Git manage submodule on branch?

I have a submodule on a development branch that isn't present on other branches. Everytime I switch branches I get a message like this:

warning: unable to rmdir master/images/development/fakeapi: Directory not empty

When I look in the directory the submodule files are still there even when I've switched to the branch with no submodule.

Is there a way to deal with this so I don't have to manually remove the submodule files after switching branches?

Solution

That seems to be documented in Issues with Submodules and it involves by default some manual command.

Switching branches with submodules in them can also be tricky.
If you create a new branch, add a submodule there, and then switch back to a branch without that submodule, you still have the submodule directory as an untracked directory

Solution: git clean -ffd <submodule>

If you do remove that directory and then switch back to the branch that has that submodule, you will need to run submodule update --init to repopulate it.

You have more on those operations in "Working with Git Submodules in MantisBT"

Is there a way to deal with this so I don't have to manually remove the submodule files after switching branches?

Check if git checkout -f can help