On Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 1:35 AM Sjoerd Langkemper <sjoerd-2021@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > I am having trouble with git 2.33.1 checking out the wrong branch for > submodules for which the default branch has changed. `git submodule > update --remote` seems to remember the branch name to retrieve, while > I expect it to use the remote HEAD every time. This causes unexpected > behaviour when the remote HEAD starts pointing to another branch. > > I create a new git project and add a submodule, with `git submodule > add git@host:foo/testproject.git`. > > This checks out the default branch, `master` in this case. `git remote > show origin` also shows that `master` is the HEAD branch. Running `git > submodule update --remote` updates the submodule to the latest master. > > Now I change the default branch on the remote (using Gitlab's web > interface) to `newmaster`. > > `git remote show origin` now correctly shows `newmaster` as the > remote's HEAD branch. However, running `git submodule update --remote` > still updates the submodule to the latest `master` branch, while I > expect it to update to the lastest `newmaster` branch. I suspect this is going to be the same answer I gave on the last thread about submodules[1]. Submodules in Git store the _commit ID_ they point to in the tree, but they do not store a _ref name_, nor do they have some indicator for "It was the default branch". They choose a ref by (essentially) looping over the refs from the remote (which are always sent in alphabetical order) and choosing the first one with a matching SHA. If your "newmaster" is alphabetically after "master", and "master" still exists, and both refs point to the same commit (or only "master" points to it), I suspect your submodule is going to choose that. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAGyf7-FAHJOb6iQYqYNt0WSk+zUHUJ_FjrU1xis1bBQd9Z6KPQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ > > There's no branch specified in .gitmodules or .git/config. I am not > sure how git remembers the branch. When switching `testproject` to > `newmaster` manually and then running `git submodule update --remote`, > it is reset to `master` again. > > Is this a bug? Can I change the branch somehow? If you updated the submodule to reference a commit that was on "newmaster" and not present on "master", I think it'd change. > > Regards, > > Sjoerd Langkemper
