Documentation / git-init.txton commit Avoid overflowing name buffer in deep directory structures (5d5cea6)
   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' [--template=<template_directory>] [--shared[=<permissions>]]
  12
  13
  14OPTIONS
  15-------
  16
  17--
  18
  19--template=<template_directory>::
  20
  21Provide the directory from which templates will be used.  The default template
  22directory is `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
  23
  24When specified, `<template_directory>` is used as the source of the template
  25files rather than the default.  The template files include some directory
  26structure, some suggested "exclude patterns", and copies of non-executing
  27"hook" files.  The suggested patterns and hook files are all modifiable and
  28extensible.
  29
  30--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
  31
  32Specify that the git repository is to be shared amongst several users.  This
  33allows users belonging to the same group to push into that
  34repository.  When specified, the config variable "core.sharedRepository" is
  35set so that files and directories under `$GIT_DIR` are created with the
  36requested permissions.  When not specified, git will use permissions reported
  37by umask(2).
  38
  39The option can have the following values, defaulting to 'group' if no value
  40is given:
  41
  42 - 'umask' (or 'false'): Use permissions reported by umask(2). The default,
  43   when `--shared` is not specified.
  44
  45 - 'group' (or 'true'): Make the repository group-writable, (and g+sx, since
  46   the git group may be not the primary group of all users).
  47
  48 - 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'): Same as 'group', but make the repository
  49   readable by all users.
  50
  51By default, the configuration flag receive.denyNonFastforward is enabled
  52in shared repositories, so that you cannot force a non fast-forwarding push
  53into it.
  54
  55--
  56
  57
  58DESCRIPTION
  59-----------
  60This command creates an empty git repository - basically a `.git` directory
  61with subdirectories for `objects`, `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, and
  62template files.
  63An initial `HEAD` file that references the HEAD of the master branch
  64is also created.
  65
  66If the `$GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it specifies a path
  67to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the repository.
  68
  69If the object storage directory is specified via the `$GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY`
  70environment variable then the sha1 directories are created underneath -
  71otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory is used.
  72
  73Running `git-init` in an existing repository is safe. It will not overwrite
  74things that are already there. The primary reason for rerunning `git-init`
  75is to pick up newly added templates.
  76
  77Note that `git-init` is the same as `git-init-db`.  The command
  78was primarily meant to initialize the object database, but over
  79time it has become responsible for setting up the other aspects
  80of the repository, such as installing the default hooks and
  81setting the configuration variables.  The old name is retained
  82for backward compatibility reasons.
  83
  84
  85EXAMPLES
  86--------
  87
  88Start a new git repository for an existing code base::
  89+
  90----------------
  91$ cd /path/to/my/codebase
  92$ git-init      <1>
  93$ git-add .     <2>
  94----------------
  95+
  96<1> prepare /path/to/my/codebase/.git directory
  97<2> add all existing file to the index
  98
  99
 100Author
 101------
 102Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 103
 104Documentation
 105--------------
 106Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 107
 108GIT
 109---
 110Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 111