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]] 13 [-p|--paginate|--no-pager] 14 [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--work-tree=GIT_WORK_TREE] 15 [--help] COMMAND [ARGS] 16 17DESCRIPTION 18----------- 19Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an 20unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations 21and full access to internals. 22 23See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see 24link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and 25"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command. CVS users may 26also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration]. See 27link:user-manual.html[Git User's Manual] for a more in-depth 28introduction. 29 30The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias 31as defined in the configuration file (see linkgit:git-config[1]). 32 33Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest git 34documentation can be viewed at 35`http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/`. 36 37ifdef::stalenotes[] 38[NOTE] 39============ 40 41You are reading the documentation for the latest (possibly 42unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master' 43branch of the `git.git` repository. 44Documentation for older releases are available here: 45 46* link:v1.5.5/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.5] 47 48* release notes for 49 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.3.txt[1.5.5.3], 50 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.2.txt[1.5.5.2], 51 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.1.txt[1.5.5.1], 52 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.txt[1.5.5]. 53 54* link:v1.5.5.3/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.5.3] 55 56* link:v1.5.4.5/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.4.5] 57 58* release notes for 59 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.5.txt[1.5.4.5], 60 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.4.txt[1.5.4.4], 61 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.3.txt[1.5.4.3], 62 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.2.txt[1.5.4.2], 63 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.1.txt[1.5.4.1], 64 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.txt[1.5.4]. 65 66* link:v1.5.3.8/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.3.8] 67 68* release notes for 69 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.8.txt[1.5.3.8], 70 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.7.txt[1.5.3.7], 71 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.6.txt[1.5.3.6], 72 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.5.txt[1.5.3.5], 73 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.4.txt[1.5.3.4], 74 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.3.txt[1.5.3.3], 75 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.2.txt[1.5.3.2], 76 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.1.txt[1.5.3.1], 77 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.txt[1.5.3]. 78 79* release notes for 80 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.5.txt[1.5.2.5], 81 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.4.txt[1.5.2.4], 82 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.3.txt[1.5.2.3], 83 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.2.txt[1.5.2.2], 84 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.1.txt[1.5.2.1], 85 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.txt[1.5.2]. 86 87* link:v1.5.1.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.1.6] 88 89* release notes for 90 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.6.txt[1.5.1.6], 91 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.5.txt[1.5.1.5], 92 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.4.txt[1.5.1.4], 93 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.3.txt[1.5.1.3], 94 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.2.txt[1.5.1.2], 95 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.1.txt[1.5.1.1], 96 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.txt[1.5.1]. 97 98* link:v1.5.0.7/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.0.7] 99 100* release notes for 101 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.7.txt[1.5.0.7], 102 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.6.txt[1.5.0.6], 103 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.5.txt[1.5.0.5], 104 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.3.txt[1.5.0.3], 105 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.2.txt[1.5.0.2], 106 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.1.txt[1.5.0.1], 107 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.txt[1.5.0]. 108 109* documentation for release link:v1.4.4.4/git.html[1.4.4.4], 110 link:v1.3.3/git.html[1.3.3], 111 link:v1.2.6/git.html[1.2.6], 112 link:v1.0.13/git.html[1.0.13]. 113 114============ 115 116endif::stalenotes[] 117 118OPTIONS 119------- 120--version:: 121 Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from. 122 123--help:: 124 Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used 125 commands. If the option '--all' or '-a' is given then all 126 available commands are printed. If a git command is named this 127 option will bring up the manual page for that command. 128+ 129Other options are available to control how the manual page is 130displayed. See linkgit:git-help[1] for more information, 131because 'git --help ...' is converted internally into 'git 132help ...'. 133 134--exec-path:: 135 Path to wherever your core git programs are installed. 136 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH 137 environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print 138 the current setting and then exit. 139 140-p|--paginate:: 141 Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER). 142 143--no-pager:: 144 Do not pipe git output into a pager. 145 146--git-dir=<path>:: 147 Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by 148 setting the GIT_DIR environment variable. 149 150--work-tree=<path>:: 151 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 152 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 153 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 154 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE 155 environment variable and the core.worktree configuration 156 variable. 157 158--bare:: 159 Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR 160 environment is not set, it is set to the current working 161 directory. 162 163 164FURTHER DOCUMENTATION 165--------------------- 166 167See the references above to get started using git. The following is 168probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user. 169 170The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 171user-manual] and the link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide 172introductions to the underlying git architecture. 173 174See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful 175examples. 176 177The internals are documented link:technical/api-index.html[here]. 178 179GIT COMMANDS 180------------ 181 182We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level 183("plumbing") commands. 184 185High-level commands (porcelain) 186------------------------------- 187 188We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some 189ancillary user utilities. 190 191Main porcelain commands 192~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 193 194include::cmds-mainporcelain.txt[] 195 196Ancillary Commands 197~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 198Manipulators: 199 200include::cmds-ancillarymanipulators.txt[] 201 202Interrogators: 203 204include::cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt[] 205 206 207Interacting with Others 208~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 209 210These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other 211people via patch over e-mail. 212 213include::cmds-foreignscminterface.txt[] 214 215 216Low-level commands (plumbing) 217----------------------------- 218 219Although git includes its 220own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support 221development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains 222might start by reading about linkgit:git-update-index[1] and 223linkgit:git-read-tree[1]. 224 225The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics) 226to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable 227than Porcelain level commands, because these commands are 228primarily for scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands 229on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the 230end user experience. 231 232The following description divides 233the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in 234the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and 235compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between 236repositories. 237 238 239Manipulation commands 240~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 241 242include::cmds-plumbingmanipulators.txt[] 243 244 245Interrogation commands 246~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 247 248include::cmds-plumbinginterrogators.txt[] 249 250In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in 251the working tree. 252 253 254Synching repositories 255~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 256 257include::cmds-synchingrepositories.txt[] 258 259The following are helper programs used by the above; end users 260typically do not use them directly. 261 262include::cmds-synchelpers.txt[] 263 264 265Internal helper commands 266~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 267 268These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end 269users typically do not use them directly. 270 271include::cmds-purehelpers.txt[] 272 273 274Configuration Mechanism 275----------------------- 276 277Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file 278is used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a 279simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some 280people. Here is an example: 281 282------------ 283# 284# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment. 285# 286 287; core variables 288[core] 289 ; Don't trust file modes 290 filemode = false 291 292; user identity 293[user] 294 name = "Junio C Hamano" 295 email = "junkio@twinsun.com" 296 297------------ 298 299Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust 300their operation accordingly. 301 302 303Identifier Terminology 304---------------------- 305<object>:: 306 Indicates the object name for any type of object. 307 308<blob>:: 309 Indicates a blob object name. 310 311<tree>:: 312 Indicates a tree object name. 313 314<commit>:: 315 Indicates a commit object name. 316 317<tree-ish>:: 318 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A 319 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to 320 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences 321 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>. 322 323<commit-ish>:: 324 Indicates a commit or tag object name. A 325 command that takes a <commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to 326 operate on a <commit> object but automatically dereferences 327 <tag> objects that point at a <commit>. 328 329<type>:: 330 Indicates that an object type is required. 331 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`. 332 333<file>:: 334 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the 335 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes. 336 337Symbolic Identifiers 338-------------------- 339Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following 340symbolic notation: 341 342HEAD:: 343 indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the 344 contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`). 345 346<tag>:: 347 a valid tag 'name' 348 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`). 349 350<head>:: 351 a valid head 'name' 352 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`). 353 354For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see 355"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]. 356 357 358File/Directory Structure 359------------------------ 360 361Please see the link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document. 362 363Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook. 364 365Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the 366`$GIT_DIR`. 367 368 369Terminology 370----------- 371Please see the link:glossary.html[glossary] document. 372 373 374Environment Variables 375--------------------- 376Various git commands use the following environment variables: 377 378The git Repository 379~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 380These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it 381is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above 382git so take care if using Cogito etc. 383 384'GIT_INDEX_FILE':: 385 This environment allows the specification of an alternate 386 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index` 387 is used. 388 389'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY':: 390 If the object storage directory is specified via this 391 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created 392 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` 393 directory is used. 394 395'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES':: 396 Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be 397 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable 398 specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which 399 can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be 400 written to these directories. 401 402'GIT_DIR':: 403 If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it 404 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git` 405 for the base of the repository. 406 407'GIT_WORK_TREE':: 408 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 409 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 410 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 411 This can also be controlled by the '--work-tree' command line 412 option and the core.worktree configuration variable. 413 414git Commits 415~~~~~~~~~~~ 416'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME':: 417'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL':: 418'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE':: 419'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME':: 420'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL':: 421'GIT_COMMITTER_DATE':: 422'EMAIL':: 423 see linkgit:git-commit-tree[1] 424 425git Diffs 426~~~~~~~~~ 427'GIT_DIFF_OPTS':: 428 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the 429 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created. 430 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option 431 value passed on the git diff command line. 432 433'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF':: 434 When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the 435 program named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation 436 described above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified, 437 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 7 parameters: 438 439 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode 440+ 441where: 442 443 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the 444 contents of <old|new>, 445 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes, 446 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes. 447 448+ 449The file parameters can point at the user's working file 450(e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file` 451when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the 452index). 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' should not worry about unlinking the 453temporary file --- it is removed when 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' exits. 454+ 455For a path that is unmerged, 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 1 456parameter, <path>. 457 458other 459~~~~~ 460'GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY':: 461 A number controlling the amount of output shown by 462 the recursive merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity. 463 See linkgit:git-merge[1] 464 465'GIT_PAGER':: 466 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set 467 to an empty string or to the value "cat", git will not launch 468 a pager. 469 470'GIT_SSH':: 471 If this environment variable is set then linkgit:git-fetch[1] 472 and linkgit:git-push[1] will use this command instead 473 of `ssh` when they need to connect to a remote system. 474 The 'GIT_SSH' command will be given exactly two arguments: 475 the 'username@host' (or just 'host') from the URL and the 476 shell command to execute on that remote system. 477+ 478To pass options to the program that you want to list in GIT_SSH 479you will need to wrap the program and options into a shell script, 480then set GIT_SSH to refer to the shell script. 481+ 482Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your 483personal `.ssh/config` file. Please consult your ssh documentation 484for further details. 485 486'GIT_FLUSH':: 487 If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such 488 as git-blame (in incremental mode), git-rev-list, git-log, 489 git-whatchanged, etc., will force a flush of the output stream 490 after each commit-oriented record have been flushed. If this 491 variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done 492 using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is 493 not set, git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing 494 based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not. 495 496'GIT_TRACE':: 497 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison 498 is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on 499 stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command 500 execution and external command execution. 501 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1 502 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this 503 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the 504 trace messages into this file descriptor. 505 Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path 506 (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this 507 as a file path and will try to write the trace messages 508 into it. 509 510Discussion[[Discussion]] 511------------------------ 512 513More detail on the following is available from the 514link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 515user-manual] and the link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial]. 516 517A git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git" 518subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other 519things, a compressed object database representing the complete history 520of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current 521contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such 522as tags and branch heads. 523 524The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which 525hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up 526directory hierarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree 527and some number of parent commits. 528 529The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or 530"version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent 531represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one 532parent represent merges of independent lines of development. 533 534All objects are named by the SHA1 hash of their contents, normally 535written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique. 536The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing 537just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this 538purpose. 539 540When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for 541efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files". 542 543Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref 544may contain the SHA1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs 545with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA1 name of the most 546recent commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA1 names of 547tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named 548`HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch. 549 550The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each 551path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents 552the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The 553attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the 554corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the 555working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may 556be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the 557content stored in the index. 558 559The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages") 560for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various 561unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress. 562 563Authors 564------- 565* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>. 566* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>. 567* The git potty was written by Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se>. 568* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 569 570Documentation 571-------------- 572The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves 573<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the 574contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 575 576GIT 577--- 578Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite