diff --git a/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py b/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ad571207432053396be04e78a919c10a9fb4b0c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/git_submodule_helpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import textwrap
+from tests.test_pip import (mkdir, write_file,)
+
+def _create_test_package_submodule(env):
+    mkdir('version_pkg_submodule')
+    submodule_path = env.scratch_path/'version_pkg_submodule'
+    env.run('touch', 'testfile', cwd=submodule_path)
+    env.run('git', 'init', cwd=submodule_path)
+    env.run('git', 'add', '.', cwd=submodule_path)
+    env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
+            '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
+            '-am', 'initial version / submodule', cwd=submodule_path)
+    return submodule_path
+
+def _change_test_package_submodule(env, submodule_path):
+    write_file(submodule_path/'testfile', 'this is a changed file')
+    write_file(submodule_path/'testfile2', 'this is an added file')
+    env.run('git', 'add', '.', cwd=submodule_path)
+    env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
+            '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
+            '-am', 'submodule change', cwd=submodule_path)
+
+def _pull_in_submodule_changes_to_module(env, module_path):
+    env.run(*('git submodule foreach git pull -q origin master'.split(' ')), cwd=module_path) # this only exists in git > 1.7.3
+    env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
+            '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
+            '-am', 'submodule change', cwd=module_path)
+
+def _create_test_package_with_submodule(env):
+    mkdir('version_pkg')
+    version_pkg_path = env.scratch_path/'version_pkg'
+    mkdir(version_pkg_path/'testpkg')
+    pkg_path = version_pkg_path/'testpkg'
+
+    write_file('__init__.py', '# hello there', pkg_path)
+    write_file('version_pkg.py', textwrap.dedent('''\
+                                def main():
+                                    print('0.1')
+                                '''), pkg_path)
+    write_file('setup.py', textwrap.dedent('''\
+                        from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+                        setup(name='version_pkg',
+                              version='0.1',
+                              packages=find_packages(),
+                             )
+                        '''), version_pkg_path)
+    env.run('git', 'init', cwd=version_pkg_path)
+    env.run('git', 'add', '.', cwd=version_pkg_path)
+    env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
+            '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
+            '-am', 'initial version', cwd=version_pkg_path)
+
+
+    submodule_path = _create_test_package_submodule(env)
+
+    env.run('git', 'submodule', 'add', submodule_path, 'testpkg/static', cwd=version_pkg_path)
+    env.run('git', 'commit', '-q',
+            '--author', 'Pip <python-virtualenv@googlegroups.com>',
+            '-am', 'initial version w submodule', cwd=version_pkg_path)
+
+
+    return version_pkg_path, submodule_path
diff --git a/tests/test_vcs_git.py b/tests/test_vcs_git.py
index 0b3abab2e1331de3de7e2d51ade45042e2b6d794..227f6573705125ce8914346781a64aee8ec6482c 100644
--- a/tests/test_vcs_git.py
+++ b/tests/test_vcs_git.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 from mock import patch
 from pip.vcs.git import Git
 from tests.test_pip import (reset_env, run_pip,
-                            _create_test_package)
+                            _create_test_package,)
+from tests.git_submodule_helpers import _create_test_package_submodule, _change_test_package_submodule, _pull_in_submodule_changes_to_module, _create_test_package_with_submodule
 
 
 def test_get_tag_revs_should_return_tag_name_and_commit_pair():
@@ -75,3 +76,26 @@ def test_check_rev_options_should_handle_ambiguous_commit(branches_revs_mock,
 
     result = git.check_rev_options('0.1', '.', [])
     assert result == ['123456'], result
+
+
+
+
+
+
+def test_check_submodule_addition():
+    """
+        Test if submodules will be pulled in on install, and updated on upgrade
+    """
+    env = reset_env()
+    module_path, submodule_path = _create_test_package_with_submodule(env)
+
+    install_result = run_pip('install', '-e', 'git+'+module_path+'#egg=version_pkg')
+    assert '.virtualenv/src/version-pkg/testpkg/static/testfile' in install_result.files_created
+
+    _change_test_package_submodule(env, submodule_path)
+    _pull_in_submodule_changes_to_module(env, module_path)
+
+    update_result = run_pip('install', '-e', 'git+'+module_path+'#egg=version_pkg', '--upgrade')
+
+    assert env.venv/'src/version-pkg/testpkg/static/testfile2' in update_result.files_created
+