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]] 13 [-p|--paginate|--no-pager] 14 [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--work-tree=GIT_WORK_TREE] 15 [--help] COMMAND [ARGS] 16 17DESCRIPTION 18----------- 19Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an 20unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations 21and full access to internals. 22 23See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see 24link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and 25"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command. CVS users may 26also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration]. See 27link:user-manual.html[Git User's Manual] for a more in-depth 28introduction. 29 30The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias 31as defined in the configuration file (see gitlink:git-config[1]). 32 33Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest git 34documentation can be viewed at 35`http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/`. 36 37ifdef::stalenotes[] 38[NOTE] 39============ 40 41You are reading the documentation for the latest (possibly 42unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master' 43branch of the `git.git` repository. 44Documentation for older releases are available here: 45 46* link:v1.5.3/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.3] 47 48* release notes for 49 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.3.txt[1.5.3.3], 50 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.2.txt[1.5.3.2], 51 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.1.txt[1.5.3.1]. 52 53* release notes for 54 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.5.txt[1.5.2.5], 55 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.4.txt[1.5.2.4], 56 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.3.txt[1.5.2.3], 57 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.2.txt[1.5.2.2], 58 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.1.txt[1.5.2.1], 59 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.txt[1.5.2]. 60 61* link:v1.5.1.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.1.6] 62 63* release notes for 64 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.6.txt[1.5.1.6], 65 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.5.txt[1.5.1.5], 66 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.4.txt[1.5.1.4], 67 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.3.txt[1.5.1.3], 68 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.2.txt[1.5.1.2], 69 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.1.txt[1.5.1.1], 70 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.txt[1.5.1]. 71 72* link:v1.5.0.7/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.0.7] 73 74* release notes for 75 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.7.txt[1.5.0.7], 76 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.6.txt[1.5.0.6], 77 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.5.txt[1.5.0.5], 78 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.3.txt[1.5.0.3], 79 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.2.txt[1.5.0.2], 80 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.1.txt[1.5.0.1], 81 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.txt[1.5.0]. 82 83* documentation for release link:v1.4.4.4/git.html[1.4.4.4], 84 link:v1.3.3/git.html[1.3.3], 85 link:v1.2.6/git.html[1.2.6], 86 link:v1.0.13/git.html[1.0.13]. 87 88============ 89 90endif::stalenotes[] 91 92OPTIONS 93------- 94--version:: 95 Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from. 96 97--help:: 98 Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used 99 commands. If a git command is named this option will bring up 100 the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is 101 given then all available commands are printed. 102 103--exec-path:: 104 Path to wherever your core git programs are installed. 105 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH 106 environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print 107 the current setting and then exit. 108 109-p|--paginate:: 110 Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER). 111 112--no-pager:: 113 Do not pipe git output into a pager. 114 115--git-dir=<path>:: 116 Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by 117 setting the GIT_DIR environment variable. 118 119--work-tree=<path>:: 120 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 121 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 122 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 123 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE 124 environment variable and the core.worktree configuration 125 variable. 126 127--bare:: 128 Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR 129 environment is not set, it is set to the current working 130 directory. 131 132 133FURTHER DOCUMENTATION 134--------------------- 135 136See the references above to get started using git. The following is 137probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user. 138 139The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 140user-manual] and the link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide 141introductions to the underlying git architecture. 142 143See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful 144examples. 145 146GIT COMMANDS 147------------ 148 149We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level 150("plumbing") commands. 151 152High-level commands (porcelain) 153------------------------------- 154 155We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some 156ancillary user utilities. 157 158Main porcelain commands 159~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 160 161include::cmds-mainporcelain.txt[] 162 163Ancillary Commands 164~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 165Manipulators: 166 167include::cmds-ancillarymanipulators.txt[] 168 169Interrogators: 170 171include::cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt[] 172 173 174Interacting with Others 175~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 176 177These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other 178people via patch over e-mail. 179 180include::cmds-foreignscminterface.txt[] 181 182 183Low-level commands (plumbing) 184----------------------------- 185 186Although git includes its 187own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support 188development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains 189might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and 190gitlink:git-read-tree[1]. 191 192The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics) 193to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable 194than Porcelain level commands, because these commands are 195primarily for scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands 196on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the 197end user experience. 198 199The following description divides 200the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in 201the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and 202compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between 203repositories. 204 205 206Manipulation commands 207~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 208 209include::cmds-plumbingmanipulators.txt[] 210 211 212Interrogation commands 213~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 214 215include::cmds-plumbinginterrogators.txt[] 216 217In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in 218the working tree. 219 220 221Synching repositories 222~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 223 224include::cmds-synchingrepositories.txt[] 225 226The following are helper programs used by the above; end users 227typically do not use them directly. 228 229include::cmds-synchelpers.txt[] 230 231 232Internal helper commands 233~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 234 235These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end 236users typically do not use them directly. 237 238include::cmds-purehelpers.txt[] 239 240 241Configuration Mechanism 242----------------------- 243 244Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file 245is used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a 246simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some 247people. Here is an example: 248 249------------ 250# 251# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment. 252# 253 254; core variables 255[core] 256 ; Don't trust file modes 257 filemode = false 258 259; user identity 260[user] 261 name = "Junio C Hamano" 262 email = "junkio@twinsun.com" 263 264------------ 265 266Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust 267their operation accordingly. 268 269 270Identifier Terminology 271---------------------- 272<object>:: 273 Indicates the object name for any type of object. 274 275<blob>:: 276 Indicates a blob object name. 277 278<tree>:: 279 Indicates a tree object name. 280 281<commit>:: 282 Indicates a commit object name. 283 284<tree-ish>:: 285 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A 286 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to 287 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences 288 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>. 289 290<commit-ish>:: 291 Indicates a commit or tag object name. A 292 command that takes a <commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to 293 operate on a <commit> object but automatically dereferences 294 <tag> objects that point at a <commit>. 295 296<type>:: 297 Indicates that an object type is required. 298 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`. 299 300<file>:: 301 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the 302 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes. 303 304Symbolic Identifiers 305-------------------- 306Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following 307symbolic notation: 308 309HEAD:: 310 indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the 311 contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`). 312 313<tag>:: 314 a valid tag 'name' 315 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`). 316 317<head>:: 318 a valid head 'name' 319 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`). 320 321For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see 322"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]. 323 324 325File/Directory Structure 326------------------------ 327 328Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document. 329 330Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook. 331 332Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the 333`$GIT_DIR`. 334 335 336Terminology 337----------- 338Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document. 339 340 341Environment Variables 342--------------------- 343Various git commands use the following environment variables: 344 345The git Repository 346~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 347These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it 348is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above 349git so take care if using Cogito etc. 350 351'GIT_INDEX_FILE':: 352 This environment allows the specification of an alternate 353 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index` 354 is used. 355 356'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY':: 357 If the object storage directory is specified via this 358 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created 359 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` 360 directory is used. 361 362'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES':: 363 Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be 364 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable 365 specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which 366 can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be 367 written to these directories. 368 369'GIT_DIR':: 370 If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it 371 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git` 372 for the base of the repository. 373 374'GIT_WORK_TREE':: 375 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 376 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 377 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 378 This can also be controlled by the '--work-tree' command line 379 option and the core.worktree configuration variable. 380 381git Commits 382~~~~~~~~~~~ 383'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME':: 384'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL':: 385'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE':: 386'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME':: 387'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL':: 388'GIT_COMMITTER_DATE':: 389'EMAIL':: 390 see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1] 391 392git Diffs 393~~~~~~~~~ 394'GIT_DIFF_OPTS':: 395 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the 396 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created. 397 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option 398 value passed on the git diff command line. 399 400'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF':: 401 When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the 402 program named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation 403 described above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified, 404 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 7 parameters: 405 406 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode 407+ 408where: 409 410 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the 411 contents of <old|new>, 412 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes, 413 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes. 414 415+ 416The file parameters can point at the user's working file 417(e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file` 418when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the 419index). 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' should not worry about unlinking the 420temporary file --- it is removed when 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' exits. 421+ 422For a path that is unmerged, 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 1 423parameter, <path>. 424 425other 426~~~~~ 427'GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY':: 428 A number controlling the amount of output shown by 429 the recursive merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity. 430 See gitlink:git-merge[1] 431 432'GIT_PAGER':: 433 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set 434 to an empty string or to the value "cat", git will not launch 435 a pager. 436 437'GIT_SSH':: 438 If this environment variable is set then gitlink:git-fetch[1] 439 and gitlink:git-push[1] will use this command instead 440 of `ssh` when they need to connect to a remote system. 441 The 'GIT_SSH' command will be given exactly two arguments: 442 the 'username@host' (or just 'host') from the URL and the 443 shell command to execute on that remote system. 444+ 445To pass options to the program that you want to list in GIT_SSH 446you will need to wrap the program and options into a shell script, 447then set GIT_SSH to refer to the shell script. 448+ 449Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your 450personal `.ssh/config` file. Please consult your ssh documentation 451for further details. 452 453'GIT_FLUSH':: 454 If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such 455 as git-blame (in incremental mode), git-rev-list, git-log, 456 git-whatchanged, etc., will force a flush of the output stream 457 after each commit-oriented record have been flushed. If this 458 variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done 459 using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is 460 not set, git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing 461 based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not. 462 463'GIT_TRACE':: 464 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison 465 is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on 466 stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command 467 execution and external command execution. 468 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1 469 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this 470 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the 471 trace messages into this file descriptor. 472 Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path 473 (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this 474 as a file path and will try to write the trace messages 475 into it. 476 477Discussion[[Discussion]] 478------------------------ 479 480More detail on the following is available from the 481link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 482user-manual] and the link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial]. 483 484A git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git" 485subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other 486things, a compressed object database representing the complete history 487of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current 488contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such 489as tags and branch heads. 490 491The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which 492hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up 493directory heirarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree 494and some number of parent commits. 495 496The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or 497"version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent 498represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one 499parent represent merges of independent lines of development. 500 501All objects are named by the SHA1 hash of their contents, normally 502written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique. 503The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing 504just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this 505purpose. 506 507When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for 508efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files". 509 510Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref 511may contain the SHA1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs 512with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA1 name of the most 513recent commit (or "head") of a branch under developement. SHA1 names of 514tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named 515`HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch. 516 517The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each 518path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents 519the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The 520attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the 521corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the 522working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may 523be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the 524content stored in the index. 525 526The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages") 527for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various 528unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress. 529 530Authors 531------- 532* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>. 533* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>. 534* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>. 535* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 536 537Documentation 538-------------- 539The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves 540<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the 541contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 542 543GIT 544--- 545Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite