Documentation / git-push.txton commit Documentation: Describe other situations where -z affects git diff (03aa87e)
   1git-push(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-push - Update remote refs along with associated objects
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git push' [--all | --mirror | --tags] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
  13           [--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [-v | --verbose] [-u | --set-upstream]
  14           [<repository> [<refspec>...]]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18
  19Updates remote refs using local refs, while sending objects
  20necessary to complete the given refs.
  21
  22You can make interesting things happen to a repository
  23every time you push into it, by setting up 'hooks' there.  See
  24documentation for linkgit:git-receive-pack[1].
  25
  26
  27OPTIONS[[OPTIONS]]
  28------------------
  29<repository>::
  30        The "remote" repository that is destination of a push
  31        operation.  This parameter can be either a URL
  32        (see the section <<URLS,GIT URLS>> below) or the name
  33        of a remote (see the section <<REMOTES,REMOTES>> below).
  34
  35<refspec>...::
  36        The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus
  37        `{plus}`, followed by the source ref <src>, followed
  38        by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref <dst>.
  39        It is used to specify with what <src> object the <dst> ref
  40        in the remote repository is to be updated.
  41+
  42The <src> is often the name of the branch you would want to push, but
  43it can be any arbitrary "SHA-1 expression", such as `master~4` or
  44`HEAD` (see linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]).
  45+
  46The <dst> tells which ref on the remote side is updated with this
  47push. Arbitrary expressions cannot be used here, an actual ref must
  48be named. If `:`<dst> is omitted, the same ref as <src> will be
  49updated.
  50+
  51The object referenced by <src> is used to update the <dst> reference
  52on the remote side, but by default this is only allowed if the
  53update can fast-forward <dst>.  By having the optional leading `{plus}`,
  54you can tell git to update the <dst> ref even when the update is not a
  55fast-forward.  This does *not* attempt to merge <src> into <dst>.  See
  56EXAMPLES below for details.
  57+
  58`tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`.
  59+
  60Pushing an empty <src> allows you to delete the <dst> ref from
  61the remote repository.
  62+
  63The special refspec `:` (or `{plus}:` to allow non-fast-forward updates)
  64directs git to push "matching" branches: for every branch that exists on
  65the local side, the remote side is updated if a branch of the same name
  66already exists on the remote side.  This is the default operation mode
  67if no explicit refspec is found (that is neither on the command line
  68nor in any Push line of the corresponding remotes file---see below).
  69
  70--all::
  71        Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all
  72        refs under `refs/heads/` be pushed.
  73
  74--mirror::
  75        Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all
  76        refs under `refs/` (which includes but is not
  77        limited to `refs/heads/`, `refs/remotes/`, and `refs/tags/`)
  78        be mirrored to the remote repository.  Newly created local
  79        refs will be pushed to the remote end, locally updated refs
  80        will be force updated on the remote end, and deleted refs
  81        will be removed from the remote end.  This is the default
  82        if the configuration option `remote.<remote>.mirror` is
  83        set.
  84
  85-n::
  86--dry-run::
  87        Do everything except actually send the updates.
  88
  89--porcelain::
  90        Produce machine-readable output.  The output status line for each ref
  91        will be tab-separated and sent to stdout instead of stderr.  The full
  92        symbolic names of the refs will be given.
  93
  94--delete::
  95        All listed refs are deleted from the remote repository. This is
  96        the same as prefixing all refs with a colon.
  97
  98--tags::
  99        All refs under `refs/tags` are pushed, in
 100        addition to refspecs explicitly listed on the command
 101        line.
 102
 103--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>::
 104--exec=<git-receive-pack>::
 105        Path to the 'git-receive-pack' program on the remote
 106        end.  Sometimes useful when pushing to a remote
 107        repository over ssh, and you do not have the program in
 108        a directory on the default $PATH.
 109
 110-f::
 111--force::
 112        Usually, the command refuses to update a remote ref that is
 113        not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it.
 114        This flag disables the check.  This can cause the
 115        remote repository to lose commits; use it with care.
 116
 117--repo=<repository>::
 118        This option is only relevant if no <repository> argument is
 119        passed in the invocation. In this case, 'git push' derives the
 120        remote name from the current branch: If it tracks a remote
 121        branch, then that remote repository is pushed to. Otherwise,
 122        the name "origin" is used. For this latter case, this option
 123        can be used to override the name "origin". In other words,
 124        the difference between these two commands
 125+
 126--------------------------
 127git push public         #1
 128git push --repo=public  #2
 129--------------------------
 130+
 131is that #1 always pushes to "public" whereas #2 pushes to "public"
 132only if the current branch does not track a remote branch. This is
 133useful if you write an alias or script around 'git push'.
 134
 135-u::
 136--set-upstream::
 137        For every branch that is up to date or successfully pushed, add
 138        upstream (tracking) reference, used by argument-less
 139        linkgit:git-pull[1] and other commands. For more information,
 140        see 'branch.<name>.merge' in linkgit:git-config[1].
 141
 142--thin::
 143--no-thin::
 144        These options are passed to linkgit:git-send-pack[1]. A thin transfer
 145        significantly reduces the amount of sent data when the sender and
 146        receiver share many of the same objects in common. The default is
 147        \--thin.
 148
 149-v::
 150--verbose::
 151        Run verbosely.
 152
 153-q::
 154--quiet::
 155        Suppress all output, including the listing of updated refs,
 156        unless an error occurs.
 157
 158include::urls-remotes.txt[]
 159
 160OUTPUT
 161------
 162
 163The output of "git push" depends on the transport method used; this
 164section describes the output when pushing over the git protocol (either
 165locally or via ssh).
 166
 167The status of the push is output in tabular form, with each line
 168representing the status of a single ref. Each line is of the form:
 169
 170-------------------------------
 171 <flag> <summary> <from> -> <to> (<reason>)
 172-------------------------------
 173
 174If --porcelain is used, then each line of the output is of the form:
 175
 176-------------------------------
 177 <flag> \t <from>:<to> \t <summary> (<reason>)
 178-------------------------------
 179
 180The status of up-to-date refs is shown only if --porcelain or --verbose
 181option is used.
 182
 183flag::
 184        A single character indicating the status of the ref:
 185(space);; for a successfully pushed fast-forward;
 186`{plus}`;; for a successful forced update;
 187`-`;; for a successfully deleted ref;
 188`*`;; for a successfully pushed new ref;
 189`!`;; for a ref that was rejected or failed to push; and
 190`=`;; for a ref that was up to date and did not need pushing.
 191
 192summary::
 193        For a successfully pushed ref, the summary shows the old and new
 194        values of the ref in a form suitable for using as an argument to
 195        `git log` (this is `<old>..<new>` in most cases, and
 196        `<old>...<new>` for forced non-fast-forward updates). For a
 197        failed update, more details are given for the failure.
 198        The string `rejected` indicates that git did not try to send the
 199        ref at all (typically because it is not a fast-forward). The
 200        string `remote rejected` indicates that the remote end refused
 201        the update; this rejection is typically caused by a hook on the
 202        remote side. The string `remote failure` indicates that the
 203        remote end did not report the successful update of the ref
 204        (perhaps because of a temporary error on the remote side, a
 205        break in the network connection, or other transient error).
 206
 207from::
 208        The name of the local ref being pushed, minus its
 209        `refs/<type>/` prefix. In the case of deletion, the
 210        name of the local ref is omitted.
 211
 212to::
 213        The name of the remote ref being updated, minus its
 214        `refs/<type>/` prefix.
 215
 216reason::
 217        A human-readable explanation. In the case of successfully pushed
 218        refs, no explanation is needed. For a failed ref, the reason for
 219        failure is described.
 220
 221Note about fast-forwards
 222------------------------
 223
 224When an update changes a branch (or more in general, a ref) that used to
 225point at commit A to point at another commit B, it is called a
 226fast-forward update if and only if B is a descendant of A.
 227
 228In a fast-forward update from A to B, the set of commits that the original
 229commit A built on top of is a subset of the commits the new commit B
 230builds on top of.  Hence, it does not lose any history.
 231
 232In contrast, a non-fast-forward update will lose history.  For example,
 233suppose you and somebody else started at the same commit X, and you built
 234a history leading to commit B while the other person built a history
 235leading to commit A.  The history looks like this:
 236
 237----------------
 238
 239      B
 240     /
 241 ---X---A
 242
 243----------------
 244
 245Further suppose that the other person already pushed changes leading to A
 246back to the original repository you two obtained the original commit X.
 247
 248The push done by the other person updated the branch that used to point at
 249commit X to point at commit A.  It is a fast-forward.
 250
 251But if you try to push, you will attempt to update the branch (that
 252now points at A) with commit B.  This does _not_ fast-forward.  If you did
 253so, the changes introduced by commit A will be lost, because everybody
 254will now start building on top of B.
 255
 256The command by default does not allow an update that is not a fast-forward
 257to prevent such loss of history.
 258
 259If you do not want to lose your work (history from X to B) nor the work by
 260the other person (history from X to A), you would need to first fetch the
 261history from the repository, create a history that contains changes done
 262by both parties, and push the result back.
 263
 264You can perform "git pull", resolve potential conflicts, and "git push"
 265the result.  A "git pull" will create a merge commit C between commits A
 266and B.
 267
 268----------------
 269
 270      B---C
 271     /   /
 272 ---X---A
 273
 274----------------
 275
 276Updating A with the resulting merge commit will fast-forward and your
 277push will be accepted.
 278
 279Alternatively, you can rebase your change between X and B on top of A,
 280with "git pull --rebase", and push the result back.  The rebase will
 281create a new commit D that builds the change between X and B on top of
 282A.
 283
 284----------------
 285
 286      B   D
 287     /   /
 288 ---X---A
 289
 290----------------
 291
 292Again, updating A with this commit will fast-forward and your push will be
 293accepted.
 294
 295There is another common situation where you may encounter non-fast-forward
 296rejection when you try to push, and it is possible even when you are
 297pushing into a repository nobody else pushes into. After you push commit
 298A yourself (in the first picture in this section), replace it with "git
 299commit --amend" to produce commit B, and you try to push it out, because
 300forgot that you have pushed A out already. In such a case, and only if
 301you are certain that nobody in the meantime fetched your earlier commit A
 302(and started building on top of it), you can run "git push --force" to
 303overwrite it. In other words, "git push --force" is a method reserved for
 304a case where you do mean to lose history.
 305
 306
 307Examples
 308--------
 309
 310git push::
 311        Works like `git push <remote>`, where <remote> is the
 312        current branch's remote (or `origin`, if no remote is
 313        configured for the current branch).
 314
 315git push origin::
 316        Without additional configuration, works like
 317        `git push origin :`.
 318+
 319The default behavior of this command when no <refspec> is given can be
 320configured by setting the `push` option of the remote.
 321+
 322For example, to default to pushing only the current branch to `origin`
 323use `git config remote.origin.push HEAD`.  Any valid <refspec> (like
 324the ones in the examples below) can be configured as the default for
 325`git push origin`.
 326
 327git push origin :::
 328        Push "matching" branches to `origin`. See
 329        <refspec> in the <<OPTIONS,OPTIONS>> section above for a
 330        description of "matching" branches.
 331
 332git push origin master::
 333        Find a ref that matches `master` in the source repository
 334        (most likely, it would find `refs/heads/master`), and update
 335        the same ref (e.g. `refs/heads/master`) in `origin` repository
 336        with it.  If `master` did not exist remotely, it would be
 337        created.
 338
 339git push origin HEAD::
 340        A handy way to push the current branch to the same name on the
 341        remote.
 342
 343git push origin master:satellite/master dev:satellite/dev::
 344        Use the source ref that matches `master` (e.g. `refs/heads/master`)
 345        to update the ref that matches `satellite/master` (most probably
 346        `refs/remotes/satellite/master`) in the `origin` repository, then
 347        do the same for `dev` and `satellite/dev`.
 348
 349git push origin HEAD:master::
 350        Push the current branch to the remote ref matching `master` in the
 351        `origin` repository. This form is convenient to push the current
 352        branch without thinking about its local name.
 353
 354git push origin master:refs/heads/experimental::
 355        Create the branch `experimental` in the `origin` repository
 356        by copying the current `master` branch.  This form is only
 357        needed to create a new branch or tag in the remote repository when
 358        the local name and the remote name are different; otherwise,
 359        the ref name on its own will work.
 360
 361git push origin :experimental::
 362        Find a ref that matches `experimental` in the `origin` repository
 363        (e.g. `refs/heads/experimental`), and delete it.
 364
 365git push origin {plus}dev:master::
 366        Update the origin repository's master branch with the dev branch,
 367        allowing non-fast-forward updates.  *This can leave unreferenced
 368        commits dangling in the origin repository.*  Consider the
 369        following situation, where a fast-forward is not possible:
 370+
 371----
 372            o---o---o---A---B  origin/master
 373                     \
 374                      X---Y---Z  dev
 375----
 376+
 377The above command would change the origin repository to
 378+
 379----
 380                      A---B  (unnamed branch)
 381                     /
 382            o---o---o---X---Y---Z  master
 383----
 384+
 385Commits A and B would no longer belong to a branch with a symbolic name,
 386and so would be unreachable.  As such, these commits would be removed by
 387a `git gc` command on the origin repository.
 388
 389
 390Author
 391------
 392Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>, later rewritten in C
 393by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 394
 395Documentation
 396--------------
 397Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 398
 399GIT
 400---
 401Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite