Remove a git submodule from your repository

JaredBusch

Since I have been playing with Hugo, I also have started using git submodule, as that is the recommended way to add a theme.

Adding is easy enough, but how do you clean up your git repo once you have added a half dozen themes for testing things out?

Well it is 5 commands.

git submodule deinit <submodule_path>
git rm <submodule_path>
git commit-m "Submodule removed"
rm -rf .git/modules/<submodule_path>
git push

Here is a full example. Assuming you are in the base folder of the hugo site.
in my case cd ~/repos/jaredbusch.com

git submodule deinit themes/hugo-tikva/
git rm themes/hugo-tikva/
git commit-m "Submodule removed"
rm -rf .git/modules/themes/hugo-tikva/
git push