diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 92d5ac3e4f1a26c048b1943a3da1d113032a0d4b..fb79d5cbd5b437378c9b039d39897cdaa9f2ace0 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 [submodule "third_party/protobuf"]
 	path = third_party/protobuf
 	url = https://github.com/google/protobuf.git
-	branch = 3.0.0-GA
+	branch = 3.0.x
 [submodule "third_party/gflags"]
 	path = third_party/gflags
 	url = https://github.com/gflags/gflags.git