diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8e3e0c4..ba55950 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -114,7 +114,9 @@ For MacOS users, make sure to install `realpath` through homebrew
 
 Using dotdrop as a submodule will need you to work with dotdrop by
 using the generated script `dotdrop.sh` at the root
-of your dotfiles repository.
+of your dotfiles repository. Note that this script updates the submodule
+automatically, unless called with the environment variable `DOTDROP_AUTOUPDATE`
+set to `no`.
 
 To ease the use of dotdrop, it is recommended to add an alias to it in your
 shell (*~/.bashrc*, *~/.zshrc*, etc) with the config file path, for example
diff --git a/dotdrop.sh b/dotdrop.sh
index a469f7f..8c458a5 100755
--- a/dotdrop.sh
+++ b/dotdrop.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@ sub="dotdrop"
 # pivot
 cd "${cur}" || { echo "Directory \"${cur}\" doesn't exist, aborting." && exit 1; }
 # init/update the submodule
-git submodule update --init --recursive
-git submodule update --remote dotdrop
+if [ "${DOTDROP_AUTOUPDATE-yes}" = yes ] ; then
+  git submodule update --init --recursive
+  git submodule update --remote dotdrop
+fi
 # launch dotdrop
 PYTHONPATH=dotdrop python3 -m dotdrop.dotdrop "${args[@]}"
 ret="$?"