diff --git a/pelican_deploy/deploy.py b/pelican_deploy/deploy.py
index 5f72b25..2c675d6 100644
--- a/pelican_deploy/deploy.py
+++ b/pelican_deploy/deploy.py
@@ -181,9 +181,11 @@ class DeploymentRunner:
 
     def _update_build_repo_submodules(self, repo):
         log.info("%s build_repo: update submodules", self.name)
-        results = repo.submodule_sync_update_init_recursive_force()
-        for r in results:
-            log_git(r)
+        # we must update the urls if changed!
+        result = repo.submodule("sync", "--recursive")
+        log_git(result)
+        result = repo.submodule("update", "--init", "--force", "--recursive")
+        log_git(result)
 
     def build(self, abort_running=False, wait=False, ignore_pull_error=False,
                build_fn=None):
diff --git a/pelican_deploy/gittool.py b/pelican_deploy/gittool.py
index 2cc77f9..6497db8 100644
--- a/pelican_deploy/gittool.py
+++ b/pelican_deploy/gittool.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 import os
 import errno
 import shlex
-from collections import namedtuple, deque
+from collections import namedtuple
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
 CmdResult = namedtuple("CmdResult", "cmd status stdout stderr")
@@ -69,33 +69,6 @@ class Repo:
         res = self.config("--get", key)
         return res.stdout.rstrip("\r\n")
 
-    def submodule_sync_update_init_recursive_force(self):
-        results = []
-        todo = deque()
-        todo.extend(self._get_submod_paths())
-        while todo:
-            curr = todo.popleft()
-            if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.repo_dir, curr)):
-                continue #  that happens, strangely...
-            results.append(self.cmd(self.git_cmd, "-C", curr,
-                                    "submodule", "sync"))
-            results.append(self.cmd(self.git_cmd, "-C", curr,
-                                    "submodule", "update", "--init", "--force"))
-            todo.extend(os.path.join(curr, p) for p in
-                        self._get_submod_paths(curr))
-        return results
-
-    def _get_submod_paths(self, submod="."):
-        if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.repo_dir, submod,
-                                           ".gitmodules")):
-            return ()
-
-        result = self.cmd(self.git_cmd, "-C", submod, "config", "--file",
-                          ".gitmodules", "--get-regexp", "submodule\..*\.path")
-        return tuple(p.split(maxsplit=1)[1] for p in result.stdout.splitlines())
-
-
-
 def log_git_result(result, out_logger=None, err_logger=None, status_logger=None):
     if status_logger:
         err_logger('%s exit status: %s', result.cmd, result.status)