Adding submodules in Git is a great way to include and manage external repositories within your own project. Sometimes, you might need to add a specific branch or tag as a submodule. Here’s a guide on how to do that efficiently.

What is a Git Submodule?

A Git submodule is a repository inside another repository. It allows you to keep another Git repository as a subdirectory of your repository and manage it as a separate entity. This is particularly useful for including libraries or other dependencies that you want to keep track of independently.

Approach 1: Adding a submodule with Specific Branch

When adding a submodule, you can specify a branch to track using the ‘-b’ option.

Step 1: Navigate to your project directory:

cd  your_project_directory  

This is my project directory

Step 2: Add the submodule with the specified branch:

git submodule add -b branch-name https://github.com/rohitchoudhray14/repository.git path/to/submodule

• branch-name: The branch you want the submodule to track.
• https://github.com/username/repository.git: The URL of the submodule repository.
• path/to/submodule: The path where you want to add the submodule in your project.

How To Specify A Branch/Tag When Adding a Git Submodule

Here :

• -b main : (Branch name )
• Repository : https://github.com/rohit-choudhary14/Zillow.git
• Path of submodule : submodules/blackcoffer( Create as per requirement)

Approach 2: Adding a Submodule with a Specific Tag

Git does not directly support checking out tags for submodules during the add command, but you can achieve this with a few extra steps.

Step 1: Run this command:

git submodule add https://github.com/username/repository.git path/to/submodule

How To Specify A Branch/Tag When Adding a Git Submodule

Step 2: Now navigate to submodule directory:

cd path/to/submodule

cd submodules/blackcoffer

Step 3: Checkout the desired tag:

git checkout tags/tag-name 

If the tag are not added first then you will see

Here article tag was not found in the repositery.

So will will create first then checkout tag.

article tag has been created

Now we checkout the tag….

git checkout tags/article

Step 4: Return to the main project directory and commit the changes:

cd ../../
git add path/to/submodule
git commit -m "Checked out tag tag-name for submodule"

cd ../../git add submodules/blackcoffergit commit -m “Checked out tag article for submodule”

Example:

git submodule add https://github.com/example/example-repo.git submodules/example-repo
cd submodules/example-repo
git checkout tags/v1.0.0
cd ../../
git add submodules/example-repo
git commit -m "Checked out tag v1.0.0 for submodule"

Approach 3: Updating an Existing Submodule to Track a Specific Branch

If you have an existing submodule that you want to update to track a different branch, you can do so by modifying the submodule’s configuration.

Step 1: Navigate to submodule directory:

    cd path/to/submodule

cd submodules/blackcoffer

Step 2: Checkout the desired branch:

git checkout branch-name

git checkout main

Step 3: Update the submodule to track the branch:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/branch-name

git branch –set-upstream-to=origin/main

Step 4: Return to the main project directory and commit the changes:

cd ../../
git add path/to/submodule
git commit -m "Updated submodule to track branch branch-name"

How To Specify A Branch/Tag When Adding a Git Submodule

Example

cd submodules/example-repo
git checkout develop
git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/develop
cd ../../
git add submodules/example-repo
git commit -m "Updated submodule to track branch develop"

Approach 4: Switching a Submodule to a Different Tag or Branch

To switch an existing submodule to a different tag or branch follow these steps.

Step 1: Navigate to the submodule directory:

cd path/to/submodule

cd submodules/blackcoffer

Step 2: Fetch all tags and branches :

git fetch

How To Specify A Branch/Tag When Adding a Git Submodule

Step 3: Checkout the desired branch or tag:

git checkout branch-name-or-tag-name

For tag name:

git checkout article

For branch:

git checkout main

Step 4: Return to the main project directory and commit the changes:

 cd ../../
git add path/to/submodule
git commit -m "Switched submodule to branch/tag branch-name-or-tag-name"

How To Specify A Branch/Tag When Adding a Git Submodule

Example

 cd submodules/example-repo
git fetch
git checkout v1.1.0
cd ../../
git add submodules/example-repo
git commit -m "Switched submodule to tag v1.1.0"