Article version: Enterprise Server 2.13

This version of GitHub Enterprise will be discontinued on This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2019-03-27. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Page build failed: Missing submodule

If your GitHub Pages code includes a reference to a submodule that doesn't exist or hasn't been properly initialized, your GitHub Pages site will not build.

If your GitHub Pages site fails to build because of a missing or improperly initialized submodule, you'll receive an email that looks like this:

Subject: Page build failed

The page build failed with the following error:

"The submodule `EXAMPLE_SUBMODULE` was not properly initialized with a `.gitmodules` file.

You will only receive an email if outbound email support is enabled on your Enterprise instance. For more information, contact your site administrator.

Troubleshooting non-existent submodule errors

Tip: We strongly recommend running Jekyll locally so you can easily debug and fix build errors before pushing to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance. To learn more about troubleshooting options, see "Troubleshooting GitHub Pages builds."

If you haven't initialized your submodule, you will need to initialize it with the following steps:

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