Documentation / git-init.txton commit GIT 1.5.3.7 (1d55735)
   1git-init(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-init - Create an empty git repository or reinitialize an existing one
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11'git-init' [-q | --quiet] [--template=<template_directory>] [--shared[=<permissions>]]
  12
  13
  14OPTIONS
  15-------
  16
  17--
  18
  19-q, \--quiet::
  20
  21Only print error and warning messages, all other output will be suppressed.
  22
  23--template=<template_directory>::
  24
  25Provide the directory from which templates will be used.  The default template
  26directory is `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
  27
  28When specified, `<template_directory>` is used as the source of the template
  29files rather than the default.  The template files include some directory
  30structure, some suggested "exclude patterns", and copies of non-executing
  31"hook" files.  The suggested patterns and hook files are all modifiable and
  32extensible.
  33
  34--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
  35
  36Specify that the git repository is to be shared amongst several users.  This
  37allows users belonging to the same group to push into that
  38repository.  When specified, the config variable "core.sharedRepository" is
  39set so that files and directories under `$GIT_DIR` are created with the
  40requested permissions.  When not specified, git will use permissions reported
  41by umask(2).
  42
  43The option can have the following values, defaulting to 'group' if no value
  44is given:
  45
  46 - 'umask' (or 'false'): Use permissions reported by umask(2). The default,
  47   when `--shared` is not specified.
  48
  49 - 'group' (or 'true'): Make the repository group-writable, (and g+sx, since
  50   the git group may be not the primary group of all users).
  51
  52 - 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'): Same as 'group', but make the repository
  53   readable by all users.
  54
  55By default, the configuration flag receive.denyNonFastforward is enabled
  56in shared repositories, so that you cannot force a non fast-forwarding push
  57into it.
  58
  59--
  60
  61
  62DESCRIPTION
  63-----------
  64This command creates an empty git repository - basically a `.git` directory
  65with subdirectories for `objects`, `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, and
  66template files.
  67An initial `HEAD` file that references the HEAD of the master branch
  68is also created.
  69
  70If the `$GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it specifies a path
  71to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the repository.
  72
  73If the object storage directory is specified via the `$GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY`
  74environment variable then the sha1 directories are created underneath -
  75otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory is used.
  76
  77Running `git-init` in an existing repository is safe. It will not overwrite
  78things that are already there. The primary reason for rerunning `git-init`
  79is to pick up newly added templates.
  80
  81Note that `git-init` is the same as `git-init-db`.  The command
  82was primarily meant to initialize the object database, but over
  83time it has become responsible for setting up the other aspects
  84of the repository, such as installing the default hooks and
  85setting the configuration variables.  The old name is retained
  86for backward compatibility reasons.
  87
  88
  89EXAMPLES
  90--------
  91
  92Start a new git repository for an existing code base::
  93+
  94----------------
  95$ cd /path/to/my/codebase
  96$ git-init      <1>
  97$ git-add .     <2>
  98----------------
  99+
 100<1> prepare /path/to/my/codebase/.git directory
 101<2> add all existing file to the index
 102
 103
 104Author
 105------
 106Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 107
 108Documentation
 109--------------
 110Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 111
 112GIT
 113---
 114Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite