Documentation / git-bundle.txton commit Merge branch 'sp/maint-no-thin' (9784c5c)
   1git-bundle(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git-bundle' create <file> [git-rev-list args]
  13'git-bundle' verify <file>
  14'git-bundle' list-heads <file> [refname...]
  15'git-bundle' unbundle <file> [refname...]
  16
  17DESCRIPTION
  18-----------
  19
  20Some workflows require that one or more branches of development on one
  21machine be replicated on another machine, but the two machines cannot
  22be directly connected so the interactive git protocols (git, ssh,
  23rsync, http) cannot be used.  This command provides support for
  24git-fetch and git-pull to operate by packaging objects and references
  25in an archive at the originating machine, then importing those into
  26another repository using gitlink:git-fetch[1] and gitlink:git-pull[1]
  27after moving the archive by some means (i.e., by sneakernet).  As no
  28direct connection between repositories exists, the user must specify a
  29basis for the bundle that is held by the destination repository: the
  30bundle assumes that all objects in the basis are already in the
  31destination repository.
  32
  33OPTIONS
  34-------
  35
  36create <file>::
  37       Used to create a bundle named 'file'.  This requires the
  38       git-rev-list arguments to define the bundle contents.
  39
  40verify <file>::
  41       Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply
  42       cleanly to the current repository.  This includes checks on the
  43       bundle format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite
  44       commits exist and are fully linked in the current repository.
  45       git-bundle prints a list of missing commits, if any, and exits
  46       with non-zero status.
  47
  48list-heads <file>::
  49       Lists the references defined in the bundle.  If followed by a
  50       list of references, only references matching those given are
  51       printed out.
  52
  53unbundle <file>::
  54       Passes the objects in the bundle to gitlink:git-index-pack[1]
  55       for storage in the repository, then prints the names of all
  56       defined references. If a reflist is given, only references
  57       matching those in the given list are printed. This command is
  58       really plumbing, intended to be called only by
  59       gitlink:git-fetch[1].
  60
  61[git-rev-list-args...]::
  62       A list of arguments, acceptable to git-rev-parse and
  63       git-rev-list, that specify the specific objects and references
  64       to transport.  For example, "master~10..master" causes the
  65       current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
  66       added since its 10th ancestor commit.  There is no explicit
  67       limit to the number of references and objects that may be
  68       packaged.
  69
  70
  71[refname...]::
  72       A list of references used to limit the references reported as
  73       available. This is principally of use to git-fetch, which
  74       expects to receive only those references asked for and not
  75       necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, git-bundle is
  76       acting like gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]).
  77
  78SPECIFYING REFERENCES
  79---------------------
  80
  81git-bundle will only package references that are shown by
  82git-show-ref: this includes heads, tags, and remote heads.  References
  83such as master~1 cannot be packaged, but are perfectly suitable for
  84defining the basis.  More than one reference may be packaged, and more
  85than one basis can be specified.  The objects packaged are those not
  86contained in the union of the given bases.  Each basis can be
  87specified explicitly (e.g., ^master~10), or implicitly (e.g.,
  88master~10..master, master --since=10.days.ago).
  89
  90It is very important that the basis used be held by the destination.
  91It is okay to err on the side of conservatism, causing the bundle file
  92to contain objects already in the destination as these are ignored
  93when unpacking at the destination.
  94
  95EXAMPLE
  96-------
  97
  98Assume two repositories exist as R1 on machine A, and R2 on machine B.
  99For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
 100but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc).
 101We want to update R2 with developments made on branch master in R1.
 102We set a tag in R1 (lastR2bundle) after the previous such transport,
 103and move it afterwards to help build the bundle.
 104
 105in R1 on A:
 106$ git-bundle create mybundle master ^lastR2bundle
 107$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
 108
 109(move mybundle from A to B by some mechanism)
 110
 111in R2 on B:
 112$ git-bundle verify mybundle
 113$ git-fetch mybundle  refspec
 114
 115where refspec is refInBundle:localRef
 116
 117
 118Also, with something like this in your config:
 119
 120[remote "bundle"]
 121    url = /home/me/tmp/file.bdl
 122    fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
 123
 124You can first sneakernet the bundle file to ~/tmp/file.bdl and
 125then these commands:
 126
 127$ git ls-remote bundle
 128$ git fetch bundle
 129$ git pull bundle
 130
 131would treat it as if it is talking with a remote side over the
 132network.
 133
 134Author
 135------
 136Written by Mark Levedahl <mdl123@verizon.net>
 137
 138GIT
 139---
 140Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite