Documentation / git.txton commit Merge branch 'pb/regex' into next (46e48c3)
   1git(7)
   2======
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git - the stupid content tracker
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
  16unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
  17and full access to internals.
  18
  19See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see
  20link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and
  21"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command.  CVS users may
  22also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration].
  23
  24OPTIONS
  25-------
  26--version::
  27        Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
  28
  29--help::
  30        Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
  31        commands.  If a git command is named this option will bring up
  32        the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is
  33        given then all available commands are printed.
  34
  35--exec-path::
  36        Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
  37        This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
  38        environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print
  39        the current setting and then exit.
  40
  41
  42FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
  43---------------------
  44
  45See the references above to get started using git.  The following is
  46probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
  47
  48The <<Discussion,Discussion>> section below and the
  49link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide introductions to the
  50underlying git architecture.
  51
  52See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
  53examples.
  54
  55GIT COMMANDS
  56------------
  57
  58We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
  59("plumbing") commands.
  60
  61Low-level commands (plumbing)
  62-----------------------------
  63
  64Although git includes its
  65own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
  66development of alternative porcelains.  Developers of such porcelains
  67might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
  68gitlink:git-read-tree[1].
  69
  70We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
  71the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
  72compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
  73repositories.
  74
  75Manipulation commands
  76~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  77gitlink:git-apply[1]::
  78        Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
  79        applies it to the working tree.
  80
  81gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]::
  82        Copy files from the index to the working tree.
  83
  84gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]::
  85        Creates a new commit object.
  86
  87gitlink:git-hash-object[1]::
  88        Computes the object ID from a file.
  89
  90gitlink:git-index-pack[1]::
  91        Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive.
  92
  93gitlink:git-init-db[1]::
  94        Creates an empty git object database, or reinitialize an
  95        existing one.
  96
  97gitlink:git-merge-index[1]::
  98        Runs a merge for files needing merging.
  99
 100gitlink:git-mktag[1]::
 101        Creates a tag object.
 102
 103gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]::
 104        Creates a packed archive of objects.
 105
 106gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]::
 107        Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
 108
 109gitlink:git-read-tree[1]::
 110        Reads tree information into the index.
 111
 112gitlink:git-repo-config[1]::
 113        Get and set options in .git/config.
 114
 115gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]::
 116        Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
 117
 118gitlink:git-update-index[1]::
 119        Registers files in the working tree to the index.
 120
 121gitlink:git-write-tree[1]::
 122        Creates a tree from the index.
 123
 124
 125Interrogation commands
 126~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 127
 128gitlink:git-cat-file[1]::
 129        Provide content or type/size information for repository objects.
 130
 131gitlink:git-describe[1]::
 132        Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
 133
 134gitlink:git-diff-index[1]::
 135        Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository.
 136
 137gitlink:git-diff-files[1]::
 138        Compares files in the working tree and the index.
 139
 140gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]::
 141        Compares two "merge stages" in the index.
 142
 143gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]::
 144        Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
 145
 146gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]::
 147        Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
 148
 149gitlink:git-ls-files[1]::
 150        Information about files in the index and the working tree.
 151
 152gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]::
 153        Displays a tree object in human readable form.
 154
 155gitlink:git-merge-base[1]::
 156        Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
 157
 158gitlink:git-name-rev[1]::
 159        Find symbolic names for given revs.
 160
 161gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]::
 162        Find redundant pack files.
 163
 164gitlink:git-rev-list[1]::
 165        Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
 166
 167gitlink:git-show-index[1]::
 168        Displays contents of a pack idx file.
 169
 170gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]::
 171        Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object.
 172
 173gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]::
 174        Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
 175
 176gitlink:git-var[1]::
 177        Displays a git logical variable.
 178
 179gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]::
 180        Validates packed git archive files.
 181
 182In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
 183the working tree.
 184
 185
 186Synching repositories
 187~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 188
 189gitlink:git-clone-pack[1]::
 190        Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
 191        for ssh and local transport).
 192
 193gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]::
 194        Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and
 195        local transport).
 196
 197gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]::
 198        Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking
 199        commit chain.
 200
 201gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]::
 202        Duplicates another git repository on a local system by
 203        walking commit chain.
 204
 205gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]::
 206        Lists references on a remote repository using
 207        upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local
 208        transport).
 209
 210gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]::
 211        Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 212
 213gitlink:git-send-pack[1]::
 214        Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 215
 216gitlink:git-http-push[1]::
 217        Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV.
 218
 219gitlink:git-shell[1]::
 220        Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access.
 221
 222gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]::
 223        Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by
 224        walking commit chain.
 225
 226gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]::
 227        Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch.
 228
 229gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]::
 230        Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 231        clients discover references and packs on it.
 232
 233gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]::
 234        Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 235        what are asked for.
 236
 237
 238High-level commands (porcelain)
 239-------------------------------
 240
 241We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
 242ancillary user utilities.
 243
 244Main porcelain commands
 245~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 246
 247gitlink:git-add[1]::
 248        Add paths to the index.
 249
 250gitlink:git-am[1]::
 251        Apply patches from a mailbox, but cooler.
 252
 253gitlink:git-applymbox[1]::
 254        Apply patches from a mailbox, original version by Linus.
 255
 256gitlink:git-bisect[1]::
 257        Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search.
 258
 259gitlink:git-branch[1]::
 260        Create and Show branches.
 261
 262gitlink:git-checkout[1]::
 263        Checkout and switch to a branch.
 264
 265gitlink:git-cherry-pick[1]::
 266        Cherry-pick the effect of an existing commit.
 267
 268gitlink:git-clone[1]::
 269        Clones a repository into a new directory.
 270
 271gitlink:git-commit[1]::
 272        Record changes to the repository.
 273
 274gitlink:git-diff[1]::
 275        Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
 276
 277gitlink:git-fetch[1]::
 278        Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 279
 280gitlink:git-format-patch[1]::
 281        Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
 282
 283gitlink:git-grep[1]::
 284        Print lines matching a pattern.
 285
 286gitlink:git-log[1]::
 287        Shows commit logs.
 288
 289gitlink:git-ls-remote[1]::
 290        Shows references in a remote or local repository.
 291
 292gitlink:git-merge[1]::
 293        Grand unified merge driver.
 294
 295gitlink:git-mv[1]::
 296        Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
 297
 298gitlink:git-pull[1]::
 299        Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
 300
 301gitlink:git-push[1]::
 302        Update remote refs along with associated objects.
 303
 304gitlink:git-rebase[1]::
 305        Rebase local commits to the updated upstream head.
 306
 307gitlink:git-repack[1]::
 308        Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
 309
 310gitlink:git-rerere[1]::
 311        Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
 312
 313gitlink:git-reset[1]::
 314        Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
 315
 316gitlink:git-resolve[1]::
 317        Merge two commits.
 318
 319gitlink:git-revert[1]::
 320        Revert an existing commit.
 321
 322gitlink:git-shortlog[1]::
 323        Summarizes 'git log' output.
 324
 325gitlink:git-show[1]::
 326        Show one commit log and its diff.
 327
 328gitlink:git-show-branch[1]::
 329        Show branches and their commits.
 330
 331gitlink:git-status[1]::
 332        Shows the working tree status.
 333
 334gitlink:git-verify-tag[1]::
 335        Check the GPG signature of tag.
 336
 337gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]::
 338        Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
 339
 340
 341Ancillary Commands
 342~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 343Manipulators:
 344
 345gitlink:git-applypatch[1]::
 346        Apply one patch extracted from an e-mail.
 347
 348gitlink:git-archimport[1]::
 349        Import an arch repository into git.
 350
 351gitlink:git-convert-objects[1]::
 352        Converts old-style git repository.
 353
 354gitlink:git-cvsimport[1]::
 355        Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
 356
 357gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1]::
 358        Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
 359
 360gitlink:git-lost-found[1]::
 361        Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned.
 362
 363gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]::
 364        The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`.
 365
 366gitlink:git-prune[1]::
 367        Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database.
 368
 369gitlink:git-relink[1]::
 370        Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
 371
 372gitlink:git-svnimport[1]::
 373        Import a SVN repository into git.
 374
 375gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]::
 376        Common git shell script setup code.
 377
 378gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 379        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 380
 381gitlink:git-tag[1]::
 382        An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG.
 383
 384gitlink:git-update-ref[1]::
 385        Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
 386
 387
 388Interrogators:
 389
 390gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]::
 391        Make sure ref name is well formed.
 392
 393gitlink:git-cherry[1]::
 394        Find commits not merged upstream.
 395
 396gitlink:git-count-objects[1]::
 397        Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
 398
 399gitlink:git-daemon[1]::
 400        A really simple server for git repositories.
 401
 402gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]::
 403        Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree.
 404
 405gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]::
 406        Extracts patch and authorship information from a single
 407        e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit
 408        message into utf-8.
 409
 410gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]::
 411        A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into
 412        individual pieces of e-mail.
 413
 414gitlink:git-patch-id[1]::
 415        Compute unique ID for a patch.
 416
 417gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]::
 418        Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files.
 419
 420gitlink:git-request-pull[1]::
 421        git-request-pull.
 422
 423gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]::
 424        Pick out and massage parameters.
 425
 426gitlink:git-send-email[1]::
 427        Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
 428
 429gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 430        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 431
 432gitlink:git-stripspace[1]::
 433        Filter out empty lines.
 434
 435
 436Commands not yet documented
 437---------------------------
 438
 439gitlink:gitk[1]::
 440        The gitk repository browser.
 441
 442
 443Configuration Mechanism
 444-----------------------
 445
 446Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
 447is used to hold per-repository configuration options.  It is a
 448simple text file modelled after `.ini` format familiar to some
 449people.  Here is an example:
 450
 451------------
 452#
 453# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
 454#
 455
 456; core variables
 457[core]
 458        ; Don't trust file modes
 459        filemode = false
 460
 461; user identity
 462[user]
 463        name = "Junio C Hamano"
 464        email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
 465
 466------------
 467
 468Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
 469their operation accordingly.
 470
 471
 472Identifier Terminology
 473----------------------
 474<object>::
 475        Indicates the object name for any type of object.
 476
 477<blob>::
 478        Indicates a blob object name.
 479
 480<tree>::
 481        Indicates a tree object name.
 482
 483<commit>::
 484        Indicates a commit object name.
 485
 486<tree-ish>::
 487        Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name.  A
 488        command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 489        operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 490        <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 491
 492<type>::
 493        Indicates that an object type is required.
 494        Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
 495
 496<file>::
 497        Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
 498        root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
 499
 500Symbolic Identifiers
 501--------------------
 502Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
 503symbolic notation:
 504
 505HEAD::
 506        indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the
 507        contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`).
 508
 509<tag>::
 510        a valid tag 'name'
 511        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`).
 512
 513<head>::
 514        a valid head 'name'
 515        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`).
 516
 517
 518File/Directory Structure
 519------------------------
 520
 521Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document.
 522
 523Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook.
 524
 525Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 526`$GIT_DIR`.
 527
 528
 529Terminology
 530-----------
 531Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
 532
 533
 534Environment Variables
 535---------------------
 536Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 537
 538The git Repository
 539~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 540These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 541is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 542git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 543
 544'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 545        This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 546        index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
 547        is used.
 548
 549'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 550        If the object storage directory is specified via this
 551        environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 552        underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 553        directory is used.
 554
 555'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 556        Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 557        archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 558        specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
 559        can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 560        written to these directories.
 561
 562'GIT_DIR'::
 563        If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it
 564        specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
 565        for the base of the repository.
 566
 567git Commits
 568~~~~~~~~~~~
 569'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 570'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 571'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 572'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 573'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 574        see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 575
 576git Diffs
 577~~~~~~~~~
 578'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 579'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 580        see the "generating patches" section in :
 581        gitlink:git-diff-index[1];
 582        gitlink:git-diff-files[1];
 583        gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]
 584
 585Discussion[[Discussion]]
 586------------------------
 587include::README[]
 588
 589Authors
 590-------
 591* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
 592* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>.
 593* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>.
 594* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 595
 596Documentation
 597--------------
 598The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
 599<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the
 600contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 601
 602GIT
 603---
 604Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 605