diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index edcf01c5..17a69633 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -20,27 +20,31 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           pacman -Syu --needed --noconfirm \
             git unzip ghc cabal-install haskell-shake haskell-aeson-pretty \
-            cmake extra-cmake-modules ninja fmt fcitx5 boost python opencc jdk17-openjdk check
+            cmake extra-cmake-modules ninja fmt fcitx5 boost python opencc jre-openjdk
 
       - name: Fetch source code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          submodules: recursive
+          # this only sync submodules specified in .gitmodules,
+          # because we don't want recursive submodules in glog, librime, etc.
+          submodules: true
 
-      - name: Setup Android SDK
-        uses: android-actions/setup-android@v3
-
-      - name: Install NDK and CMake
+      - name: Fetch submodules
         run: |
-          sdkmanager --install "ndk;${{ env.NDK_VERSION }}"
-          sdkmanager --install "cmake;${{ env.CMAKE_VERSION }}"
+          # it appears to be a bug when building in containers: https://github.com/actions/checkout/issues/915
+          git config --global --add safe.directory '*'
+          # fetch libime submodule kenlm since it's not in .gitmodules
+          git submodule update --init --recursive libime
+
+      - name: Setup Android NDK
+        uses: android-actions/setup-android@v3
+        with:
+          packages: "ndk;${{ env.NDK_VERSION }} cmake;${{ env.CMAKE_VERSION }}"
 
       - name: Build everything
         env:
-          LANG: "C.UTF-8"
           ANDROID_NDK_ROOT: ${{ env.ANDROID_HOME }}/ndk/${{ env.NDK_VERSION }}
         run: |
-          git config --global --add safe.directory '*'
           # use archlinux's dynamic only ghc
           cabal configure --disable-library-vanilla --enable-shared --enable-executable-dynamic --ghc-options=-dynamic
           ./build-cabal -j everything
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 3c101b85..61399613 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,23 +1,19 @@
 [submodule "fmt"]
 	path = fmt
 	url = https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt
-	ignore = untracked
 [submodule "libuv"]
 	path = libuv
 	url = https://github.com/libuv/libuv
-	ignore = untracked
 [submodule "libintl-lite"]
 	path = libintl-lite
 	url = https://github.com/j-jorge/libintl-lite
-	ignore = untracked
 [submodule "Lua"]
 	path = Lua
 	url = https://github.com/walterschell/Lua
-	ignore = untracked
 [submodule "OpenCC"]
 	path = OpenCC
 	url = https://github.com/BYVoid/OpenCC
-	ignore = untracked
+	fetchRecurseSubmodules = false
 [submodule "anthy-unicode"]
 	path = anthy-unicode
 	url = https://github.com/fujiwarat/anthy-unicode
@@ -27,15 +23,18 @@
 [submodule "yaml-cpp"]
 	path = yaml-cpp
 	url = https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp
+	fetchRecurseSubmodules = false
 [submodule "leveldb"]
 	path = leveldb
 	url = https://github.com/google/leveldb
+	fetchRecurseSubmodules = false
 [submodule "marisa-trie"]
 	path = marisa-trie
 	url = https://github.com/rime/marisa-trie
 [submodule "librime"]
 	path = librime
 	url = https://github.com/rime/librime
+	fetchRecurseSubmodules = false
 [submodule "librime-lua"]
 	path = librime-lua
 	url = https://github.com/hchunhui/librime-lua
@@ -54,6 +53,7 @@
 [submodule "libime"]
 	path = libime
 	url = https://github.com/fcitx/libime
+	fetchRecurseSubmodules = true
 [submodule "libime-jyutping"]
 	path = libime-jyutping
 	url = https://github.com/fcitx/libime-jyutping