01cc97bb110a508f9cbcd6f286c806721fa1f1a5
   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.