diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d56d7be4..e0ff6a86 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ all: subtitleoctopus
 
 subtitleoctopus: dist
 
+include functions.mk
+
 # Fribidi
 build/lib/fribidi/configure: lib/fribidi $(wildcard $(BASE_DIR)build/patches/fribidi/*.patch)
 	rm -rf build/lib/fribidi
@@ -368,49 +370,10 @@ git-checkout:
 	git submodule sync --recursive && \
 	git submodule update --init --recursive
 
+SUBMODULES := brotli expat fontconfig freetype fribidi harfbuzz libass
+git-smreset: $(addprefix git-, $(SUBMODULES))
+
+$(foreach subm, $(SUBMODULES), $(eval $(call TR_GIT_SM_RESET,$(subm))))
+
 server: # Node http server npm i -g http-server
 	http-server
-
-git-update: git-freetype git-fribidi git-fontconfig git-expat git-harfbuzz git-libass git-brotli
-
-git-brotli:
-	cd lib/brotli && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-freetype:
-	cd lib/freetype && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-fribidi:
-	cd lib/fribidi && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-fontconfig:
-	cd lib/fontconfig && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-expat:
-	cd lib/expat && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-harfbuzz:
-	cd lib/harfbuzz && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
-
-git-libass:
-	cd lib/libass && \
-	git reset --hard && \
-	git clean -dfx && \
-	git pull origin master
diff --git a/functions.mk b/functions.mk
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..65ae2016
--- /dev/null
+++ b/functions.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# For inclusion in toplevel Makefile
+#   Defines some useful macros and variables for building etc
+#   If arguments are expected (macro) it needs to be invoked with $(call ...),
+#   if no arguments are supported the definition is aregular avariable and can be used as such.
+#   Special macros of the name TR_... create targets (and always take arguments)
+#   and thus also need to be $(eval ...)'ed
+
+
+## Clean and git related
+
+# @arg1: submodule name
+define TR_GIT_SM_RESET
+git-$(1):
+	cd lib/$(1) && \
+	git reset --hard && \
+	git clean -dfx
+	git submodule update --force lib/$(1)
+
+.PHONY: git-$(1)
+endef