Its more accurate to say that git submodules are useful when you want to share code that you also need change along with the consumer of that code. If you're not trying to change the shared code along with the consumer of that code, there are better options for sharing your code.

Why you should use git submodules?

Git submodules allow you to keep a git repository as a subdirectory of another git repository. Git submodules are simply a reference to another repository at a particular snapshot in time. Git submodules enable a Git repository to incorporate and track version history of external code.

Should git submodules be ignored?

No, you don't need to add your submodule to your . gitignore : what the parent will see from your submodule is a gitlink (a special entry, mode 160000 ). That means: any change directly made in a submodule needs to be followed by a commit in the parent directory.