Update Git submodule to latest commit on origin

Question

I have a project with a Git submodule. It is from an ssh://... URL, and is on commit A. Commit B has been pushed to that URL, and I want the submodule to retrieve the commit

Answer 1

@Jason is correct in a way but not entirely.

update

Update the registered submodules, i.e. clone missing submodules and checkout the commit specified in the index of the containing repository. This will make the submodules HEAD be detached unless --rebase or --merge is specified or the key submodule.$name.update is set to rebase or merge.

So, git submodule update does checkout, but it is to the commit in the index of the containing repository. It does not yet know of the new commit upstream at all. So go to your submodule, get the commit you want and commit the updated submodule state in the main repository and then do the git submodule update.