Documentation / git-fsck.txton commit Git 1.7.11-rc1 (3fe4498)
   1git-fsck(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-fsck - Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git fsck' [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]
  13         [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]
  14         [--[no-]dangling] [--[no-]progress] [<object>*]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
  19
  20OPTIONS
  21-------
  22<object>::
  23        An object to treat as the head of an unreachability trace.
  24+
  25If no objects are given, 'git fsck' defaults to using the
  26index file, all SHA1 references in .git/refs/*, and all reflogs (unless
  27--no-reflogs is given) as heads.
  28
  29--unreachable::
  30        Print out objects that exist but that aren't reachable from any
  31        of the reference nodes.
  32
  33--dangling::
  34--no-dangling::
  35        Print objects that exist but that are never 'directly' used (default).
  36        `--no-dangling` can be used to omit this information from the output.
  37
  38--root::
  39        Report root nodes.
  40
  41--tags::
  42        Report tags.
  43
  44--cache::
  45        Consider any object recorded in the index also as a head node for
  46        an unreachability trace.
  47
  48--no-reflogs::
  49        Do not consider commits that are referenced only by an
  50        entry in a reflog to be reachable.  This option is meant
  51        only to search for commits that used to be in a ref, but
  52        now aren't, but are still in that corresponding reflog.
  53
  54--full::
  55        Check not just objects in GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY
  56        ($GIT_DIR/objects), but also the ones found in alternate
  57        object pools listed in GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES
  58        or $GIT_DIR/objects/info/alternates,
  59        and in packed git archives found in $GIT_DIR/objects/pack
  60        and corresponding pack subdirectories in alternate
  61        object pools.  This is now default; you can turn it off
  62        with --no-full.
  63
  64--strict::
  65        Enable more strict checking, namely to catch a file mode
  66        recorded with g+w bit set, which was created by older
  67        versions of git.  Existing repositories, including the
  68        Linux kernel, git itself, and sparse repository have old
  69        objects that triggers this check, but it is recommended
  70        to check new projects with this flag.
  71
  72--verbose::
  73        Be chatty.
  74
  75--lost-found::
  76        Write dangling objects into .git/lost-found/commit/ or
  77        .git/lost-found/other/, depending on type.  If the object is
  78        a blob, the contents are written into the file, rather than
  79        its object name.
  80
  81--progress::
  82--no-progress::
  83        Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by
  84        default when it is attached to a terminal, unless
  85        --no-progress or --verbose is specified. --progress forces
  86        progress status even if the standard error stream is not
  87        directed to a terminal.
  88
  89DISCUSSION
  90----------
  91
  92git-fsck tests SHA1 and general object sanity, and it does full tracking
  93of the resulting reachability and everything else. It prints out any
  94corruption it finds (missing or bad objects), and if you use the
  95'--unreachable' flag it will also print out objects that exist but that
  96aren't reachable from any of the specified head nodes (or the default
  97set, as mentioned above).
  98
  99Any corrupt objects you will have to find in backups or other archives
 100(i.e., you can just remove them and do an 'rsync' with some other site in
 101the hopes that somebody else has the object you have corrupted).
 102
 103Extracted Diagnostics
 104---------------------
 105
 106expect dangling commits - potential heads - due to lack of head information::
 107        You haven't specified any nodes as heads so it won't be
 108        possible to differentiate between un-parented commits and
 109        root nodes.
 110
 111missing sha1 directory '<dir>'::
 112        The directory holding the sha1 objects is missing.
 113
 114unreachable <type> <object>::
 115        The <type> object <object>, isn't actually referred to directly
 116        or indirectly in any of the trees or commits seen. This can
 117        mean that there's another root node that you're not specifying
 118        or that the tree is corrupt. If you haven't missed a root node
 119        then you might as well delete unreachable nodes since they
 120        can't be used.
 121
 122missing <type> <object>::
 123        The <type> object <object>, is referred to but isn't present in
 124        the database.
 125
 126dangling <type> <object>::
 127        The <type> object <object>, is present in the database but never
 128        'directly' used. A dangling commit could be a root node.
 129
 130sha1 mismatch <object>::
 131        The database has an object who's sha1 doesn't match the
 132        database value.
 133        This indicates a serious data integrity problem.
 134
 135Environment Variables
 136---------------------
 137
 138GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY::
 139        used to specify the object database root (usually $GIT_DIR/objects)
 140
 141GIT_INDEX_FILE::
 142        used to specify the index file of the index
 143
 144GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES::
 145        used to specify additional object database roots (usually unset)
 146
 147GIT
 148---
 149Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite