How do I remove a Git submodule? Why can't I do git submodule rm module_name?

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To remove a Git submodule, you can't directly use the git submodule rm command followed by the submodule's name like you might with other Git commands. Instead, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Delete the submodule entry: You need to remove the submodule entry from the .gitmodules file and from the .git/config file.

  2. Unstage and remove submodule files: Use git rm --cached to unstage the submodule and remove it from the index.

  3. Delete the submodule directory: Manually delete the submodule directory.

Here's an example:

Suppose you have a Git repository with a submodule named "my-submodule" that you want to remove.

Step 1: Remove submodule entry from .gitmodules and .git/config

Use a text editor to open the .gitmodules file located in the root of your Git repository. You'll see an entry like this:

perl
[submodule "my-submodule"]
    path = my-submodule
    url = https://github.com/username/my-submodule.git

Remove this entry.

Next, open the .git/config file, and you'll see a similar entry:

csharp
[submodule "my-submodule"]
    url = https://github.com/username/my-submodule.git

Remove this entry as well.

Step 2: Unstage and remove submodule files

Run the following command to unstage the submodule and remove it from the index:

bash
git rm --cached my-submodule

Replace "my-submodule" with the actual submodule path.

Step 3: Delete the submodule directory

Manually delete the submodule directory from your file system. You can use the rm command on Unix-like systems or rmdir on Windows:

On Unix-like systems:

bash
rm -rf my-submodule

On Windows:

bash
rmdir /s /q my-submodule

After completing these steps, the submodule will be removed from your Git repository. Be cautious when removing submodules, as this action can't be undone, and you'll lose all submodule-related history.

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