Glossary¶

The terms that this documentation uses, each with a short definition and a link to the page that describes it.

behind¶: The state of a submodule for which update would select another mode, ref or commit than the lock entry records, or which has no lock entry yet. See States.
configured ref¶: The value of lsm-ref in .gitmodules: a branch name, a tag name, a tag pattern or a commit SHA. See .gitmodules.
dirty¶: The state of a submodule whose working tree has uncommitted changes to tracked files. update refuses such a submodule. See States.
drift¶: The state of a submodule whose HEAD differs from the locked commit, or whose locked tag now points to another commit or no longer exists. See States.
dry run¶: A run of update --dry-run, which resolves the targets in the local refs and prints what would change, without fetching or changing anything. See Output.
gitlink¶: The entry in a tree or in the index of the superproject that records the commit of a submodule. update stages it, and verify compares the one in HEAD with the lock file. See How LazySubmodules works.
lock entry¶: The section of a submodule in the lock file, with the keys mode, ref and commit. See .lsm.lock.
lock file¶: .lsm.lock, the file in the superproject that records the mode, the resolved ref and the commit of each managed submodule. See .lsm.lock.
locked commit¶: The full commit SHA that a lock entry records.
locked ref¶: The ref that a lock entry records: the selected tag in tag and tag-pattern mode, the branch in branch mode, and the commit in commit mode.
managed¶: A submodule is managed when .gitmodules has an lsm-mode key for it. Commands without names work on the managed submodules. See .gitmodules.
missing-ref¶: The state of a submodule whose configured ref is invalid or does not resolve in the local refs. update refuses such a submodule. See States.
moved tag¶: A tag that was moved to another commit upstream, usually with a force push. After fetch, the submodule shows drift and verify fails. See Detect moved tags.
native branch key¶: The Git key submodule.<name>.branch in .gitmodules, which git submodule update --remote uses. LazySubmodules writes it in branch mode and removes it in the other modes. See The native branch key.
network policy¶: The rule that only fetch, update --fetch and add use the network. See Commands.
ok¶: The state of a submodule whose HEAD is the locked commit, with no other target available locally. See States.
porcelain v1 format¶: The stable, TAB-separated output of status --porcelain=v1 for scripts. See Porcelain format v1.
pre-release¶: A tag with a - after its first digit, such as v6.6.11-rc1 or v3.0.0-rc.2. A tag pattern selects pre-releases only with --include-prerelease, or when the lock file records one already. See Tracking modes and resolution.
refused¶: The outcome of a command that would be unsafe, such as an update of a dirty submodule. The command exits with status 3, and a refused update moves no submodule. See Exit codes.
resolution¶: Finding the commit that a submodule should be at, from its tracking mode, its configured ref and the local refs. Also called resolving. See Tracking modes and resolution.
state¶: The one-word summary that status reports for a submodule: ok, behind, drift, dirty, uninitialized, missing-ref or unmanaged. See States.
submodule¶: A Git repository that is embedded in the superproject at a path and recorded by a gitlink.
submodule name¶: The name of the submodule’s section in .gitmodules, such as u-boot. Commands take names, not paths. The name can differ from the path, such as bootloader/u-boot. See General rules.
superproject¶: The Git repository that contains the submodules, and .gitmodules and .lsm.lock at its top level.
tag pattern¶: A glob, as accepted by git tag --list, that selects the highest matching version tag, such as v6.6.*. Also the name of the tracking mode tag-pattern. See Tracking modes and resolution.
target¶: The commit and ref that update selects for a submodule by resolution.
terminal interface¶: The interactive, full-screen interface that lazysubmodules tui starts; also called TUI. See Terminal interface keys.
tracking configuration¶: The keys lsm-mode and lsm-ref of a submodule in .gitmodules. add and set write them. See .gitmodules.
tracking mode¶: How a submodule selects its target: branch, tag, tag-pattern or commit, stored as lsm-mode. See Tracking modes and resolution.
uninitialized¶: The state of a submodule that is not checked out. update initializes it offline when its repository still exists, and otherwise needs --fetch. See States.
unmanaged¶: The state of a submodule without an lsm-mode key. LazySubmodules shows it but does not change it until set puts it under management. See States.