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 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the 643 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created. 644 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option 645 value passed on the git diff command line. 646 647'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF':: 648 When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the 649 program named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation 650 described above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified, 651 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 7 parameters: 652 653 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode 654+ 655where: 656 657 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the 658 contents of <old|new>, 659 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes, 660 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes. 661 662+ 663The file parameters can point at the user's working file 664(e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file` 665when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the 666index). 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' should not worry about unlinking the 667temporary file --- it is removed when 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' exits. 668+ 669For a path that is unmerged, 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 1 670parameter, <path>. 671 672other 673~~~~~ 674'GIT_PAGER':: 675 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. 676 677'GIT_TRACE':: 678 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison 679 is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on 680 stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command 681 execution and external command execution. 682 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1 683 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this 684 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the 685 trace messages into this file descriptor. 686 Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path 687 (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this 688 as a file path and will try to write the trace messages 689 into it. 690 691Discussion[[Discussion]] 692------------------------ 693include::README[] 694 695Authors 696------- 697* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>. 698* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>. 699* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>. 700* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 701 702Documentation 703-------------- 704The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves 705<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the 706contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 707 708GIT 709--- 710Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 711