Documentation / git-commit.txton commit add more informative error messages to git-mktag (cfba045)
   1git-commit(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-commit - Record your changes
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git-commit' [-a] [-s] [-v] [(-c | -C) <commit> | -F <file> | -m <msg>]
  12           [--no-verify] [--amend] [-e] [--author <author>]
  13           [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
  14
  15DESCRIPTION
  16-----------
  17Updates the index file for given paths, or all modified files if
  18'-a' is specified, and makes a commit object.  The command
  19VISUAL and EDITOR environment variables to edit the commit log
  20message.
  21
  22Several environment variable are used during commits.  They are
  23documented in gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
  24
  25
  26This command can run `commit-msg`, `pre-commit`, and
  27`post-commit` hooks.  See link:hooks.html[hooks] for more
  28information.
  29
  30OPTIONS
  31-------
  32-a|--all::
  33        Update all paths in the index file.  This flag notices
  34        files that have been modified and deleted, but new files
  35        you have not told git about are not affected.
  36
  37-c or -C <commit>::
  38        Take existing commit object, and reuse the log message
  39        and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
  40        when creating the commit.  With '-C', the editor is not
  41        invoked; with '-c' the user can further edit the commit
  42        message.
  43
  44-F <file>::
  45        Take the commit message from the given file.  Use '-' to
  46        read the message from the standard input.
  47
  48--author <author>::
  49        Override the author name used in the commit.  Use
  50        `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format.
  51
  52-m <msg>::
  53        Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
  54
  55-s|--signoff::
  56        Add Signed-off-by line at the end of the commit message.
  57
  58-v|--verify::
  59        Look for suspicious lines the commit introduces, and
  60        abort committing if there is one.  The definition of
  61        'suspicious lines' is currently the lines that has
  62        trailing whitespaces, and the lines whose indentation
  63        has a SP character immediately followed by a TAB
  64        character.  This is the default.
  65
  66-n|--no-verify::
  67        The opposite of `--verify`.
  68
  69-e|--edit::
  70        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
  71        `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
  72        commit log message unmodified.  This option lets you
  73        further edit the message taken from these sources.
  74
  75--amend::
  76
  77        Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
  78        object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
  79        (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
  80        commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
  81        tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
  82        current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
  83        the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
  84        discarded.
  85+
  86--
  87It is a rough equivalent for:
  88------
  89        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
  90        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
  91        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
  92
  93------
  94but can be used to amend a merge commit.
  95--
  96
  97-i|--include::
  98        Instead of committing only the files specified on the
  99        command line, update them in the index file and then
 100        commit the whole index.  This is the traditional
 101        behaviour.
 102
 103-o|--only::
 104        Commit only the files specified on the command line.
 105        This format cannot be used during a merge, nor when the
 106        index and the latest commit does not match on the
 107        specified paths to avoid confusion.
 108
 109\--::
 110        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 111
 112<file>...::
 113        Files to be committed.  The meaning of these is
 114        different between `--include` and `--only`.  Without
 115        either, it defaults `--only` semantics.
 116
 117If you make a commit and then found a mistake immediately after
 118that, you can recover from it with gitlink:git-reset[1].
 119
 120
 121Discussion
 122----------
 123
 124`git commit` without _any_ parameter commits the tree structure
 125recorded by the current index file.  This is a whole-tree commit
 126even the command is invoked from a subdirectory.
 127
 128`git commit --include paths...` is equivalent to
 129
 130        git update-index --remove paths...
 131        git commit
 132
 133That is, update the specified paths to the index and then commit
 134the whole tree.
 135
 136`git commit paths...` largely bypasses the index file and
 137commits only the changes made to the specified paths.  It has
 138however several safety valves to prevent confusion.
 139
 140. It refuses to run during a merge (i.e. when
 141  `$GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD` exists), and reminds trained git users
 142  that the traditional semantics now needs -i flag.
 143
 144. It refuses to run if named `paths...` are different in HEAD
 145  and the index (ditto about reminding).  Added paths are OK.
 146  This is because an earlier `git diff` (not `git diff HEAD`)
 147  would have shown the differences since the last `git
 148  update-index paths...` to the user, and an inexperienced user
 149  may mistakenly think that the changes between the index and
 150  the HEAD (i.e. earlier changes made before the last `git
 151  update-index paths...` was done) are not being committed.
 152
 153. It reads HEAD commit into a temporary index file, updates the
 154  specified `paths...` and makes a commit.  At the same time,
 155  the real index file is also updated with the same `paths...`.
 156
 157`git commit --all` updates the index file with _all_ changes to
 158the working tree, and makes a whole-tree commit, regardless of
 159which subdirectory the command is invoked in.
 160
 161
 162Author
 163------
 164Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
 165Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 166
 167
 168GIT
 169---
 170Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite