The "ontogen" symlink mimics the git submodule within consuming repo. When using this subdir as a start point for a new project, follow this: $ ONTOGENREPO=git://fedorapeople.org/home/fedora/jpokorny/public_git/ontogen.git $ PREFIX=$(basename $(pwd)) $ git init . $ git submodule add "${ONTOGENREPO}" $ WHAT="Makefile .gitignore" $ # WHAT+=" .htaccess" $ for f in ${WHAT}; do ln -s {ontogen/quickstart/,}$f; done $ cat ontogen/quickstart/template.py \ | sed "s|template|${PREFIX}|g" \ > ${PREFIX}.py