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.)