Alex Rivera | Logout

How to extract a git subdirectory and make a submodule out of it?

Asked 2009-05-28T10:18:41.927
125

I started a project some months ago and stored everything within a main directory. In my main directory "Project" there are several subdirectories containing different things: Project/paper contains a document written in LaTeX Project/sourcecode/RailsApp contains my rails app.

"Project" is GITified and there have been a lot of commits in both "paper" and "RailsApp" directory. Now, as I'd like to use cruisecontrol.rb for my "RailsApp" I wonder if there is a way to make a submodule out of "RailsApp" without losing the history.

git git-submodules
Edit
Report

1 Answer

41

Checkout git filter-branch.

The Examples section of the man page shows how to extract a sub-directory into it's own project while keeping all of it's history and discarding history of other files/directories (just what you're looking for).

To rewrite the repository to look as if foodir/ had been its project root, and discard all other history:

   git filter-branch --subdirectory-filter foodir -- --all

Thus you can, e.g., turn a library subdirectory into a repository of its own.
Note the -- that separates filter-branch options from revision options, and the --all to rewrite all branches and tags.

answered 2009-05-30T17:28:55.003

Your Answer