No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path and missing .gitmodules file

Question

When I run git submodule init, I get the following error:

No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path 'xxx'

I searched for a .gitmodules file and I cannot find it anywhere.

I have read this most popular SO question on the same topic. But unfortunately, I cannot solve the problem. Especially given that I no longer have .gitmodules.

According to my GitHub private repo, I still have submodules for my repository. Just that I cannot find the .gitmodules file anywhere.

I think it might be worth noting that you can create a submodule accidentally if you git init a new repo inside of an existing repo (the definition of a "submodule"). If you do this, the .gitmodule file won't be created. — tandy, Feb 18 '14 at 22:33

kirelagin · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-17T20:27:16.667

162

Make sure that there are no submodule sections in .git/config. If there are, remove them.
Do git rm --cached <path_to_submodule>.

edited Feb 17 '20 at 20:27

answered Jun 10 '13 at 09:49

kirelagin

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Just step 2 above was enough for me; git rm --cached . – christosc May 30 '14 at 07:28
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and just don't forget to `git commit` after the second step – Stanislav Iegorov May 16 '16 at 09:03
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Calling `git rm --cached` gives `fatal: Please, stage your changes to .gitmodules or stash them to proceed`. – Quolonel Questions Dec 27 '16 at 17:56
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@QuolonelQuestions I got that too .. `git add .gitmodules` will stage the file, then the `git rm --cached ` worked for me. – Neek Jan 19 '17 at 10:41
This worked for me as well. I was in the middle of a rebase and was still able to use this answer. – Wayne F. Kaskie Feb 08 '22 at 00:12

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '17 at 10:25

just got over the same issue yesterday, after having deleted by hand the entry in .gitmodules (e.g. nano .gitmodules), I had to go with

git rm --cached <pathtomodule>

which returned a message

rm '<pathtomodule>'

then I needed a

git commit -m "delete cached modules"

and validated the submodule deletion.

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 26 '17 at 10:08

3

In addition to the above I also had to remove .gitmodules.

edited Apr 26 '17 at 10:08

Paul T. Rawkeen

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answered May 27 '16 at 20:30

AndreiMotinga

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In my case I didn't delete the entire file, but removed the now invalid entries and things started working again. Thanks! – KidIcarus271 Oct 24 '16 at 22:39

No submodule mapping found in .gitmodules for path and missing .gitmodules file

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