1git-p4(1) 2========= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>... 13'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...] 14'git p4 rebase' 15'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>] 16 17 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories 21using git. 22 23Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using 24'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate 25new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command 26is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths. 27Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command 28'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto 29the updated p4 remote branch. 30 31 32EXAMPLE 33------- 34* Clone a repository: 35+ 36------------ 37$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 38------------ 39 40* Do some work in the newly created git repository: 41+ 42------------ 43$ cd project 44$ vi foo.h 45$ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h" 46------------ 47 48* Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your 49 work on top: 50+ 51------------ 52$ git p4 rebase 53------------ 54 55* Submit your commits back to p4: 56+ 57------------ 58$ git p4 submit 59------------ 60 61 62COMMANDS 63-------- 64 65Clone 66~~~~~ 67Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory 68from an existing p4 repository: 69------------ 70$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 71------------ 72This: 73 741. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'. 75+ 762. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4 77depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'. 78+ 793. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out. 80 81To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on 82the depot path: 83------------ 84$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all 85------------ 86 87 88Sync 89~~~~ 90As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can 91be included in the git repository using: 92------------ 93$ git p4 sync 94------------ 95This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits. 96 97P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using 98'git p4 sync' too: 99------------ 100$ mkdir repo-git 101$ cd repo-git 102$ git init 103$ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot 104------------ 105This imports the specified depot into 106'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The 107'--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to 108be used for the p4 content. 109 110If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these 111will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since 112importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes 113from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment. 114 115 116Rebase 117~~~~~~ 118A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot 119and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository 120is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes 121sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move 122local commits on top of updated p4 changes. 123------------ 124$ git p4 rebase 125------------ 126 127 128Submit 129~~~~~~ 130Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository 131requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified 132using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration 133variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root 134will be created and populated if it does not already exist. 135 136To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in 137the 'p4/master' branch, use: 138------------ 139$ git p4 submit 140------------ 141 142To specify a branch other than the current one, use: 143------------ 144$ git p4 submit topicbranch 145------------ 146 147The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can 148be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option. 149 150The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The 151'--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified 152according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin 153privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'. 154 155 156OPTIONS 157------- 158 159General options 160~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 161All commands except clone accept this option. 162 163--git-dir <dir>:: 164 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1]. 165 166Sync options 167~~~~~~~~~~~~ 168These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in 169subsequent 'sync' operations. 170 171--branch <branch>:: 172 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with 173 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/' 174 will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'. If used 175 with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out. 176+ 177This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing 178git repository: 179---- 180 $ git init 181 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2 182---- 183 184--detect-branches:: 185 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is 186 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION". 187 188--changesfile <file>:: 189 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per 190 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository 191 state and detects the changes it should import. 192 193--silent:: 194 Do not print any progress information. 195 196--verbose:: 197 Provide more progress information. 198 199--detect-labels:: 200 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add 201 them as tags in git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels 202 associated with new changelists. Deprecated. 203 204--import-labels:: 205 Import labels from p4 into git. 206 207--import-local:: 208 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/', 209 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by 210 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead 211 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future 212 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that 213 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads. 214 215--max-changes <n>:: 216 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to 217 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision 218 specifier. 219 220--keep-path:: 221 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by 222 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this 223 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example, 224 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from 225 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the 226 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'. 227 228--use-client-spec:: 229 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4. 230 See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below. 231 232Clone options 233~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 234These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync' 235options described above. 236 237--destination <directory>:: 238 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last 239 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new 240 directory. 241 242--bare:: 243 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1]. 244 245-/ <path>:: 246 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning. 247 248Submit options 249~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 250These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior. 251 252--verbose:: 253 Provide more progress information. 254 255--origin <commit>:: 256 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to 257 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable 258 from 'HEAD'. 259 260-M[<n>]:: 261 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be 262 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There 263 is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are 264 variables for both moves and copies. 265 266--preserve-user:: 267 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option 268 requires p4 admin privileges. 269 270--export-labels:: 271 Export tags from git as p4 labels. Tags found in git are applied 272 to the perforce working directory. 273 274Rebase options 275~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 276These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior. 277 278--import-labels:: 279 Import p4 labels. 280 281DEPOT PATH SYNTAX 282----------------- 283The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can 284be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional 285p4 revision specifier on the end: 286 287"//depot/my/project":: 288 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree. 289 290"//depot/my/project@all":: 291 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path. 292 293"//depot/my/project@1,6":: 294 Import only changes 1 through 6. 295 296"//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all":: 297 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single 298 repository. Only files below these directories are included. 299 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2". 300 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more 301 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified 302 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the 303 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently 304 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git. 305 306See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers. 307 308 309CLIENT SPEC 310----------- 311The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command 312and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot 313is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands 314can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or 315when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the 316useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository 317configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to 318work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does 319not have a command-line option. 320 321The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4' 322knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line 323mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes 324around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles 325'...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain 326if it encounters an unhandled wildcard. 327 328Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot 329paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository, 330'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without 331dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'. 332 333The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The 334variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise, 335normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment 336variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name. 337 338 339BRANCH DETECTION 340---------------- 341P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead, 342p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention 343different logical branches are in different locations in the tree. 344The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between 345different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4' 346can use these mappings to determine branch relationships. 347 348If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as 349subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches' 350when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find 351subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git. 352 353For example, if the P4 repository structure is: 354---- 355//depot/main/... 356//depot/branch1/... 357---- 358 359And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like: 360---- 361//depot/main/... //depot/branch1/... 362---- 363 364Then this 'git p4 clone' command: 365---- 366git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all 367---- 368produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main, 369called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'. 370 371However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use 372them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch 373relationships automatically, a git configuration setting 374'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch 375relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a 376simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are 377the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the 378presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will 379occur with: 380---- 381git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1 382git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all 383---- 384 385 386PERFORMANCE 387----------- 388The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for 389each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression 390(linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files, 391but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance. 392 393 394CONFIGURATION VARIABLES 395----------------------- 396The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior. 397They all are in the 'git-p4' section. 398 399General variables 400~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 401git-p4.user:: 402 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'. 403 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead. 404 405git-p4.password:: 406 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 407 '-P <password>'. 408 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead. 409 410git-p4.port:: 411 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 412 '-p <port>'. 413 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead. 414 415git-p4.host:: 416 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 417 '-h <host>'. 418 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead. 419 420git-p4.client:: 421 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 422 '-c <client>', including the client spec. 423 424Clone and sync variables 425~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 426git-p4.syncFromOrigin:: 427 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster 428 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes 429 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4', 430 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This 431 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior. 432 433git-p4.branchUser:: 434 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches 435 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are 436 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned 437 by the single user named in the variable. 438 439git-p4.branchList:: 440 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is 441 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated 442 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and 443 branchB were created from main: 444 445------------- 446git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA 447git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB 448------------- 449 450git-p4.ignoredP4Labels:: 451 List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as 452 unimportable labels are discovered. 453 454git-p4.importLabels:: 455 Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels. 456 457git-p4.labelImportRegexp:: 458 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The 459 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. 460 461git-p4.useClientSpec:: 462 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4 463 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the 464 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above. 465 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client. 466 467Submit variables 468~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 469git-p4.detectRenames:: 470 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 471 472git-p4.detectCopies:: 473 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 474 475git-p4.detectCopiesHarder:: 476 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. 477 478git-p4.preserveUser:: 479 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author, 480 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'. 481 482git-p4.allowMissingP4Users:: 483 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it 484 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting 485 submits the change regardless. 486 487git-p4.skipSubmitEdit:: 488 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change 489 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing 490 step is skipped. 491 492git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck:: 493 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that 494 the description really was changed by looking at the file 495 modification time. This option disables that test. 496 497git-p4.allowSubmit:: 498 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4 499 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only 500 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names 501 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be 502 separated by commas (","), with no spaces. 503 504git-p4.skipUserNameCheck:: 505 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4 506 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force 507 submission regardless. 508 509git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup: 510 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords 511 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent 512 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at 513 present. 514 515git-p4.exportLabels:: 516 Export git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels. 517 518git-p4.labelExportRegexp:: 519 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The 520 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. 521 522IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 523---------------------- 524* Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import. 525* Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are 526 collected using 'p4 print'. 527* Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location 528 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to 529 this p4 client and submitted from there. 530* Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log 531 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This 532 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4 533 changes are new.