Documentation / git-init.txton commit Merge branch 'mo/cvsserver' (58dd491)
   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|0xxx}]::
  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 `$GIT_DIR` are created with the
  40requested permissions.  When not specified, git will use permissions reported
  41by umask(2).
  42
  43The option can have the following values, defaulting to 'group' if no value
  44is given:
  45
  46 - 'umask' (or 'false'): Use permissions reported by umask(2). The default,
  47   when `--shared` is not specified.
  48
  49 - 'group' (or 'true'): Make the repository group-writable, (and g+sx, since
  50   the git group may be not the primary group of all users).
  51
  52 - 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'): Same as 'group', but make the repository
  53   readable by all users.
  54
  55 - '0xxx': '0xxx' is an octal number and each file will have mode '0xxx'
  56   Any option except 'umask' can be set using this option. '0xxx' will
  57   override users umask(2) value, and thus, users with a safe umask (0077)
  58   can use this option. '0640' will create a repository which is group-readable
  59   but not writable. '0660' is equivalent to 'group'.
  60
  61By default, the configuration flag receive.denyNonFastForwards is enabled
  62in shared repositories, so that you cannot force a non fast-forwarding push
  63into it.
  64
  65--
  66
  67
  68DESCRIPTION
  69-----------
  70This command creates an empty git repository - basically a `.git` directory
  71with subdirectories for `objects`, `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, and
  72template files.
  73An initial `HEAD` file that references the HEAD of the master branch
  74is also created.
  75
  76If the `$GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it specifies a path
  77to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the repository.
  78
  79If the object storage directory is specified via the `$GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY`
  80environment variable then the sha1 directories are created underneath -
  81otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory is used.
  82
  83Running `git-init` in an existing repository is safe. It will not overwrite
  84things that are already there. The primary reason for rerunning `git-init`
  85is to pick up newly added templates.
  86
  87Note that `git-init` is the same as `git-init-db`.  The command
  88was primarily meant to initialize the object database, but over
  89time it has become responsible for setting up the other aspects
  90of the repository, such as installing the default hooks and
  91setting the configuration variables.  The old name is retained
  92for backward compatibility reasons.
  93
  94
  95EXAMPLES
  96--------
  97
  98Start a new git repository for an existing code base::
  99+
 100----------------
 101$ cd /path/to/my/codebase
 102$ git-init      <1>
 103$ git-add .     <2>
 104----------------
 105+
 106<1> prepare /path/to/my/codebase/.git directory
 107<2> add all existing file to the index
 108
 109
 110Author
 111------
 112Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 113
 114Documentation
 115--------------
 116Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 117
 118GIT
 119---
 120Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite