"No url found for submodule path 'PropWorx.Portal' in .gitmodules" error when running pipeline in Azure DevOps

Question

I have an Angular 12 web app which build and runs just fine locally on my development PC. The code is in a git repository in Azure DevOps. I now want to publish it to Azure Static Web App (using CD/CI), so I create a new static web app, point it to the Azure DevOps git repository, and it generates a pipeline for me in the repository. Here is the YAML for the pipeline:

name: Azure Static Web Apps CI/CD

pr:
  branches:
    include:
      - Angular13-2023-03
trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - Angular13-2023-03

jobs:
- job: build_and_deploy_job
  displayName: Build and Deploy Job
  condition: or(eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'Manual'),or(eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'PullRequest'),eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'IndividualCI')))
  pool:
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
  variables:
  - group: Azure-Static-Web-Apps-yellow-mushroom-05b59cd03-variable-group
  steps:
  - checkout: self
    submodules: true
  - task: AzureStaticWebApp@0
    inputs:
      azure_static_web_apps_api_token: $(AZURE_STATIC_WEB_APPS_API_TOKEN_YELLOW_MUSHROOM_05B59CD03)
      app_location: "/" # App source code path
      api_location: "" # Api source code path - optional
      output_location: "" # Built app content directory - optional

When the pipeline runs, it gives this error:

fatal: No url found for submodule path 'PropWorx.Portal' in .gitmodules
##[error]Git submodule update failed with exit code: 128

Now, PropWorx.Portal is another project/app on Azure DevOps. Why is the error referencing a completely different project? What's it got to do with the project I'm working on now?

Also, my project does not have a .gitmodules file:

So I'm not sure why it's talking about a.gitmodules file.

Any ideas? I've spent all day on this and I'm stumped.... Thanks

Answer 1

As I posted the question, I saw this line which I had somehow missed before, in the YAML:

submodules: true

I made it "false", and the error has gone away. (I'm getting another error now, but the original issue is gone)