diff --git a/switch_all_submodules_to_head_and_clean b/switch_all_submodules_to_head_and_clean
index 6313812..986dc0c 100755
--- a/switch_all_submodules_to_head_and_clean
+++ b/switch_all_submodules_to_head_and_clean
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ if [[ -z "$branch" ]] ||
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+# check git abilities
+if [[ -n "`git status --help 2>/dev/null|grep -- '--ignore-submodules'`" ]]; then
+  GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES="--ignore-submodules"
+fi
+
 echo "Preparing $PWD for development use"
 if [[ $1 == "" ]]; then
 	gituser=`sed -n "/^\[remote \"origin\"\]/,/url/s/\turl = http:\/\/\([^@]*\)@.*/\1/p" <\`git rev-parse --git-dir\`/config | grep -v "\(anonymous\|system\)"`
@@ -35,12 +40,12 @@ if [[ ! -e "$THISSCRIPT" ]]; then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
-if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]]; then
+if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain $GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES`" ]]; then
 	git reset --hard HEAD
 	git clean -dxff
 fi
 git pull
-if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]]; then
+if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain $GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES`" ]]; then
 	git reset --hard HEAD
 	git clean -dxff
 fi
diff --git a/update_all_submodules b/update_all_submodules
index 498dcef..563b3bd 100755
--- a/update_all_submodules
+++ b/update_all_submodules
@@ -19,12 +19,17 @@ if [[ -z "$branch" ]] ||
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+# check git abilities
+if [[ -n "`git status --help 2>/dev/null|grep -- '--ignore-submodules'`" ]]; then
+  GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES="--ignore-submodules"
+fi
+
 touch /var/lock/update-tde-git-submodules
 
 PARENTDIR=$PWD
 echo "Working in $PARENTDIR"
 git pull
-if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]]; then
+if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain $GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES`" ]]; then
 	git reset --hard HEAD
 	git clean -dxff
 fi
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ do
 			git submodule update
 		fi
 		cd $PARENTDIR/$DIR2UPDATE
-		if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]]; then
+		if [[ ! -z "`git status --porcelain $GIT_IGNORE_SUBMODULES`" ]]; then
 			git reset --hard HEAD
 			git clean -dxff
 		fi