1git-init(1) 2=========== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-init - Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git init' [-q | --quiet] [--bare] [--template=<template_directory>] 13 [--separate-git-dir <git dir>] 14 [--shared[=<permissions>]] [directory] 15 16 17DESCRIPTION 18----------- 19 20This command creates an empty Git repository - basically a `.git` 21directory with subdirectories for `objects`, `refs/heads`, 22`refs/tags`, and template files. An initial `HEAD` file that 23references the HEAD of the master branch is also created. 24 25If the `$GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it specifies a path 26to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the repository. 27 28If the object storage directory is specified via the 29`$GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY` environment variable then the sha1 directories 30are created underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` 31directory is used. 32 33Running 'git init' in an existing repository is safe. It will not 34overwrite things that are already there. The primary reason for 35rerunning 'git init' is to pick up newly added templates (or to move 36the repository to another place if --separate-git-dir is given). 37 38OPTIONS 39------- 40 41-- 42 43-q:: 44--quiet:: 45 46Only print error and warning messages; all other output will be suppressed. 47 48--bare:: 49 50Create a bare repository. If GIT_DIR environment is not set, it is set to the 51current working directory. 52 53--template=<template_directory>:: 54 55Specify the directory from which templates will be used. (See the "TEMPLATE 56DIRECTORY" section below.) 57 58--separate-git-dir=<git dir>:: 59 60Instead of initializing the repository as a directory to either `$GIT_DIR` or 61`./.git/`, create a text file there containing the path to the actual 62repository. This file acts as filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to the 63repository. 64+ 65If this is reinitialization, the repository will be moved to the specified path. 66 67--shared[=(false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody|0xxx)]:: 68 69Specify that the Git repository is to be shared amongst several users. This 70allows users belonging to the same group to push into that 71repository. When specified, the config variable "core.sharedRepository" is 72set so that files and directories under `$GIT_DIR` are created with the 73requested permissions. When not specified, Git will use permissions reported 74by umask(2). 75+ 76The option can have the following values, defaulting to 'group' if no value 77is given: 78+ 79-- 80'umask' (or 'false'):: 81 82Use permissions reported by umask(2). The default, when `--shared` is not 83specified. 84 85'group' (or 'true'):: 86 87Make the repository group-writable, (and g+sx, since the git group may be not 88the primary group of all users). This is used to loosen the permissions of an 89otherwise safe umask(2) value. Note that the umask still applies to the other 90permission bits (e.g. if umask is '0022', using 'group' will not remove read 91privileges from other (non-group) users). See '0xxx' for how to exactly specify 92the repository permissions. 93 94'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'):: 95 96Same as 'group', but make the repository readable by all users. 97 98'0xxx':: 99 100'0xxx' is an octal number and each file will have mode '0xxx'. '0xxx' will 101override users' umask(2) value (and not only loosen permissions as 'group' and 102'all' does). '0640' will create a repository which is group-readable, but not 103group-writable or accessible to others. '0660' will create a repo that is 104readable and writable to the current user and group, but inaccessible to others. 105-- 106 107By default, the configuration flag `receive.denyNonFastForwards` is enabled 108in shared repositories, so that you cannot force a non fast-forwarding push 109into it. 110 111If you provide a 'directory', the command is run inside it. If this directory 112does not exist, it will be created. 113 114-- 115 116TEMPLATE DIRECTORY 117------------------ 118 119The template directory contains files and directories that will be copied to 120the `$GIT_DIR` after it is created. 121 122The template directory will be one of the following (in order): 123 124 - the argument given with the `--template` option; 125 126 - the contents of the `$GIT_TEMPLATE_DIR` environment variable; 127 128 - the `init.templatedir` configuration variable; or 129 130 - the default template directory: `/usr/share/git-core/templates`. 131 132The default template directory includes some directory structure, suggested 133"exclude patterns" (see linkgit:gitignore[5]), and sample hook files (see linkgit:githooks[5]). 134 135EXAMPLES 136-------- 137 138Start a new Git repository for an existing code base:: 139+ 140---------------- 141$ cd /path/to/my/codebase 142$ git init <1> 143$ git add . <2> 144$ git commit <3> 145---------------- 146+ 147<1> Create a /path/to/my/codebase/.git directory. 148<2> Add all existing files to the index. 149<3> Record the pristine state as the first commit in the history. 150 151GIT 152--- 153Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite