Rename a git submodule

Question

Is there some easy way to rename a git submodule directory (other than going through the entire motion of deleting it and re-adding it with a new destination name).

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Answer 1

The correct solution is:

mv oldpath ~/another-location
git rm oldpath
git submodule add submodule-repository-URL newpath

Source: Rename git submodule

Answer 2

I found following workflow working:

• Update .gitmodules
• mv oldpath newpath
• git rm oldpath
• git add newpath
• git submodule sync

Note: this approach does not update the index and .gitmodules properly in 2018 versions of GIT.

Note: You may be able to now just do git mv oldpath newpath now, as pointed out in VonC's answer. (Ensure you are using the latest version of git)

Answer 3

Edit the .gitmodules file to rename the submodule and then rename the submodule directory.

I think you might need to do a git submodule sync afterwards, but I'm not in a position to check right now.

Answer 4

MacOs: When I wanna use VonC solution to change submodule folder Common to lowercase:

git mv Common common

I get

fatal: renaming 'Common' failed: Invalid argument

Solution - use some temporary folder name and move twice:

git mv Common commontemp
git mv commontemp common

That's all :)

Answer 5

It's not possible to rename it, so you've to remove it first (deinit) and add it again.

So after removing it:

git submodule deinit <path>
git rm --cached <path>

you may also double check and remove the references to it in:

• .gitmodules
• .git/config
• remove reference folder from .git/modules/<name> (best to make a backup), as each folder has config file where it keeps the reference to its worktree

then stage your changes by committing any changes to your repo by:

git commit -am 'Removing submodule.'

and double check if you don't have any outstanding issues by:

git submodule update
git submodule sync
git submodule status

so now you can add the git submodule again:

git submodule add --name <custom_name> git@github.com:foo/bar.git <my/path>

Answer 6

I just tried a few of the suggested above. I'm running:

$ git --version
git version 1.8.4

I found it was best to de-init the submodule, remove the directory and create a new submodule.

git submodule deinit <submodule name>

git rm <submodule folder name>

git submodule add <address to remote git repo> <new folder name>

At least that is what worked for me best. YMMV!