1git-replace(1) 2============== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-replace - Create, list, delete refs to replace objects 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git replace' [-f] <object> <replacement> 12'git replace' -d <object>... 13'git replace' -l [<pattern>] 14 15DESCRIPTION 16----------- 17Adds a 'replace' reference in `refs/replace/` namespace. 18 19The name of the 'replace' reference is the SHA-1 of the object that is 20replaced. The content of the 'replace' reference is the SHA-1 of the 21replacement object. 22 23The replaced object and the replacement object must be of the same type. 24This restriction can be bypassed using `-f`. 25 26Unless `-f` is given, the 'replace' reference must not yet exist. 27 28There is no other restriction on the replaced and replacement objects. 29Merge commits can be replaced by non-merge commits and vice versa. 30 31Replacement references will be used by default by all Git commands 32except those doing reachability traversal (prune, pack transfer and 33fsck). 34 35It is possible to disable use of replacement references for any 36command using the `--no-replace-objects` option just after 'git'. 37 38For example if commit 'foo' has been replaced by commit 'bar': 39 40------------------------------------------------ 41$ git --no-replace-objects cat-file commit foo 42------------------------------------------------ 43 44shows information about commit 'foo', while: 45 46------------------------------------------------ 47$ git cat-file commit foo 48------------------------------------------------ 49 50shows information about commit 'bar'. 51 52The 'GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS' environment variable can be set to 53achieve the same effect as the `--no-replace-objects` option. 54 55OPTIONS 56------- 57-f:: 58--force:: 59 If an existing replace ref for the same object exists, it will 60 be overwritten (instead of failing). 61 62-d:: 63--delete:: 64 Delete existing replace refs for the given objects. 65 66-l <pattern>:: 67--list <pattern>:: 68 List replace refs for objects that match the given pattern (or 69 all if no pattern is given). 70 Typing "git replace" without arguments, also lists all replace 71 refs. 72 73CREATING REPLACEMENT OBJECTS 74---------------------------- 75 76linkgit:git-filter-branch[1], linkgit:git-hash-object[1] and 77linkgit:git-rebase[1], among other git commands, can be used to create 78replacement objects from existing objects. 79 80If you want to replace many blobs, trees or commits that are part of a 81string of commits, you may just want to create a replacement string of 82commits and then only replace the commit at the tip of the target 83string of commits with the commit at the tip of the replacement string 84of commits. 85 86BUGS 87---- 88Comparing blobs or trees that have been replaced with those that 89replace them will not work properly. And using `git reset --hard` to 90go back to a replaced commit will move the branch to the replacement 91commit instead of the replaced commit. 92 93There may be other problems when using 'git rev-list' related to 94pending objects. 95 96SEE ALSO 97-------- 98linkgit:git-hash-object[1] 99linkgit:git-filter-branch[1] 100linkgit:git-rebase[1] 101linkgit:git-tag[1] 102linkgit:git-branch[1] 103linkgit:git[1] 104 105GIT 106--- 107Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite