GitHub Actions Checkout submodules doesn't work

[Icsyx]

I do have a private organisation repository. Let's call it my_private_repo.
Inside this repository I do have a clone of a public repository from outside of organisation. Let's call it my_public_repo.

In my repository I do have the .gitmodules file:

[submodule "path_to_my_public_repo"]
    path = path_to_my_public_repo       
    url = git://path_to_my_public_repo

When I run the git submodule status command, the submodule appears.

In the YAML file I want to checkout the code and I use this scrtip:

name: practice
on:
     push:
         branches:
             - github-action-practice
     workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
     get-code:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         steps:
             - name: Checkout
               uses: actions/checkout@v3
               with:
                 submodules: recursive

When I try to run the workflow I encounter this message:

No url found for submodule path 'path_to_my_public_repo' in .gitmodules

The process '/usr/bin/git' failed with exit code 128

I search for similar problems and I tried several solutions, none worked.

For example I generated a token from my organisational account and add it to secrets and put it inside the checkout action. It didn't work.

jobs:
     get-code:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         steps:
             - name: Checkout
               uses: actions/checkout@v3
               with:
                 submodules: recursive
                 token: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN }}

I also tried to run the git command for update submodule. Same result.

jobs:
     get-code:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         steps:
             - name: Checkout
               uses: actions/checkout@v3
             - name: Get submodule
               run: git submodule update --init --recursive

If you know or have any idea on what else I can try, please let me know

[heathhenley]

I have a similar set up - private repo with private submodules. I was seeing the same error as you before adding a SSH key, I know you added a token, so maybe our errors are not related just in case, mine looks like this:

... bunch  of stuff ...

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          submodules: 'recursive'
          ssh-key: ${{ secrets.SSH_KEY }}

... bunch of other stuff ...

The ssh key is for a machine user with read only access. I'm sure you figured it out, but just in case or in case anyone else comes across this I though I would share.

[fu050409]

I encountered a similar problem. I had set up my PAT correctly and my main repository could synchronize submodules correctly. However, all the checks in the pull request failed.

That's my error when using actions/checkout@v4:

Run actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    submodules: true
    fetch-depth: 0
    repository: noctisynth/Quantumix
    ssh-strict: true
    persist-credentials: true
    clean: true
    sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
    fetch-tags: false
    show-progress: true
    lfs: false
    set-safe-directory: true
  env:
    CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
Error: Input required and not supplied: token

[Icsyx]

For the moment the solution that worked for me was to make a clone of the public repository inside the organisation.