# Submodule confusion when checking out branch

2 messages from 2011-10-11 to 2011-10-11. Participants: Howard Miller, Jens Lehmann.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/28645

## Howard Miller, 2011-10-11 09:38

Subject: Submodule confusion when checking out branch
Message-ID: <CAHVO_90rHbqqUx6HCh7tLWO9aP9PyPMpYnZGszCDB2bfNzUXAQ@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHVO_90rHbqqUx6HCh7tLWO9aP9PyPMpYnZGszCDB2bfNzUXAQ%40mail.gmail.com

```
I added a submodule to my project like this (all from the root of the project)

git submodule add git@.....   path/to/submodule
git submodule init
git add path/to/submodule
git commit -m 'I added a submodule!'
git push

All looks good and 'git status' reports 'nothing to commit'

However, I now cannot change branches. On checkout, I get...

"error: The following untracked working tree files would be
overwritten by checkout:"
(followed by a big list of all the files in the submodule)

Where did I go wrong and what can I do to sort it?

Thanks again!

```

## Jens Lehmann, 2011-10-11 17:35

Subject: Re: Submodule confusion when checking out branch
Message-ID: <4E947E48.7080201@web.de>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4E947E48.7080201%40web.de
In-Reply-To: <CAHVO_90rHbqqUx6HCh7tLWO9aP9PyPMpYnZGszCDB2bfNzUXAQ@mail.gmail.com>

```
Am 11.10.2011 11:38, schrieb Howard Miller:
> I added a submodule to my project like this (all from the root of the project)
> 
> git submodule add git@.....   path/to/submodule
> git submodule init
> git add path/to/submodule
> git commit -m 'I added a submodule!'
> git push
> 
> All looks good and 'git status' reports 'nothing to commit'
> 
> However, I now cannot change branches. On checkout, I get...
> 
> "error: The following untracked working tree files would be
> overwritten by checkout:"
> (followed by a big list of all the files in the submodule)
> 
> Where did I go wrong and what can I do to sort it?

Hmm, as I don't know for what checkout you see this problem (do you
switch from a branch containing the submodule to one that doesn't
have it or the other way round?) and assuming you had some files
committed in the directory where the submodule lives I can take a
guess what happened:

Could it be the case that you converted an existing directory into a
submodule and then get this error when you want to switch back to a
branch where this directory is still filled with the original files?

Then this is a known shortcoming of submodules at the moment. I have
experimental code to make Git work in that case but it is not ready
for inclusion yet.

```