Git/Android - Cannot commit submodule in assets folder

Question

I'm trying to use a submodule in my Android application, and while I was able to add the submodule successful, when trying to commit a change to use the latest version of that submodule, it throws an error.

The submodule is a simple repo that just contains json data that multiple applications are using.

I navigated to the assets directory within my Android app, and added the submodule like normal and gave it an alias "database"

git submodule add https://github.com/.... database

Now, that works but when I updated the submodule, I'm unable to commit the change within my main repo saying "use the the latest version of that submodule"

my_app\src\main\assets\database

"-" Subproject commit 3521bd386c99....
"+" Subproject commit d135dc8cd5b0....

"d135dc8cd5b0...." being the latest version of that submodule.

If I try to commit that change, it'll throw this error.

Could not commit submodules:

my_app/src/main/assets/database

Add them as submodules from Git Shell or remove their .git folders 
and add them as a regular directories instead.

But I already added it as a submodule through the Git Shell. Any idea on how to fix this?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You should be able to commit the updated submodule if you commit it all by itself using its directory path:

git commit my_app/src/main/assets/database -m "Updated database submodule"

You should then be able to commit all the other changes you have made to your repository:

git commit -m "Improved flux capacitor code"