Documentation / git.txton commit Documentation: move blame examples (18d5453)
   1git(7)
   2======
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git - the stupid content tracker
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [-p|--paginate]
  13    [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
  14
  15DESCRIPTION
  16-----------
  17Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
  18unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
  19and full access to internals.
  20
  21See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see
  22link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and
  23"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command.  CVS users may
  24also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration].
  25
  26The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias
  27as defined in the configuration file (see gitlink:git-repo-config[1]).
  28
  29OPTIONS
  30-------
  31--version::
  32        Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
  33
  34--help::
  35        Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
  36        commands.  If a git command is named this option will bring up
  37        the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is
  38        given then all available commands are printed.
  39
  40--exec-path::
  41        Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
  42        This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
  43        environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print
  44        the current setting and then exit.
  45
  46-p|--paginate::
  47        Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER).
  48
  49--git-dir=<path>::
  50        Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by
  51        setting the GIT_DIR environment variable.
  52
  53--bare::
  54        Same as --git-dir=`pwd`.
  55
  56FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
  57---------------------
  58
  59See the references above to get started using git.  The following is
  60probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
  61
  62The <<Discussion,Discussion>> section below and the
  63link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide introductions to the
  64underlying git architecture.
  65
  66See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
  67examples.
  68
  69GIT COMMANDS
  70------------
  71
  72We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
  73("plumbing") commands.
  74
  75High-level commands (porcelain)
  76-------------------------------
  77
  78We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
  79ancillary user utilities.
  80
  81Main porcelain commands
  82~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  83
  84gitlink:git-add[1]::
  85        Add paths to the index.
  86
  87gitlink:git-am[1]::
  88        Apply patches from a mailbox, but cooler.
  89
  90gitlink:git-applymbox[1]::
  91        Apply patches from a mailbox, original version by Linus.
  92
  93gitlink:git-archive[1]::
  94        Creates an archive of files from a named tree.
  95
  96gitlink:git-bisect[1]::
  97        Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search.
  98
  99gitlink:git-branch[1]::
 100        Create and Show branches.
 101
 102gitlink:git-checkout[1]::
 103        Checkout and switch to a branch.
 104
 105gitlink:git-cherry-pick[1]::
 106        Cherry-pick the effect of an existing commit.
 107
 108gitlink:git-clean[1]::
 109        Remove untracked files from the working tree.
 110
 111gitlink:git-clone[1]::
 112        Clones a repository into a new directory.
 113
 114gitlink:git-commit[1]::
 115        Record changes to the repository.
 116
 117gitlink:git-diff[1]::
 118        Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
 119
 120gitlink:git-fetch[1]::
 121        Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 122
 123gitlink:git-format-patch[1]::
 124        Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
 125
 126gitlink:git-grep[1]::
 127        Print lines matching a pattern.
 128
 129gitlink:gitk[1]::
 130        The git repository browser.
 131
 132gitlink:git-log[1]::
 133        Shows commit logs.
 134
 135gitlink:git-ls-remote[1]::
 136        Shows references in a remote or local repository.
 137
 138gitlink:git-merge[1]::
 139        Grand unified merge driver.
 140
 141gitlink:git-mv[1]::
 142        Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
 143
 144gitlink:git-pack-refs[1]::
 145        Pack heads and tags for efficient repository access.
 146
 147gitlink:git-pull[1]::
 148        Fetch from and merge with a remote repository or a local branch.
 149
 150gitlink:git-push[1]::
 151        Update remote refs along with associated objects.
 152
 153gitlink:git-rebase[1]::
 154        Rebase local commits to the updated upstream head.
 155
 156gitlink:git-repack[1]::
 157        Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
 158
 159gitlink:git-rerere[1]::
 160        Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
 161
 162gitlink:git-reset[1]::
 163        Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
 164
 165gitlink:git-resolve[1]::
 166        Merge two commits.
 167
 168gitlink:git-revert[1]::
 169        Revert an existing commit.
 170
 171gitlink:git-rm[1]::
 172        Remove files from the working tree and from the index.
 173
 174gitlink:git-shortlog[1]::
 175        Summarizes 'git log' output.
 176
 177gitlink:git-show[1]::
 178        Show one commit log and its diff.
 179
 180gitlink:git-show-branch[1]::
 181        Show branches and their commits.
 182
 183gitlink:git-status[1]::
 184        Shows the working tree status.
 185
 186gitlink:git-verify-tag[1]::
 187        Check the GPG signature of tag.
 188
 189gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]::
 190        Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
 191
 192
 193Ancillary Commands
 194~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 195Manipulators:
 196
 197gitlink:git-applypatch[1]::
 198        Apply one patch extracted from an e-mail.
 199
 200gitlink:git-archimport[1]::
 201        Import an arch repository into git.
 202
 203gitlink:git-convert-objects[1]::
 204        Converts old-style git repository.
 205
 206gitlink:git-cvsimport[1]::
 207        Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
 208
 209gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1]::
 210        Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
 211
 212gitlink:git-cvsserver[1]::
 213        A CVS server emulator for git.
 214
 215gitlink:git-lost-found[1]::
 216        Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned.
 217
 218gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]::
 219        The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`.
 220
 221gitlink:git-prune[1]::
 222        Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database.
 223
 224gitlink:git-quiltimport[1]::
 225        Applies a quilt patchset onto the current branch.
 226
 227gitlink:git-relink[1]::
 228        Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
 229
 230gitlink:git-svn[1]::
 231        Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git.
 232
 233gitlink:git-svnimport[1]::
 234        Import a SVN repository into git.
 235
 236gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]::
 237        Common git shell script setup code.
 238
 239gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 240        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 241
 242gitlink:git-tag[1]::
 243        An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG.
 244
 245gitlink:git-update-ref[1]::
 246        Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
 247
 248
 249Interrogators:
 250
 251gitlink:git-annotate[1]::
 252        Annotate file lines with commit info.
 253
 254gitlink:git-blame[1]::
 255        Find out where each line in a file came from.
 256
 257gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]::
 258        Make sure ref name is well formed.
 259
 260gitlink:git-cherry[1]::
 261        Find commits not merged upstream.
 262
 263gitlink:git-count-objects[1]::
 264        Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
 265
 266gitlink:git-daemon[1]::
 267        A really simple server for git repositories.
 268
 269gitlink:git-fmt-merge-msg[1]::
 270        Produce a merge commit message.
 271
 272gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]::
 273        Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree.
 274
 275gitlink:git-imap-send[1]::
 276        Dump a mailbox from stdin into an imap folder.
 277
 278gitlink:git-instaweb[1]::
 279        Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb.
 280
 281gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]::
 282        Extracts patch and authorship information from a single
 283        e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit
 284        message into utf-8.
 285
 286gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]::
 287        A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into
 288        individual pieces of e-mail.
 289
 290gitlink:git-merge-tree[1]::
 291        Show three-way merge without touching index.
 292
 293gitlink:git-patch-id[1]::
 294        Compute unique ID for a patch.
 295
 296gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]::
 297        Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files.
 298
 299gitlink:git-request-pull[1]::
 300        git-request-pull.
 301
 302gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]::
 303        Pick out and massage parameters.
 304
 305gitlink:git-send-email[1]::
 306        Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
 307
 308gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 309        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 310
 311gitlink:git-stripspace[1]::
 312        Filter out empty lines.
 313
 314
 315Low-level commands (plumbing)
 316-----------------------------
 317
 318Although git includes its
 319own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
 320development of alternative porcelains.  Developers of such porcelains
 321might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
 322gitlink:git-read-tree[1].
 323
 324We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
 325the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
 326compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
 327repositories.
 328
 329Manipulation commands
 330~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 331gitlink:git-apply[1]::
 332        Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
 333        applies it to the working tree.
 334
 335gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]::
 336        Copy files from the index to the working tree.
 337
 338gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]::
 339        Creates a new commit object.
 340
 341gitlink:git-hash-object[1]::
 342        Computes the object ID from a file.
 343
 344gitlink:git-index-pack[1]::
 345        Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive.
 346
 347gitlink:git-init-db[1]::
 348        Creates an empty git object database, or reinitialize an
 349        existing one.
 350
 351gitlink:git-merge-index[1]::
 352        Runs a merge for files needing merging.
 353
 354gitlink:git-mktag[1]::
 355        Creates a tag object.
 356
 357gitlink:git-mktree[1]::
 358        Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text.
 359
 360gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]::
 361        Creates a packed archive of objects.
 362
 363gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]::
 364        Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
 365
 366gitlink:git-read-tree[1]::
 367        Reads tree information into the index.
 368
 369gitlink:git-repo-config[1]::
 370        Get and set options in .git/config.
 371
 372gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]::
 373        Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
 374
 375gitlink:git-update-index[1]::
 376        Registers files in the working tree to the index.
 377
 378gitlink:git-write-tree[1]::
 379        Creates a tree from the index.
 380
 381
 382Interrogation commands
 383~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 384
 385gitlink:git-cat-file[1]::
 386        Provide content or type/size information for repository objects.
 387
 388gitlink:git-describe[1]::
 389        Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
 390
 391gitlink:git-diff-index[1]::
 392        Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository.
 393
 394gitlink:git-diff-files[1]::
 395        Compares files in the working tree and the index.
 396
 397gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]::
 398        Compares two "merge stages" in the index.
 399
 400gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]::
 401        Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
 402
 403gitlink:git-for-each-ref[1]::
 404        Output information on each ref.
 405
 406gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]::
 407        Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
 408
 409gitlink:git-ls-files[1]::
 410        Information about files in the index and the working tree.
 411
 412gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]::
 413        Displays a tree object in human readable form.
 414
 415gitlink:git-merge-base[1]::
 416        Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
 417
 418gitlink:git-name-rev[1]::
 419        Find symbolic names for given revs.
 420
 421gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]::
 422        Find redundant pack files.
 423
 424gitlink:git-rev-list[1]::
 425        Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
 426
 427gitlink:git-show-index[1]::
 428        Displays contents of a pack idx file.
 429
 430gitlink:git-show-ref[1]::
 431        List references in a local repository.
 432
 433gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]::
 434        Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object.
 435
 436gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]::
 437        Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
 438
 439gitlink:git-var[1]::
 440        Displays a git logical variable.
 441
 442gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]::
 443        Validates packed git archive files.
 444
 445In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
 446the working tree.
 447
 448
 449Synching repositories
 450~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 451
 452gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]::
 453        Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and
 454        local transport).
 455
 456gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]::
 457        Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking
 458        commit chain.
 459
 460gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]::
 461        Duplicates another git repository on a local system by
 462        walking commit chain.
 463
 464gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]::
 465        Lists references on a remote repository using
 466        upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local
 467        transport).
 468
 469gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]::
 470        Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 471
 472gitlink:git-send-pack[1]::
 473        Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 474
 475gitlink:git-http-push[1]::
 476        Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV.
 477
 478gitlink:git-shell[1]::
 479        Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access.
 480
 481gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]::
 482        Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by
 483        walking commit chain.
 484
 485gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]::
 486        Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch.
 487
 488gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]::
 489        Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 490        clients discover references and packs on it.
 491
 492gitlink:git-upload-archive[1]::
 493        Invoked by 'git-archive' to send a generated archive.
 494
 495gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]::
 496        Invoked by 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 497        what are asked for.
 498
 499
 500Configuration Mechanism
 501-----------------------
 502
 503Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
 504is used to hold per-repository configuration options.  It is a
 505simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some
 506people.  Here is an example:
 507
 508------------
 509#
 510# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
 511#
 512
 513; core variables
 514[core]
 515        ; Don't trust file modes
 516        filemode = false
 517
 518; user identity
 519[user]
 520        name = "Junio C Hamano"
 521        email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
 522
 523------------
 524
 525Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
 526their operation accordingly.
 527
 528
 529Identifier Terminology
 530----------------------
 531<object>::
 532        Indicates the object name for any type of object.
 533
 534<blob>::
 535        Indicates a blob object name.
 536
 537<tree>::
 538        Indicates a tree object name.
 539
 540<commit>::
 541        Indicates a commit object name.
 542
 543<tree-ish>::
 544        Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name.  A
 545        command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 546        operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 547        <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 548
 549<type>::
 550        Indicates that an object type is required.
 551        Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
 552
 553<file>::
 554        Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
 555        root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
 556
 557Symbolic Identifiers
 558--------------------
 559Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
 560symbolic notation:
 561
 562HEAD::
 563        indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the
 564        contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`).
 565
 566<tag>::
 567        a valid tag 'name'
 568        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`).
 569
 570<head>::
 571        a valid head 'name'
 572        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`).
 573
 574For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
 575"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
 576
 577
 578File/Directory Structure
 579------------------------
 580
 581Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document.
 582
 583Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook.
 584
 585Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 586`$GIT_DIR`.
 587
 588
 589Terminology
 590-----------
 591Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
 592
 593
 594Environment Variables
 595---------------------
 596Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 597
 598The git Repository
 599~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 600These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 601is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 602git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 603
 604'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 605        This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 606        index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
 607        is used.
 608
 609'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 610        If the object storage directory is specified via this
 611        environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 612        underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 613        directory is used.
 614
 615'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 616        Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 617        archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 618        specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
 619        can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 620        written to these directories.
 621
 622'GIT_DIR'::
 623        If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it
 624        specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
 625        for the base of the repository.
 626
 627git Commits
 628~~~~~~~~~~~
 629'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 630'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 631'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 632'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 633'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 634        see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 635
 636git Diffs
 637~~~~~~~~~
 638'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 639'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 640        see the "generating patches" section in :
 641        gitlink:git-diff-index[1];
 642        gitlink:git-diff-files[1];
 643        gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]
 644
 645other
 646~~~~~
 647'GIT_PAGER'::
 648        This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`.
 649
 650'GIT_TRACE'::
 651        If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
 652        is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on
 653        stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command
 654        execution and external command execution.
 655        If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1
 656        and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this
 657        value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
 658        trace messages into this file descriptor.
 659        Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path
 660        (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this
 661        as a file path and will try to write the trace messages
 662        into it.
 663
 664Discussion[[Discussion]]
 665------------------------
 666include::README[]
 667
 668Authors
 669-------
 670* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
 671* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>.
 672* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>.
 673* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 674
 675Documentation
 676--------------
 677The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
 678<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the
 679contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 680
 681GIT
 682---
 683Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 684