fatal: in unpopulated submodule

Question

I am quite new to github and I am trying to find a solution to a current problem that I am having. I will go through my process step by step:

First I created a new folder named [project name] Next I used these commands:

    cd [project name]     git clone [remote project from github url] 

So far I have created a folder and cloned a project that my group is working on in github.

Next, I went inside that folder and created an angular project with

    ng new [angulartest] 

This will create all the components of my angular test into the same folder that is the clone of the one from github.

Finally, I pushed the new angular test on github with

    git add [angulartest]     git commit     git push 

What happens is that it only pushes the folder [angulartest] but none of its contents (even though there are contents in it). When I try to pull from its contents, I still just get an empty folder in return.

When I try to enter that folder and add each element of the contents, using these steps:

    cd [angulartest]     git add e2e, src, nodemodules, etc     git commit     git push 

It gives me the following error (even when I try to add each element individually):

fatal: in unpopulated submodule [angulartest]

I was wondering if it was a problem with my git syntax, the angular project, or the way I tried to clone the project. That way, I know which direction I want to be headed when looking for a solution.

Answer 1

It seems like, you may have removed the .git folder. In that case you can try

 git rm --cached angulartest -f 

Answer 2

git rm --cached . -rf 

Stealing from anlijudavid's comment which was the actual answer for me on macOS with zsh. Adding -r based on Richard Collette's comment to this answer.