:

git submodule add https://github.com/blt04/sfDoctrine2Plugin.git plugins/sfDoctrine2Plugin

Click here, and you can see where B references C: https://github.com/doctrine/doctrine2

After doing my git submodule add, my plugins/sfDoctrine2Plugin/lib/vendor/doctrine folder (should contain C) is empty. I tried doing a git submodule update --recursive as per this StackOverflow answer, but it still didn't import the files to that path. I'm at a loss as to what to do here.

you could also re-clone the repository using "git clone --recursive <URL>" — Trevor Hickey
– Trevor Hickey, Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 17:45

Lily Ballard · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-05 04:35:07Z

94

You need to do git submodule update --init --recursive. The problem here is the submodule C is never being initialized in the first place.

answered Jan 5, 2011 at 4:35

Lily Ballard

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3 Comments

Matt Huggins Over a year ago

Wow, that did the trick. I don't know why git isn't smart enough to do that in the first place. Oh well, thanks!

Lily Ballard Over a year ago

git assumes that if you didn't init the submodule, it's because you don't want it. This is confusing to newcomers, but it can be extremely useful in cases where the submodule is optional.

Eric apRhys Over a year ago

It's always surprised me that you can't just do: git submodule add --recursive <git path>.

djfm · Accepted Answer · 2025-02-13 16:36:36Z

1

You could also do:

git clone --recurse-submodules <REPO_URI>

answered Feb 13 at 16:36

djfm

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