Documentation / git.txton commit git-branch -D: make it work even when on a yet-to-be-born branch (67affd5)
   1git(7)
   2======
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git - the stupid content tracker
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [-p|--paginate]
  13    [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
  14
  15DESCRIPTION
  16-----------
  17Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
  18unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
  19and full access to internals.
  20
  21See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see
  22link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and
  23"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command.  CVS users may
  24also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration].
  25
  26The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias
  27as defined in the configuration file (see gitlink:git-repo-config[1]).
  28
  29OPTIONS
  30-------
  31--version::
  32        Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
  33
  34--help::
  35        Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
  36        commands.  If a git command is named this option will bring up
  37        the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is
  38        given then all available commands are printed.
  39
  40--exec-path::
  41        Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
  42        This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
  43        environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print
  44        the current setting and then exit.
  45
  46-p|--paginate::
  47        Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER).
  48
  49--git-dir=<path>::
  50        Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by
  51        setting the GIT_DIR environment variable.
  52
  53--bare::
  54        Same as --git-dir=`pwd`.
  55
  56FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
  57---------------------
  58
  59See the references above to get started using git.  The following is
  60probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
  61
  62The <<Discussion,Discussion>> section below and the
  63link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide introductions to the
  64underlying git architecture.
  65
  66See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
  67examples.
  68
  69GIT COMMANDS
  70------------
  71
  72We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
  73("plumbing") commands.
  74
  75High-level commands (porcelain)
  76-------------------------------
  77
  78We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
  79ancillary user utilities.
  80
  81Main porcelain commands
  82~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  83
  84gitlink:git-add[1]::
  85        Add paths to the index.
  86
  87gitlink:git-am[1]::
  88        Apply patches from a mailbox, but cooler.
  89
  90gitlink:git-applymbox[1]::
  91        Apply patches from a mailbox, original version by Linus.
  92
  93gitlink:git-archive[1]::
  94        Creates an archive of files from a named tree.
  95
  96gitlink:git-bisect[1]::
  97        Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search.
  98
  99gitlink:git-branch[1]::
 100        Create and Show branches.
 101
 102gitlink:git-checkout[1]::
 103        Checkout and switch to a branch.
 104
 105gitlink:git-cherry-pick[1]::
 106        Cherry-pick the effect of an existing commit.
 107
 108gitlink:git-clean[1]::
 109        Remove untracked files from the working tree.
 110
 111gitlink:git-clone[1]::
 112        Clones a repository into a new directory.
 113
 114gitlink:git-commit[1]::
 115        Record changes to the repository.
 116
 117gitlink:git-diff[1]::
 118        Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
 119
 120gitlink:git-fetch[1]::
 121        Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 122
 123gitlink:git-format-patch[1]::
 124        Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
 125
 126gitlink:git-grep[1]::
 127        Print lines matching a pattern.
 128
 129gitlink:gitk[1]::
 130        The git repository browser.
 131
 132gitlink:git-log[1]::
 133        Shows commit logs.
 134
 135gitlink:git-ls-remote[1]::
 136        Shows references in a remote or local repository.
 137
 138gitlink:git-merge[1]::
 139        Grand unified merge driver.
 140
 141gitlink:git-mv[1]::
 142        Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
 143
 144gitlink:git-pack-refs[1]::
 145        Pack heads and tags for efficient repository access.
 146
 147gitlink:git-pull[1]::
 148        Fetch from and merge with a remote repository or a local branch.
 149
 150gitlink:git-push[1]::
 151        Update remote refs along with associated objects.
 152
 153gitlink:git-rebase[1]::
 154        Rebase local commits to the updated upstream head.
 155
 156gitlink:git-repack[1]::
 157        Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
 158
 159gitlink:git-rerere[1]::
 160        Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
 161
 162gitlink:git-reset[1]::
 163        Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
 164
 165gitlink:git-resolve[1]::
 166        Merge two commits.
 167
 168gitlink:git-revert[1]::
 169        Revert an existing commit.
 170
 171gitlink:git-rm[1]::
 172        Remove files from the working tree and from the index.
 173
 174gitlink:git-shortlog[1]::
 175        Summarizes 'git log' output.
 176
 177gitlink:git-show[1]::
 178        Show one commit log and its diff.
 179
 180gitlink:git-show-branch[1]::
 181        Show branches and their commits.
 182
 183gitlink:git-status[1]::
 184        Shows the working tree status.
 185
 186gitlink:git-verify-tag[1]::
 187        Check the GPG signature of tag.
 188
 189gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]::
 190        Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
 191
 192
 193Ancillary Commands
 194~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 195Manipulators:
 196
 197gitlink:git-applypatch[1]::
 198        Apply one patch extracted from an e-mail.
 199
 200gitlink:git-archimport[1]::
 201        Import an arch repository into git.
 202
 203gitlink:git-convert-objects[1]::
 204        Converts old-style git repository.
 205
 206gitlink:git-cvsimport[1]::
 207        Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
 208
 209gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1]::
 210        Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
 211
 212gitlink:git-cvsserver[1]::
 213        A CVS server emulator for git.
 214
 215gitlink:git-lost-found[1]::
 216        Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned.
 217
 218gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]::
 219        The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`.
 220
 221gitlink:git-prune[1]::
 222        Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database.
 223
 224gitlink:git-quiltimport[1]::
 225        Applies a quilt patchset onto the current branch.
 226
 227gitlink:git-relink[1]::
 228        Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
 229
 230gitlink:git-svn[1]::
 231        Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git.
 232
 233gitlink:git-svnimport[1]::
 234        Import a SVN repository into git.
 235
 236gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]::
 237        Common git shell script setup code.
 238
 239gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 240        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 241
 242gitlink:git-tag[1]::
 243        An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG.
 244
 245gitlink:git-update-ref[1]::
 246        Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
 247
 248
 249Interrogators:
 250
 251gitlink:git-annotate[1]::
 252        Annotate file lines with commit info.
 253
 254gitlink:git-blame[1]::
 255        Find out where each line in a file came from.
 256
 257gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]::
 258        Make sure ref name is well formed.
 259
 260gitlink:git-cherry[1]::
 261        Find commits not merged upstream.
 262
 263gitlink:git-count-objects[1]::
 264        Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
 265
 266gitlink:git-daemon[1]::
 267        A really simple server for git repositories.
 268
 269gitlink:git-fmt-merge-msg[1]::
 270        Produce a merge commit message.
 271
 272gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]::
 273        Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree.
 274
 275gitlink:git-imap-send[1]::
 276        Dump a mailbox from stdin into an imap folder.
 277
 278gitlink:git-instaweb[1]::
 279        Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb.
 280
 281gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]::
 282        Extracts patch and authorship information from a single
 283        e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit
 284        message into utf-8.
 285
 286gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]::
 287        A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into
 288        individual pieces of e-mail.
 289
 290gitlink:git-merge-tree[1]::
 291        Show three-way merge without touching index.
 292
 293gitlink:git-patch-id[1]::
 294        Compute unique ID for a patch.
 295
 296gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]::
 297        Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files.
 298
 299gitlink:git-request-pull[1]::
 300        git-request-pull.
 301
 302gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]::
 303        Pick out and massage parameters.
 304
 305gitlink:git-runstatus[1]::
 306        A helper for git-status and git-commit.
 307
 308gitlink:git-send-email[1]::
 309        Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
 310
 311gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 312        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 313
 314gitlink:git-stripspace[1]::
 315        Filter out empty lines.
 316
 317
 318Low-level commands (plumbing)
 319-----------------------------
 320
 321Although git includes its
 322own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
 323development of alternative porcelains.  Developers of such porcelains
 324might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
 325gitlink:git-read-tree[1].
 326
 327We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
 328the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
 329compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
 330repositories.
 331
 332Manipulation commands
 333~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 334gitlink:git-apply[1]::
 335        Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
 336        applies it to the working tree.
 337
 338gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]::
 339        Copy files from the index to the working tree.
 340
 341gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]::
 342        Creates a new commit object.
 343
 344gitlink:git-hash-object[1]::
 345        Computes the object ID from a file.
 346
 347gitlink:git-index-pack[1]::
 348        Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive.
 349
 350gitlink:git-init-db[1]::
 351        Creates an empty git object database, or reinitialize an
 352        existing one.
 353
 354gitlink:git-merge-index[1]::
 355        Runs a merge for files needing merging.
 356
 357gitlink:git-mktag[1]::
 358        Creates a tag object.
 359
 360gitlink:git-mktree[1]::
 361        Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text.
 362
 363gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]::
 364        Creates a packed archive of objects.
 365
 366gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]::
 367        Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
 368
 369gitlink:git-read-tree[1]::
 370        Reads tree information into the index.
 371
 372gitlink:git-repo-config[1]::
 373        Get and set options in .git/config.
 374
 375gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]::
 376        Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
 377
 378gitlink:git-update-index[1]::
 379        Registers files in the working tree to the index.
 380
 381gitlink:git-write-tree[1]::
 382        Creates a tree from the index.
 383
 384
 385Interrogation commands
 386~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 387
 388gitlink:git-cat-file[1]::
 389        Provide content or type/size information for repository objects.
 390
 391gitlink:git-describe[1]::
 392        Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
 393
 394gitlink:git-diff-index[1]::
 395        Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository.
 396
 397gitlink:git-diff-files[1]::
 398        Compares files in the working tree and the index.
 399
 400gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]::
 401        Compares two "merge stages" in the index.
 402
 403gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]::
 404        Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
 405
 406gitlink:git-for-each-ref[1]::
 407        Output information on each ref.
 408
 409gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]::
 410        Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
 411
 412gitlink:git-ls-files[1]::
 413        Information about files in the index and the working tree.
 414
 415gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]::
 416        Displays a tree object in human readable form.
 417
 418gitlink:git-merge-base[1]::
 419        Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
 420
 421gitlink:git-name-rev[1]::
 422        Find symbolic names for given revs.
 423
 424gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]::
 425        Find redundant pack files.
 426
 427gitlink:git-rev-list[1]::
 428        Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
 429
 430gitlink:git-show-index[1]::
 431        Displays contents of a pack idx file.
 432
 433gitlink:git-show-ref[1]::
 434        List references in a local repository.
 435
 436gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]::
 437        Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object.
 438
 439gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]::
 440        Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
 441
 442gitlink:git-var[1]::
 443        Displays a git logical variable.
 444
 445gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]::
 446        Validates packed git archive files.
 447
 448In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
 449the working tree.
 450
 451
 452Synching repositories
 453~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 454
 455gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]::
 456        Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and
 457        local transport).
 458
 459gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]::
 460        Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking
 461        commit chain.
 462
 463gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]::
 464        Duplicates another git repository on a local system by
 465        walking commit chain.
 466
 467gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]::
 468        Lists references on a remote repository using
 469        upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local
 470        transport).
 471
 472gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]::
 473        Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 474
 475gitlink:git-send-pack[1]::
 476        Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 477
 478gitlink:git-http-push[1]::
 479        Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV.
 480
 481gitlink:git-shell[1]::
 482        Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access.
 483
 484gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]::
 485        Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by
 486        walking commit chain.
 487
 488gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]::
 489        Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch.
 490
 491gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]::
 492        Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 493        clients discover references and packs on it.
 494
 495gitlink:git-upload-archive[1]::
 496        Invoked by 'git-archive' to send a generated archive.
 497
 498gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]::
 499        Invoked by 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 500        what are asked for.
 501
 502
 503Configuration Mechanism
 504-----------------------
 505
 506Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
 507is used to hold per-repository configuration options.  It is a
 508simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some
 509people.  Here is an example:
 510
 511------------
 512#
 513# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
 514#
 515
 516; core variables
 517[core]
 518        ; Don't trust file modes
 519        filemode = false
 520
 521; user identity
 522[user]
 523        name = "Junio C Hamano"
 524        email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
 525
 526------------
 527
 528Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
 529their operation accordingly.
 530
 531
 532Identifier Terminology
 533----------------------
 534<object>::
 535        Indicates the object name for any type of object.
 536
 537<blob>::
 538        Indicates a blob object name.
 539
 540<tree>::
 541        Indicates a tree object name.
 542
 543<commit>::
 544        Indicates a commit object name.
 545
 546<tree-ish>::
 547        Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name.  A
 548        command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 549        operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 550        <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 551
 552<type>::
 553        Indicates that an object type is required.
 554        Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
 555
 556<file>::
 557        Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
 558        root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
 559
 560Symbolic Identifiers
 561--------------------
 562Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
 563symbolic notation:
 564
 565HEAD::
 566        indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the
 567        contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`).
 568
 569<tag>::
 570        a valid tag 'name'
 571        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`).
 572
 573<head>::
 574        a valid head 'name'
 575        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`).
 576
 577For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
 578"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
 579
 580
 581File/Directory Structure
 582------------------------
 583
 584Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document.
 585
 586Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook.
 587
 588Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 589`$GIT_DIR`.
 590
 591
 592Terminology
 593-----------
 594Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
 595
 596
 597Environment Variables
 598---------------------
 599Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 600
 601The git Repository
 602~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 603These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 604is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 605git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 606
 607'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 608        This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 609        index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
 610        is used.
 611
 612'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 613        If the object storage directory is specified via this
 614        environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 615        underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 616        directory is used.
 617
 618'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 619        Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 620        archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 621        specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
 622        can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 623        written to these directories.
 624
 625'GIT_DIR'::
 626        If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it
 627        specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
 628        for the base of the repository.
 629
 630git Commits
 631~~~~~~~~~~~
 632'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 633'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 634'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 635'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 636'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 637        see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 638
 639git Diffs
 640~~~~~~~~~
 641'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 642'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 643        see the "generating patches" section in :
 644        gitlink:git-diff-index[1];
 645        gitlink:git-diff-files[1];
 646        gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]
 647
 648other
 649~~~~~
 650'GIT_PAGER'::
 651        This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`.
 652
 653'GIT_TRACE'::
 654        If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
 655        is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on
 656        stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command
 657        execution and external command execution.
 658        If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1
 659        and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this
 660        value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
 661        trace messages into this file descriptor.
 662        Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path
 663        (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this
 664        as a file path and will try to write the trace messages
 665        into it.
 666
 667Discussion[[Discussion]]
 668------------------------
 669include::README[]
 670
 671Authors
 672-------
 673* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
 674* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>.
 675* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>.
 676* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 677
 678Documentation
 679--------------
 680The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
 681<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the
 682contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 683
 684GIT
 685---
 686Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 687