# [ISSUE] `git submodule update --init --recursive` does ignore `fetchRecurseSubmodules` flag in `.gitmodules` and in `.git/config` 2 messages from 2024-06-10 to 2024-06-10. Participants: Andry, brian m. carlson. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/61611 ## Andry, 2024-06-10 01:19 Subject: [ISSUE] `git submodule update --init --recursive` does ignore `fetchRecurseSubmodules` flag in `.gitmodules` and in `.git/config` Message-ID: <153002248.20240610041910@inbox.ru> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/153002248.20240610041910%40inbox.ru ``` Hello Git, First discovered here: https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/issues/11783 Another discussion: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58403616/does-git-submodule-update-recursive-override-fetchrecursesubmodules Manual: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitmodules#Documentation/gitmodules.txt-submoduleltnamegtfetchRecurseSubmodules --- If use a recursive submodule, for example: A->B->A->... And call submodules Update on A, then the Update does ignore the flag and keeps fetch recursively with the error at the end: > fatal: Failed to recurse into submodule path ... Is that supposed to work this way or is an bug? ``` ## brian m. carlson, 2024-06-10 22:02 Subject: Re: [ISSUE] `git submodule update --init --recursive` does ignore `fetchRecurseSubmodules` flag in `.gitmodules` and in `.git/config` Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/Zmd36kkRM543zlQs%40tapette.crustytoothpaste.net In-Reply-To: <153002248.20240610041910@inbox.ru> ``` On 2024-06-10 at 01:19:10, Andry wrote: > Hello Git, > > First discovered here: https://github.com/gitextensions/gitextensions/issues/11783 > Another discussion: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58403616/does-git-submodule-update-recursive-override-fetchrecursesubmodules > Manual: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitmodules#Documentation/gitmodules.txt-submoduleltnamegtfetchRecurseSubmodules > --- > > If use a recursive submodule, for example: > > A->B->A->... > > And call submodules Update on A, then the Update does ignore the flag and keeps fetch recursively with the error at the end: > > > fatal: Failed to recurse into submodule path ... > > Is that supposed to work this way or is an bug? Yes, it's working as designed. From the documentation, `fetchRecurseSubmodules` only applies to `git fetch` and `git pull`, not `git submodule`. Even if it did, you still specified recursive behaviour in a command-line option, and command-line operations override the configuration. If you don't want recursion, you'll need to skip the `--recursive` flag. -- brian m. carlson (they/them or he/him) Toronto, Ontario, CA ```