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-gc[1]:: 216 Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository. 217 218gitlink:git-lost-found[1]:: 219 Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned. 220 221gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]:: 222 The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`. 223 224gitlink:git-prune[1]:: 225 Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database. 226 227gitlink:git-quiltimport[1]:: 228 Applies a quilt patchset onto the current branch. 229 230gitlink:git-reflog[1]:: 231 Manage reflog information. 232 233gitlink:git-relink[1]:: 234 Hardlink common objects in local repositories. 235 236gitlink:git-svn[1]:: 237 Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git. 238 239gitlink:git-svnimport[1]:: 240 Import a SVN repository into git. 241 242gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]:: 243 Common git shell script setup code. 244 245gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]:: 246 Read and modify symbolic refs. 247 248gitlink:git-tag[1]:: 249 Create or verify a tag object signed with GPG. 250 251gitlink:git-update-ref[1]:: 252 Update the object name stored in a ref safely. 253 254 255Interrogators: 256 257gitlink:git-annotate[1]:: 258 Annotate file lines with commit info. 259 260gitlink:git-blame[1]:: 261 Find out where each line in a file came from. 262 263gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]:: 264 Make sure ref name is well formed. 265 266gitlink:git-cherry[1]:: 267 Find commits not merged upstream. 268 269gitlink:git-count-objects[1]:: 270 Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption. 271 272gitlink:git-daemon[1]:: 273 A really simple server for git repositories. 274 275gitlink:git-fmt-merge-msg[1]:: 276 Produce a merge commit message. 277 278gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]:: 279 Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree. 280 281gitlink:git-imap-send[1]:: 282 Dump a mailbox from stdin into an imap folder. 283 284gitlink:git-instaweb[1]:: 285 Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb. 286 287gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]:: 288 Extracts patch and authorship information from a single 289 e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit 290 message into utf-8. 291 292gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]:: 293 A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into 294 individual pieces of e-mail. 295 296gitlink:git-merge-tree[1]:: 297 Show three-way merge without touching index. 298 299gitlink:git-patch-id[1]:: 300 Compute unique ID for a patch. 301 302gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]:: 303 Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files. 304 305gitlink:git-request-pull[1]:: 306 git-request-pull. 307 308gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]:: 309 Pick out and massage parameters. 310 311gitlink:git-runstatus[1]:: 312 A helper for git-status and git-commit. 313 314gitlink:git-send-email[1]:: 315 Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output. 316 317gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]:: 318 Read and modify symbolic refs. 319 320gitlink:git-stripspace[1]:: 321 Filter out empty lines. 322 323 324Low-level commands (plumbing) 325----------------------------- 326 327Although git includes its 328own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support 329development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains 330might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and 331gitlink:git-read-tree[1]. 332 333We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in 334the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and 335compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between 336repositories. 337 338Manipulation commands 339~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 340gitlink:git-apply[1]:: 341 Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and 342 applies it to the working tree. 343 344gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]:: 345 Copy files from the index to the working tree. 346 347gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]:: 348 Creates a new commit object. 349 350gitlink:git-hash-object[1]:: 351 Computes the object ID from a file. 352 353gitlink:git-index-pack[1]:: 354 Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive. 355 356gitlink:git-init[1]:: 357 Creates an empty git repository, or reinitialize an 358 existing one. 359 360gitlink:git-merge-file[1]:: 361 Runs a threeway merge. 362 363gitlink:git-merge-index[1]:: 364 Runs a merge for files needing merging. 365 366gitlink:git-mktag[1]:: 367 Creates a tag object. 368 369gitlink:git-mktree[1]:: 370 Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text. 371 372gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]:: 373 Creates a packed archive of objects. 374 375gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]:: 376 Remove extra objects that are already in pack files. 377 378gitlink:git-read-tree[1]:: 379 Reads tree information into the index. 380 381gitlink:git-repo-config[1]:: 382 Get and set options in .git/config. 383 384gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]:: 385 Unpacks objects out of a packed archive. 386 387gitlink:git-update-index[1]:: 388 Registers files in the working tree to the index. 389 390gitlink:git-write-tree[1]:: 391 Creates a tree from the index. 392 393 394Interrogation commands 395~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 396 397gitlink:git-cat-file[1]:: 398 Provide content or type/size information for repository objects. 399 400gitlink:git-describe[1]:: 401 Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit. 402 403gitlink:git-diff-index[1]:: 404 Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository. 405 406gitlink:git-diff-files[1]:: 407 Compares files in the working tree and the index. 408 409gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]:: 410 Compares two "merge stages" in the index. 411 412gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]:: 413 Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects. 414 415gitlink:git-for-each-ref[1]:: 416 Output information on each ref. 417 418gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]:: 419 Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database. 420 421gitlink:git-ls-files[1]:: 422 Information about files in the index and the working tree. 423 424gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]:: 425 Displays a tree object in human readable form. 426 427gitlink:git-merge-base[1]:: 428 Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge. 429 430gitlink:git-name-rev[1]:: 431 Find symbolic names for given revs. 432 433gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]:: 434 Find redundant pack files. 435 436gitlink:git-rev-list[1]:: 437 Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order. 438 439gitlink:git-show-index[1]:: 440 Displays contents of a pack idx file. 441 442gitlink:git-show-ref[1]:: 443 List references in a local repository. 444 445gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]:: 446 Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object. 447 448gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]:: 449 Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents. 450 451gitlink:git-var[1]:: 452 Displays a git logical variable. 453 454gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]:: 455 Validates packed git archive files. 456 457In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in 458the working tree. 459 460 461Synching repositories 462~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 463 464gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]:: 465 Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and 466 local transport). 467 468gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]:: 469 Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking 470 commit chain. 471 472gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]:: 473 Duplicates another git repository on a local system by 474 walking commit chain. 475 476gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]:: 477 Lists references on a remote repository using 478 upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local 479 transport). 480 481gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]:: 482 Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it. 483 484gitlink:git-send-pack[1]:: 485 Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently. 486 487gitlink:git-http-push[1]:: 488 Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV. 489 490gitlink:git-shell[1]:: 491 Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access. 492 493gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]:: 494 Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by 495 walking commit chain. 496 497gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]:: 498 Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch. 499 500gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]:: 501 Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help 502 clients discover references and packs on it. 503 504gitlink:git-upload-archive[1]:: 505 Invoked by 'git-archive' to send a generated archive. 506 507gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]:: 508 Invoked by 'git-fetch-pack' to push 509 what are asked for. 510 511 512Configuration Mechanism 513----------------------- 514 515Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file 516is used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a 517simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some 518people. Here is an example: 519 520------------ 521# 522# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment. 523# 524 525; core variables 526[core] 527 ; Don't trust file modes 528 filemode = false 529 530; user identity 531[user] 532 name = "Junio C Hamano" 533 email = "junkio@twinsun.com" 534 535------------ 536 537Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust 538their operation accordingly. 539 540 541Identifier Terminology 542---------------------- 543<object>:: 544 Indicates the object name for any type of object. 545 546<blob>:: 547 Indicates a blob object name. 548 549<tree>:: 550 Indicates a tree object name. 551 552<commit>:: 553 Indicates a commit object name. 554 555<tree-ish>:: 556 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A 557 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to 558 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences 559 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>. 560 561<type>:: 562 Indicates that an object type is required. 563 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`. 564 565<file>:: 566 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the 567 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes. 568 569Symbolic Identifiers 570-------------------- 571Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following 572symbolic notation: 573 574HEAD:: 575 indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the 576 contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`). 577 578<tag>:: 579 a valid tag 'name' 580 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`). 581 582<head>:: 583 a valid head 'name' 584 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`). 585 586For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see 587"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 588 589 590File/Directory Structure 591------------------------ 592 593Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document. 594 595Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook. 596 597Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the 598`$GIT_DIR`. 599 600 601Terminology 602----------- 603Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document. 604 605 606Environment Variables 607--------------------- 608Various git commands use the following environment variables: 609 610The git Repository 611~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 612These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it 613is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above 614git so take care if using Cogito etc. 615 616'GIT_INDEX_FILE':: 617 This environment allows the specification of an alternate 618 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index` 619 is used. 620 621'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY':: 622 If the object storage directory is specified via this 623 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created 624 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` 625 directory is used. 626 627'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES':: 628 Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be 629 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable 630 specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which 631 can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be 632 written to these directories. 633 634'GIT_DIR':: 635 If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it 636 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git` 637 for the base of the repository. 638 639git Commits 640~~~~~~~~~~~ 641'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME':: 642'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL':: 643'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE':: 644'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME':: 645'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL':: 646 see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1] 647 648git Diffs 649~~~~~~~~~ 650'GIT_DIFF_OPTS':: 651 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the 652 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created. 653 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option 654 value passed on the git diff command line. 655 656'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF':: 657 When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the 658 program named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation 659 described above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified, 660 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 7 parameters: 661 662 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode 663+ 664where: 665 666 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the 667 contents of <old|new>, 668 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes, 669 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes. 670 671+ 672The file parameters can point at the user's working file 673(e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file` 674when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the 675index). 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' should not worry about unlinking the 676temporary file --- it is removed when 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' exits. 677+ 678For a path that is unmerged, 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 1 679parameter, <path>. 680 681other 682~~~~~ 683'GIT_PAGER':: 684 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. 685 686'GIT_TRACE':: 687 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison 688 is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on 689 stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command 690 execution and external command execution. 691 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1 692 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this 693 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the 694 trace messages into this file descriptor. 695 Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path 696 (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this 697 as a file path and will try to write the trace messages 698 into it. 699 700Discussion[[Discussion]] 701------------------------ 702include::README[] 703 704Authors 705------- 706* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>. 707* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>. 708* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>. 709* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 710 711Documentation 712-------------- 713The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves 714<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the 715contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 716 717GIT 718--- 719Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 720