git submodules with modified and untracked content - why and how to remove it?

Question

this is what my git status' result looks like:

# On branch master # Changed but not updated: #   (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed) #   (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) #   (commit or discard the untracked or modified content in submodules) # #   modified:   vim/bundle/pathogen (modified content) #   modified:   vim/bundle/sparkup (untracked content) # no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a") 

running git diff vim shows this:

diff --git a/vim/bundle/pathogen b/vim/bundle/pathogen --- a/vim/bundle/pathogen +++ b/vim/bundle/pathogen @@ -1 +1 @@ -Subproject commit fcf77f5101f3e589ce006c40ad3a0432735a05cf +Subproject commit fcf77f5101f3e589ce006c40ad3a0432735a05cf-dirty diff --git a/vim/bundle/sparkup b/vim/bundle/sparkup --- a/vim/bundle/sparkup +++ b/vim/bundle/sparkup @@ -1 +1 @@ -Subproject commit 04a81b41f116a19184359a6f8685c192f5c36c70 +Subproject commit 04a81b41f116a19184359a6f8685c192f5c36c70-dirty 

Why is the one untracked, the other modified, what does the diff mean? But most important: how did it happen and how to get rid of it?

Answer 1

One of the tracked files in vim/bundle/pathogen has been modified somehow. There is also some untracked (and unignored) content in the submodule vim/bundle/sparkup. In either case, the way to figure out what is modified / untracked is to change into the submodule directory and run git status. (In the case of untracked files in a submodule, this is frequently a build product that has not been added to .gitignore in upstream.)