Documentation / git-update-index.txton commit [PATCH] fetch.c: Remove some duplicated code in process() (5de0bff)
   1git-update-index(1)
   2===================
   3v0.1, May 2005
   4
   5NAME
   6----
   7git-update-index - Modifies the index or directory cache
   8
   9
  10SYNOPSIS
  11--------
  12'git-update-index'
  13             [--add] [--remove] [--refresh] [--replace]
  14             [--ignore-missing]
  15             [--force-remove]
  16             [--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>]\*
  17             [--info-only]
  18             [--] [<file>]\*
  19
  20DESCRIPTION
  21-----------
  22Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned is updated
  23into the cache and any 'unmerged' or 'needs updating' state is
  24cleared.
  25
  26The way "git-update-index" handles files it is told about can be modified
  27using the various options:
  28
  29OPTIONS
  30-------
  31--add::
  32        If a specified file isn't in the cache already then it's
  33        added.
  34        Default behaviour is to ignore new files.
  35
  36--remove::
  37        If a specified file is in the cache but is missing then it's
  38        removed.
  39        Default behaviour is to ignore removed file.
  40
  41--refresh::
  42        Looks at the current cache and checks to see if merges or
  43        updates are needed by checking stat() information.
  44
  45--ignore-missing::
  46        Ignores missing files during a --refresh
  47
  48--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>::
  49        Directly insert the specified info into the cache.
  50        
  51--info-only::
  52        Do not create objects in the object database for all
  53        <file> arguments that follow this flag; just insert
  54        their object IDs into the cache.
  55
  56--force-remove::
  57        Remove the file from the index even when the working directory
  58        still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
  59
  60--replace::
  61        By default, when a file `path` exists in the index,
  62        git-update-index refuses an attempt to add `path/file`.
  63        Similarly if a file `path/file` exists, a file `path`
  64        cannot be added.  With --replace flag, existing entries
  65        that conflicts with the entry being added are
  66        automatically removed with warning messages.
  67
  68--::
  69        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
  70
  71<file>::
  72        Files to act on.
  73        Note that files begining with '.' are discarded. This includes
  74        `./file` and `dir/./file`. If you don't want this, then use     
  75        cleaner names.
  76        The same applies to directories ending '/' and paths with '//'
  77
  78Using --refresh
  79---------------
  80'--refresh' does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the cache
  81up-to-date for mode/content changes. But what it *does* do is to
  82"re-match" the stat information of a file with the cache, so that you
  83can refresh the cache for a file that hasn't been changed but where
  84the stat entry is out of date.
  85
  86For example, you'd want to do this after doing a "git-read-tree", to link
  87up the stat cache details with the proper files.
  88
  89Using --cacheinfo or --info-only
  90--------------------------------
  91'--cacheinfo' is used to register a file that is not in the
  92current working directory.  This is useful for minimum-checkout
  93merging.
  94
  95  To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
  96
  97   $ git-update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
  98
  99'--info-only' is used to register files without placing them in the object
 100database.  This is useful for status-only repositories.
 101
 102Both '--cacheinfo' and '--info-only' behave similarly: the index is updated
 103but the object database isn't.  '--cacheinfo' is useful when the object is
 104in the database but the file isn't available locally.  '--info-only' is
 105useful when the file is available, but you do not wish to update the
 106object database.
 107
 108Examples
 109--------
 110To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
 111
 112   git-checkout-index -n -f -a && git-update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
 113
 114
 115Author
 116------
 117Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 118
 119Documentation
 120--------------
 121Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 122
 123GIT
 124---
 125Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 126