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. 29 30Replacement references will be used by default by all Git commands 31except those doing reachability traversal (prune, pack transfer and 32fsck). 33 34It is possible to disable use of replacement references for any 35command using the `--no-replace-objects` option just after 'git'. 36 37For example if commit 'foo' has been replaced by commit 'bar': 38 39------------------------------------------------ 40$ git --no-replace-objects cat-file commit foo 41------------------------------------------------ 42 43shows information about commit 'foo', while: 44 45------------------------------------------------ 46$ git cat-file commit foo 47------------------------------------------------ 48 49shows information about commit 'bar'. 50 51The 'GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS' environment variable can be set to 52achieve the same effect as the `--no-replace-objects` option. 53 54OPTIONS 55------- 56-f:: 57 If an existing replace ref for the same object exists, it will 58 be overwritten (instead of failing). 59 60-d:: 61 Delete existing replace refs for the given objects. 62 63-l <pattern>:: 64 List replace refs for objects that match the given pattern (or 65 all if no pattern is given). 66 Typing "git replace" without arguments, also lists all replace 67 refs. 68 69CREATING REPLACEMENT OBJECTS 70---------------------------- 71 72linkgit:git-filter-branch[1], linkgit:git-hash-object[1] and 73linkgit:git-rebase[1], among other git commands, can be used to create 74replacement objects from existing objects. 75 76If you want to replace many blobs, trees or commits that are part of a 77string of commits, you may just want to create a replacement string of 78commits and then only replace the commit at the tip of the target 79string of commits with the commit at the tip of the replacement string 80of commits. 81 82BUGS 83---- 84Comparing blobs or trees that have been replaced with those that 85replace them will not work properly. And using `git reset --hard` to 86go back to a replaced commit will move the branch to the replacement 87commit instead of the replaced commit. 88 89There may be other problems when using 'git rev-list' related to 90pending objects. 91 92SEE ALSO 93-------- 94linkgit:git-hash-object[1] 95linkgit:git-filter-branch[1] 96linkgit:git-rebase[1] 97linkgit:git-tag[1] 98linkgit:git-branch[1] 99linkgit:git[1] 100 101GIT 102--- 103Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite