Documentation / git-push.txton commit Merge branch 'jn/vcs-svn-cleanup' into next (c184f08)
   1git-push(1)
   2===========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-push - Update remote refs along with associated objects
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git push' [--all | --mirror | --tags] [--follow-tags] [--atomic] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
  13           [--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [-d | --delete] [--prune] [-v | --verbose]
  14           [-u | --set-upstream] [--push-option=<string>]
  15           [--[no-]signed|--signed=(true|false|if-asked)]
  16           [--force-with-lease[=<refname>[:<expect>]]]
  17           [--no-verify] [<repository> [<refspec>...]]
  18
  19DESCRIPTION
  20-----------
  21
  22Updates remote refs using local refs, while sending objects
  23necessary to complete the given refs.
  24
  25You can make interesting things happen to a repository
  26every time you push into it, by setting up 'hooks' there.  See
  27documentation for linkgit:git-receive-pack[1].
  28
  29When the command line does not specify where to push with the
  30`<repository>` argument, `branch.*.remote` configuration for the
  31current branch is consulted to determine where to push.  If the
  32configuration is missing, it defaults to 'origin'.
  33
  34When the command line does not specify what to push with `<refspec>...`
  35arguments or `--all`, `--mirror`, `--tags` options, the command finds
  36the default `<refspec>` by consulting `remote.*.push` configuration,
  37and if it is not found, honors `push.default` configuration to decide
  38what to push (See linkgit:git-config[1] for the meaning of `push.default`).
  39
  40When neither the command-line nor the configuration specify what to
  41push, the default behavior is used, which corresponds to the `simple`
  42value for `push.default`: the current branch is pushed to the
  43corresponding upstream branch, but as a safety measure, the push is
  44aborted if the upstream branch does not have the same name as the
  45local one.
  46
  47
  48OPTIONS[[OPTIONS]]
  49------------------
  50<repository>::
  51        The "remote" repository that is destination of a push
  52        operation.  This parameter can be either a URL
  53        (see the section <<URLS,GIT URLS>> below) or the name
  54        of a remote (see the section <<REMOTES,REMOTES>> below).
  55
  56<refspec>...::
  57        Specify what destination ref to update with what source object.
  58        The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus
  59        `+`, followed by the source object <src>, followed
  60        by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref <dst>.
  61+
  62The <src> is often the name of the branch you would want to push, but
  63it can be any arbitrary "SHA-1 expression", such as `master~4` or
  64`HEAD` (see linkgit:gitrevisions[7]).
  65+
  66The <dst> tells which ref on the remote side is updated with this
  67push. Arbitrary expressions cannot be used here, an actual ref must
  68be named.
  69If `git push [<repository>]` without any `<refspec>` argument is set to
  70update some ref at the destination with `<src>` with
  71`remote.<repository>.push` configuration variable, `:<dst>` part can
  72be omitted--such a push will update a ref that `<src>` normally updates
  73without any `<refspec>` on the command line.  Otherwise, missing
  74`:<dst>` means to update the same ref as the `<src>`.
  75+
  76The object referenced by <src> is used to update the <dst> reference
  77on the remote side.  By default this is only allowed if <dst> is not
  78a tag (annotated or lightweight), and then only if it can fast-forward
  79<dst>.  By having the optional leading `+`, you can tell Git to update
  80the <dst> ref even if it is not allowed by default (e.g., it is not a
  81fast-forward.)  This does *not* attempt to merge <src> into <dst>.  See
  82EXAMPLES below for details.
  83+
  84`tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`.
  85+
  86Pushing an empty <src> allows you to delete the <dst> ref from
  87the remote repository.
  88+
  89The special refspec `:` (or `+:` to allow non-fast-forward updates)
  90directs Git to push "matching" branches: for every branch that exists on
  91the local side, the remote side is updated if a branch of the same name
  92already exists on the remote side.
  93
  94--all::
  95        Push all branches (i.e. refs under `refs/heads/`); cannot be
  96        used with other <refspec>.
  97
  98--prune::
  99        Remove remote branches that don't have a local counterpart. For example
 100        a remote branch `tmp` will be removed if a local branch with the same
 101        name doesn't exist any more. This also respects refspecs, e.g.
 102        `git push --prune remote refs/heads/*:refs/tmp/*` would
 103        make sure that remote `refs/tmp/foo` will be removed if `refs/heads/foo`
 104        doesn't exist.
 105
 106--mirror::
 107        Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all
 108        refs under `refs/` (which includes but is not
 109        limited to `refs/heads/`, `refs/remotes/`, and `refs/tags/`)
 110        be mirrored to the remote repository.  Newly created local
 111        refs will be pushed to the remote end, locally updated refs
 112        will be force updated on the remote end, and deleted refs
 113        will be removed from the remote end.  This is the default
 114        if the configuration option `remote.<remote>.mirror` is
 115        set.
 116
 117-n::
 118--dry-run::
 119        Do everything except actually send the updates.
 120
 121--porcelain::
 122        Produce machine-readable output.  The output status line for each ref
 123        will be tab-separated and sent to stdout instead of stderr.  The full
 124        symbolic names of the refs will be given.
 125
 126--delete::
 127        All listed refs are deleted from the remote repository. This is
 128        the same as prefixing all refs with a colon.
 129
 130--tags::
 131        All refs under `refs/tags` are pushed, in
 132        addition to refspecs explicitly listed on the command
 133        line.
 134
 135--follow-tags::
 136        Push all the refs that would be pushed without this option,
 137        and also push annotated tags in `refs/tags` that are missing
 138        from the remote but are pointing at commit-ish that are
 139        reachable from the refs being pushed.  This can also be specified
 140        with configuration variable `push.followTags`.  For more
 141        information, see `push.followTags` in linkgit:git-config[1].
 142
 143--[no-]signed::
 144--signed=(true|false|if-asked)::
 145        GPG-sign the push request to update refs on the receiving
 146        side, to allow it to be checked by the hooks and/or be
 147        logged.  If `false` or `--no-signed`, no signing will be
 148        attempted.  If `true` or `--signed`, the push will fail if the
 149        server does not support signed pushes.  If set to `if-asked`,
 150        sign if and only if the server supports signed pushes.  The push
 151        will also fail if the actual call to `gpg --sign` fails.  See
 152        linkgit:git-receive-pack[1] for the details on the receiving end.
 153
 154--[no-]atomic::
 155        Use an atomic transaction on the remote side if available.
 156        Either all refs are updated, or on error, no refs are updated.
 157        If the server does not support atomic pushes the push will fail.
 158
 159-o::
 160--push-option::
 161        Transmit the given string to the server, which passes them to
 162        the pre-receive as well as the post-receive hook. The given string
 163        must not contain a NUL or LF character.
 164
 165--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>::
 166--exec=<git-receive-pack>::
 167        Path to the 'git-receive-pack' program on the remote
 168        end.  Sometimes useful when pushing to a remote
 169        repository over ssh, and you do not have the program in
 170        a directory on the default $PATH.
 171
 172--[no-]force-with-lease::
 173--force-with-lease=<refname>::
 174--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>::
 175        Usually, "git push" refuses to update a remote ref that is
 176        not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it.
 177+
 178This option overrides this restriction if the current value of the
 179remote ref is the expected value.  "git push" fails otherwise.
 180+
 181Imagine that you have to rebase what you have already published.
 182You will have to bypass the "must fast-forward" rule in order to
 183replace the history you originally published with the rebased history.
 184If somebody else built on top of your original history while you are
 185rebasing, the tip of the branch at the remote may advance with her
 186commit, and blindly pushing with `--force` will lose her work.
 187+
 188This option allows you to say that you expect the history you are
 189updating is what you rebased and want to replace. If the remote ref
 190still points at the commit you specified, you can be sure that no
 191other people did anything to the ref. It is like taking a "lease" on
 192the ref without explicitly locking it, and the remote ref is updated
 193only if the "lease" is still valid.
 194+
 195`--force-with-lease` alone, without specifying the details, will protect
 196all remote refs that are going to be updated by requiring their
 197current value to be the same as the remote-tracking branch we have
 198for them.
 199+
 200`--force-with-lease=<refname>`, without specifying the expected value, will
 201protect the named ref (alone), if it is going to be updated, by
 202requiring its current value to be the same as the remote-tracking
 203branch we have for it.
 204+
 205`--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>` will protect the named ref (alone),
 206if it is going to be updated, by requiring its current value to be
 207the same as the specified value `<expect>` (which is allowed to be
 208different from the remote-tracking branch we have for the refname,
 209or we do not even have to have such a remote-tracking branch when
 210this form is used).  If `<expect>` is the empty string, then the named ref
 211must not already exist.
 212+
 213Note that all forms other than `--force-with-lease=<refname>:<expect>`
 214that specifies the expected current value of the ref explicitly are
 215still experimental and their semantics may change as we gain experience
 216with this feature.
 217+
 218"--no-force-with-lease" will cancel all the previous --force-with-lease on the
 219command line.
 220+
 221A general note on safety: supplying this option without an expected
 222value, i.e. as `--force-with-lease` or `--force-with-lease=<refname>`
 223interacts very badly with anything that implicitly runs `git fetch` on
 224the remote to be pushed to in the background, e.g. `git fetch origin`
 225on your repository in a cronjob.
 226+
 227The protection it offers over `--force` is ensuring that subsequent
 228changes your work wasn't based on aren't clobbered, but this is
 229trivially defeated if some background process is updating refs in the
 230background. We don't have anything except the remote tracking info to
 231go by as a heuristic for refs you're expected to have seen & are
 232willing to clobber.
 233+
 234If your editor or some other system is running `git fetch` in the
 235background for you a way to mitigate this is to simply set up another
 236remote:
 237+
 238        git remote add origin-push $(git config remote.origin.url)
 239        git fetch origin-push
 240+
 241Now when the background process runs `git fetch origin` the references
 242on `origin-push` won't be updated, and thus commands like:
 243+
 244        git push --force-with-lease origin-push
 245+
 246Will fail unless you manually run `git fetch origin-push`. This method
 247is of course entirely defeated by something that runs `git fetch
 248--all`, in that case you'd need to either disable it or do something
 249more tedious like:
 250+
 251        git fetch              # update 'master' from remote
 252        git tag base master    # mark our base point
 253        git rebase -i master   # rewrite some commits
 254        git push --force-with-lease=master:base master:master
 255+
 256I.e. create a `base` tag for versions of the upstream code that you've
 257seen and are willing to overwrite, then rewrite history, and finally
 258force push changes to `master` if the remote version is still at
 259`base`, regardless of what your local `remotes/origin/master` has been
 260updated to in the background.
 261
 262-f::
 263--force::
 264        Usually, the command refuses to update a remote ref that is
 265        not an ancestor of the local ref used to overwrite it.
 266        Also, when `--force-with-lease` option is used, the command refuses
 267        to update a remote ref whose current value does not match
 268        what is expected.
 269+
 270This flag disables these checks, and can cause the remote repository
 271to lose commits; use it with care.
 272+
 273Note that `--force` applies to all the refs that are pushed, hence
 274using it with `push.default` set to `matching` or with multiple push
 275destinations configured with `remote.*.push` may overwrite refs
 276other than the current branch (including local refs that are
 277strictly behind their remote counterpart).  To force a push to only
 278one branch, use a `+` in front of the refspec to push (e.g `git push
 279origin +master` to force a push to the `master` branch). See the
 280`<refspec>...` section above for details.
 281
 282--repo=<repository>::
 283        This option is equivalent to the <repository> argument. If both
 284        are specified, the command-line argument takes precedence.
 285
 286-u::
 287--set-upstream::
 288        For every branch that is up to date or successfully pushed, add
 289        upstream (tracking) reference, used by argument-less
 290        linkgit:git-pull[1] and other commands. For more information,
 291        see `branch.<name>.merge` in linkgit:git-config[1].
 292
 293--[no-]thin::
 294        These options are passed to linkgit:git-send-pack[1]. A thin transfer
 295        significantly reduces the amount of sent data when the sender and
 296        receiver share many of the same objects in common. The default is
 297        \--thin.
 298
 299-q::
 300--quiet::
 301        Suppress all output, including the listing of updated refs,
 302        unless an error occurs. Progress is not reported to the standard
 303        error stream.
 304
 305-v::
 306--verbose::
 307        Run verbosely.
 308
 309--progress::
 310        Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 311        by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 312        is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 313        standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 314
 315--no-recurse-submodules::
 316--recurse-submodules=check|on-demand|only|no::
 317        May be used to make sure all submodule commits used by the
 318        revisions to be pushed are available on a remote-tracking branch.
 319        If 'check' is used Git will verify that all submodule commits that
 320        changed in the revisions to be pushed are available on at least one
 321        remote of the submodule. If any commits are missing the push will
 322        be aborted and exit with non-zero status. If 'on-demand' is used
 323        all submodules that changed in the revisions to be pushed will be
 324        pushed. If on-demand was not able to push all necessary revisions it will
 325        also be aborted and exit with non-zero status. If 'only' is used all
 326        submodules will be recursively pushed while the superproject is left
 327        unpushed. A value of 'no' or using `--no-recurse-submodules` can be used
 328        to override the push.recurseSubmodules configuration variable when no
 329        submodule recursion is required.
 330
 331--[no-]verify::
 332        Toggle the pre-push hook (see linkgit:githooks[5]).  The
 333        default is --verify, giving the hook a chance to prevent the
 334        push.  With --no-verify, the hook is bypassed completely.
 335
 336-4::
 337--ipv4::
 338        Use IPv4 addresses only, ignoring IPv6 addresses.
 339
 340-6::
 341--ipv6::
 342        Use IPv6 addresses only, ignoring IPv4 addresses.
 343
 344include::urls-remotes.txt[]
 345
 346OUTPUT
 347------
 348
 349The output of "git push" depends on the transport method used; this
 350section describes the output when pushing over the Git protocol (either
 351locally or via ssh).
 352
 353The status of the push is output in tabular form, with each line
 354representing the status of a single ref. Each line is of the form:
 355
 356-------------------------------
 357 <flag> <summary> <from> -> <to> (<reason>)
 358-------------------------------
 359
 360If --porcelain is used, then each line of the output is of the form:
 361
 362-------------------------------
 363 <flag> \t <from>:<to> \t <summary> (<reason>)
 364-------------------------------
 365
 366The status of up-to-date refs is shown only if --porcelain or --verbose
 367option is used.
 368
 369flag::
 370        A single character indicating the status of the ref:
 371(space);; for a successfully pushed fast-forward;
 372`+`;; for a successful forced update;
 373`-`;; for a successfully deleted ref;
 374`*`;; for a successfully pushed new ref;
 375`!`;; for a ref that was rejected or failed to push; and
 376`=`;; for a ref that was up to date and did not need pushing.
 377
 378summary::
 379        For a successfully pushed ref, the summary shows the old and new
 380        values of the ref in a form suitable for using as an argument to
 381        `git log` (this is `<old>..<new>` in most cases, and
 382        `<old>...<new>` for forced non-fast-forward updates).
 383+
 384For a failed update, more details are given:
 385+
 386--
 387rejected::
 388        Git did not try to send the ref at all, typically because it
 389        is not a fast-forward and you did not force the update.
 390
 391remote rejected::
 392        The remote end refused the update.  Usually caused by a hook
 393        on the remote side, or because the remote repository has one
 394        of the following safety options in effect:
 395        `receive.denyCurrentBranch` (for pushes to the checked out
 396        branch), `receive.denyNonFastForwards` (for forced
 397        non-fast-forward updates), `receive.denyDeletes` or
 398        `receive.denyDeleteCurrent`.  See linkgit:git-config[1].
 399
 400remote failure::
 401        The remote end did not report the successful update of the ref,
 402        perhaps because of a temporary error on the remote side, a
 403        break in the network connection, or other transient error.
 404--
 405
 406from::
 407        The name of the local ref being pushed, minus its
 408        `refs/<type>/` prefix. In the case of deletion, the
 409        name of the local ref is omitted.
 410
 411to::
 412        The name of the remote ref being updated, minus its
 413        `refs/<type>/` prefix.
 414
 415reason::
 416        A human-readable explanation. In the case of successfully pushed
 417        refs, no explanation is needed. For a failed ref, the reason for
 418        failure is described.
 419
 420Note about fast-forwards
 421------------------------
 422
 423When an update changes a branch (or more in general, a ref) that used to
 424point at commit A to point at another commit B, it is called a
 425fast-forward update if and only if B is a descendant of A.
 426
 427In a fast-forward update from A to B, the set of commits that the original
 428commit A built on top of is a subset of the commits the new commit B
 429builds on top of.  Hence, it does not lose any history.
 430
 431In contrast, a non-fast-forward update will lose history.  For example,
 432suppose you and somebody else started at the same commit X, and you built
 433a history leading to commit B while the other person built a history
 434leading to commit A.  The history looks like this:
 435
 436----------------
 437
 438      B
 439     /
 440 ---X---A
 441
 442----------------
 443
 444Further suppose that the other person already pushed changes leading to A
 445back to the original repository from which you two obtained the original
 446commit X.
 447
 448The push done by the other person updated the branch that used to point at
 449commit X to point at commit A.  It is a fast-forward.
 450
 451But if you try to push, you will attempt to update the branch (that
 452now points at A) with commit B.  This does _not_ fast-forward.  If you did
 453so, the changes introduced by commit A will be lost, because everybody
 454will now start building on top of B.
 455
 456The command by default does not allow an update that is not a fast-forward
 457to prevent such loss of history.
 458
 459If you do not want to lose your work (history from X to B) or the work by
 460the other person (history from X to A), you would need to first fetch the
 461history from the repository, create a history that contains changes done
 462by both parties, and push the result back.
 463
 464You can perform "git pull", resolve potential conflicts, and "git push"
 465the result.  A "git pull" will create a merge commit C between commits A
 466and B.
 467
 468----------------
 469
 470      B---C
 471     /   /
 472 ---X---A
 473
 474----------------
 475
 476Updating A with the resulting merge commit will fast-forward and your
 477push will be accepted.
 478
 479Alternatively, you can rebase your change between X and B on top of A,
 480with "git pull --rebase", and push the result back.  The rebase will
 481create a new commit D that builds the change between X and B on top of
 482A.
 483
 484----------------
 485
 486      B   D
 487     /   /
 488 ---X---A
 489
 490----------------
 491
 492Again, updating A with this commit will fast-forward and your push will be
 493accepted.
 494
 495There is another common situation where you may encounter non-fast-forward
 496rejection when you try to push, and it is possible even when you are
 497pushing into a repository nobody else pushes into. After you push commit
 498A yourself (in the first picture in this section), replace it with "git
 499commit --amend" to produce commit B, and you try to push it out, because
 500forgot that you have pushed A out already. In such a case, and only if
 501you are certain that nobody in the meantime fetched your earlier commit A
 502(and started building on top of it), you can run "git push --force" to
 503overwrite it. In other words, "git push --force" is a method reserved for
 504a case where you do mean to lose history.
 505
 506
 507Examples
 508--------
 509
 510`git push`::
 511        Works like `git push <remote>`, where <remote> is the
 512        current branch's remote (or `origin`, if no remote is
 513        configured for the current branch).
 514
 515`git push origin`::
 516        Without additional configuration, pushes the current branch to
 517        the configured upstream (`remote.origin.merge` configuration
 518        variable) if it has the same name as the current branch, and
 519        errors out without pushing otherwise.
 520+
 521The default behavior of this command when no <refspec> is given can be
 522configured by setting the `push` option of the remote, or the `push.default`
 523configuration variable.
 524+
 525For example, to default to pushing only the current branch to `origin`
 526use `git config remote.origin.push HEAD`.  Any valid <refspec> (like
 527the ones in the examples below) can be configured as the default for
 528`git push origin`.
 529
 530`git push origin :`::
 531        Push "matching" branches to `origin`. See
 532        <refspec> in the <<OPTIONS,OPTIONS>> section above for a
 533        description of "matching" branches.
 534
 535`git push origin master`::
 536        Find a ref that matches `master` in the source repository
 537        (most likely, it would find `refs/heads/master`), and update
 538        the same ref (e.g. `refs/heads/master`) in `origin` repository
 539        with it.  If `master` did not exist remotely, it would be
 540        created.
 541
 542`git push origin HEAD`::
 543        A handy way to push the current branch to the same name on the
 544        remote.
 545
 546`git push mothership master:satellite/master dev:satellite/dev`::
 547        Use the source ref that matches `master` (e.g. `refs/heads/master`)
 548        to update the ref that matches `satellite/master` (most probably
 549        `refs/remotes/satellite/master`) in the `mothership` repository;
 550        do the same for `dev` and `satellite/dev`.
 551+
 552This is to emulate `git fetch` run on the `mothership` using `git
 553push` that is run in the opposite direction in order to integrate
 554the work done on `satellite`, and is often necessary when you can
 555only make connection in one way (i.e. satellite can ssh into
 556mothership but mothership cannot initiate connection to satellite
 557because the latter is behind a firewall or does not run sshd).
 558+
 559After running this `git push` on the `satellite` machine, you would
 560ssh into the `mothership` and run `git merge` there to complete the
 561emulation of `git pull` that were run on `mothership` to pull changes
 562made on `satellite`.
 563
 564`git push origin HEAD:master`::
 565        Push the current branch to the remote ref matching `master` in the
 566        `origin` repository. This form is convenient to push the current
 567        branch without thinking about its local name.
 568
 569`git push origin master:refs/heads/experimental`::
 570        Create the branch `experimental` in the `origin` repository
 571        by copying the current `master` branch.  This form is only
 572        needed to create a new branch or tag in the remote repository when
 573        the local name and the remote name are different; otherwise,
 574        the ref name on its own will work.
 575
 576`git push origin :experimental`::
 577        Find a ref that matches `experimental` in the `origin` repository
 578        (e.g. `refs/heads/experimental`), and delete it.
 579
 580`git push origin +dev:master`::
 581        Update the origin repository's master branch with the dev branch,
 582        allowing non-fast-forward updates.  *This can leave unreferenced
 583        commits dangling in the origin repository.*  Consider the
 584        following situation, where a fast-forward is not possible:
 585+
 586----
 587            o---o---o---A---B  origin/master
 588                     \
 589                      X---Y---Z  dev
 590----
 591+
 592The above command would change the origin repository to
 593+
 594----
 595                      A---B  (unnamed branch)
 596                     /
 597            o---o---o---X---Y---Z  master
 598----
 599+
 600Commits A and B would no longer belong to a branch with a symbolic name,
 601and so would be unreachable.  As such, these commits would be removed by
 602a `git gc` command on the origin repository.
 603
 604include::transfer-data-leaks.txt[]
 605
 606GIT
 607---
 608Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite