Documentation / git.txton commit Merge branch 'master' into next (d3d9681)
   1git(7)
   2======
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git - the stupid content tracker
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
  16unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
  17and full access to internals.
  18
  19See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see
  20link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and
  21"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command.  CVS users may
  22also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration].
  23
  24OPTIONS
  25-------
  26--version::
  27        Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
  28
  29--help::
  30        Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
  31        commands.  If a git command is named this option will bring up
  32        the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is
  33        given then all available commands are printed.
  34
  35--exec-path::
  36        Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
  37        This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
  38        environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print
  39        the current setting and then exit.
  40
  41
  42FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
  43---------------------
  44
  45See the references above to get started using git.  The following is
  46probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
  47
  48The <<Discussion,Discussion>> section below and the
  49link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide introductions to the
  50underlying git architecture.
  51
  52See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
  53examples.
  54
  55GIT COMMANDS
  56------------
  57
  58We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
  59("plumbing") commands.
  60
  61Low-level commands (plumbing)
  62-----------------------------
  63
  64Although git includes its
  65own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
  66development of alternative porcelains.  Developers of such porcelains
  67might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
  68gitlink:git-read-tree[1].
  69
  70We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
  71the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
  72compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
  73repositories.
  74
  75Manipulation commands
  76~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  77gitlink:git-apply[1]::
  78        Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
  79        applies it to the working tree.
  80
  81gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]::
  82        Copy files from the index to the working tree.
  83
  84gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]::
  85        Creates a new commit object.
  86
  87gitlink:git-hash-object[1]::
  88        Computes the object ID from a file.
  89
  90gitlink:git-index-pack[1]::
  91        Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive.
  92
  93gitlink:git-init-db[1]::
  94        Creates an empty git object database, or reinitialize an
  95        existing one.
  96
  97gitlink:git-merge-index[1]::
  98        Runs a merge for files needing merging.
  99
 100gitlink:git-mktag[1]::
 101        Creates a tag object.
 102
 103gitlink:git-mktree[1]::
 104        Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text.
 105
 106gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]::
 107        Creates a packed archive of objects.
 108
 109gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]::
 110        Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
 111
 112gitlink:git-read-tree[1]::
 113        Reads tree information into the index.
 114
 115gitlink:git-repo-config[1]::
 116        Get and set options in .git/config.
 117
 118gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]::
 119        Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
 120
 121gitlink:git-update-index[1]::
 122        Registers files in the working tree to the index.
 123
 124gitlink:git-write-tree[1]::
 125        Creates a tree from the index.
 126
 127
 128Interrogation commands
 129~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 130
 131gitlink:git-cat-file[1]::
 132        Provide content or type/size information for repository objects.
 133
 134gitlink:git-describe[1]::
 135        Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
 136
 137gitlink:git-diff-index[1]::
 138        Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository.
 139
 140gitlink:git-diff-files[1]::
 141        Compares files in the working tree and the index.
 142
 143gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]::
 144        Compares two "merge stages" in the index.
 145
 146gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]::
 147        Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
 148
 149gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]::
 150        Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
 151
 152gitlink:git-ls-files[1]::
 153        Information about files in the index and the working tree.
 154
 155gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]::
 156        Displays a tree object in human readable form.
 157
 158gitlink:git-merge-base[1]::
 159        Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
 160
 161gitlink:git-name-rev[1]::
 162        Find symbolic names for given revs.
 163
 164gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]::
 165        Find redundant pack files.
 166
 167gitlink:git-rev-list[1]::
 168        Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
 169
 170gitlink:git-show-index[1]::
 171        Displays contents of a pack idx file.
 172
 173gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]::
 174        Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object.
 175
 176gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]::
 177        Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
 178
 179gitlink:git-var[1]::
 180        Displays a git logical variable.
 181
 182gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]::
 183        Validates packed git archive files.
 184
 185In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
 186the working tree.
 187
 188
 189Synching repositories
 190~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 191
 192gitlink:git-clone-pack[1]::
 193        Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
 194        for ssh and local transport).
 195
 196gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]::
 197        Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and
 198        local transport).
 199
 200gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]::
 201        Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking
 202        commit chain.
 203
 204gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]::
 205        Duplicates another git repository on a local system by
 206        walking commit chain.
 207
 208gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]::
 209        Lists references on a remote repository using
 210        upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local
 211        transport).
 212
 213gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]::
 214        Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 215
 216gitlink:git-send-pack[1]::
 217        Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 218
 219gitlink:git-http-push[1]::
 220        Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV.
 221
 222gitlink:git-shell[1]::
 223        Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access.
 224
 225gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]::
 226        Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by
 227        walking commit chain.
 228
 229gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]::
 230        Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch.
 231
 232gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]::
 233        Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 234        clients discover references and packs on it.
 235
 236gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]::
 237        Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 238        what are asked for.
 239
 240
 241High-level commands (porcelain)
 242-------------------------------
 243
 244We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
 245ancillary user utilities.
 246
 247Main porcelain commands
 248~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 249
 250gitlink:git-add[1]::
 251        Add paths to the index.
 252
 253gitlink:git-am[1]::
 254        Apply patches from a mailbox, but cooler.
 255
 256gitlink:git-applymbox[1]::
 257        Apply patches from a mailbox, original version by Linus.
 258
 259gitlink:git-bisect[1]::
 260        Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search.
 261
 262gitlink:git-branch[1]::
 263        Create and Show branches.
 264
 265gitlink:git-checkout[1]::
 266        Checkout and switch to a branch.
 267
 268gitlink:git-cherry-pick[1]::
 269        Cherry-pick the effect of an existing commit.
 270
 271gitlink:git-clean[1]::
 272        Remove untracked files from the working tree.
 273
 274gitlink:git-clone[1]::
 275        Clones a repository into a new directory.
 276
 277gitlink:git-commit[1]::
 278        Record changes to the repository.
 279
 280gitlink:git-diff[1]::
 281        Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
 282
 283gitlink:git-fetch[1]::
 284        Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 285
 286gitlink:git-format-patch[1]::
 287        Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
 288
 289gitlink:git-grep[1]::
 290        Print lines matching a pattern.
 291
 292gitlink:git-log[1]::
 293        Shows commit logs.
 294
 295gitlink:git-ls-remote[1]::
 296        Shows references in a remote or local repository.
 297
 298gitlink:git-merge[1]::
 299        Grand unified merge driver.
 300
 301gitlink:git-mv[1]::
 302        Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
 303
 304gitlink:git-pull[1]::
 305        Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
 306
 307gitlink:git-push[1]::
 308        Update remote refs along with associated objects.
 309
 310gitlink:git-rebase[1]::
 311        Rebase local commits to the updated upstream head.
 312
 313gitlink:git-repack[1]::
 314        Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
 315
 316gitlink:git-rerere[1]::
 317        Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
 318
 319gitlink:git-reset[1]::
 320        Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
 321
 322gitlink:git-resolve[1]::
 323        Merge two commits.
 324
 325gitlink:git-revert[1]::
 326        Revert an existing commit.
 327
 328gitlink:git-rm[1]::
 329        Remove files from the working tree and from the index.
 330
 331gitlink:git-shortlog[1]::
 332        Summarizes 'git log' output.
 333
 334gitlink:git-show[1]::
 335        Show one commit log and its diff.
 336
 337gitlink:git-show-branch[1]::
 338        Show branches and their commits.
 339
 340gitlink:git-status[1]::
 341        Shows the working tree status.
 342
 343gitlink:git-verify-tag[1]::
 344        Check the GPG signature of tag.
 345
 346gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]::
 347        Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
 348
 349
 350Ancillary Commands
 351~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 352Manipulators:
 353
 354gitlink:git-applypatch[1]::
 355        Apply one patch extracted from an e-mail.
 356
 357gitlink:git-archimport[1]::
 358        Import an arch repository into git.
 359
 360gitlink:git-convert-objects[1]::
 361        Converts old-style git repository.
 362
 363gitlink:git-cvsimport[1]::
 364        Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
 365
 366gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1]::
 367        Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
 368
 369gitlink:git-cvsserver[1]::
 370        A CVS server emulator for git.
 371
 372gitlink:git-lost-found[1]::
 373        Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned.
 374
 375gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]::
 376        The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`.
 377
 378gitlink:git-prune[1]::
 379        Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database.
 380
 381gitlink:git-relink[1]::
 382        Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
 383
 384gitlink:git-svnimport[1]::
 385        Import a SVN repository into git.
 386
 387gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]::
 388        Common git shell script setup code.
 389
 390gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 391        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 392
 393gitlink:git-tag[1]::
 394        An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG.
 395
 396gitlink:git-update-ref[1]::
 397        Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
 398
 399
 400Interrogators:
 401
 402gitlink:git-annotate[1]::
 403        Annotate file lines with commit info.
 404
 405gitlink:git-blame[1]::
 406        Blame file lines on commits.
 407
 408gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]::
 409        Make sure ref name is well formed.
 410
 411gitlink:git-cherry[1]::
 412        Find commits not merged upstream.
 413
 414gitlink:git-count-objects[1]::
 415        Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
 416
 417gitlink:git-daemon[1]::
 418        A really simple server for git repositories.
 419
 420gitlink:git-fmt-merge-msg[1]::
 421        Produce a merge commit message.
 422
 423gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]::
 424        Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree.
 425
 426gitlink:git-imap-send[1]::
 427        Dump a mailbox from stdin into an imap folder.
 428
 429gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]::
 430        Extracts patch and authorship information from a single
 431        e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit
 432        message into utf-8.
 433
 434gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]::
 435        A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into
 436        individual pieces of e-mail.
 437
 438gitlink:git-merge-tree[1]::
 439        Show three-way merge without touching index.
 440
 441gitlink:git-patch-id[1]::
 442        Compute unique ID for a patch.
 443
 444gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]::
 445        Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files.
 446
 447gitlink:git-request-pull[1]::
 448        git-request-pull.
 449
 450gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]::
 451        Pick out and massage parameters.
 452
 453gitlink:git-send-email[1]::
 454        Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
 455
 456gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 457        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 458
 459gitlink:git-stripspace[1]::
 460        Filter out empty lines.
 461
 462
 463Commands not yet documented
 464---------------------------
 465
 466gitlink:gitk[1]::
 467        The gitk repository browser.
 468
 469
 470Configuration Mechanism
 471-----------------------
 472
 473Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
 474is used to hold per-repository configuration options.  It is a
 475simple text file modelled after `.ini` format familiar to some
 476people.  Here is an example:
 477
 478------------
 479#
 480# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
 481#
 482
 483; core variables
 484[core]
 485        ; Don't trust file modes
 486        filemode = false
 487
 488; user identity
 489[user]
 490        name = "Junio C Hamano"
 491        email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
 492
 493------------
 494
 495Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
 496their operation accordingly.
 497
 498
 499Identifier Terminology
 500----------------------
 501<object>::
 502        Indicates the object name for any type of object.
 503
 504<blob>::
 505        Indicates a blob object name.
 506
 507<tree>::
 508        Indicates a tree object name.
 509
 510<commit>::
 511        Indicates a commit object name.
 512
 513<tree-ish>::
 514        Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name.  A
 515        command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 516        operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 517        <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 518
 519<type>::
 520        Indicates that an object type is required.
 521        Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
 522
 523<file>::
 524        Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
 525        root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
 526
 527Symbolic Identifiers
 528--------------------
 529Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
 530symbolic notation:
 531
 532HEAD::
 533        indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the
 534        contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`).
 535
 536<tag>::
 537        a valid tag 'name'
 538        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`).
 539
 540<head>::
 541        a valid head 'name'
 542        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`).
 543
 544
 545File/Directory Structure
 546------------------------
 547
 548Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document.
 549
 550Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook.
 551
 552Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 553`$GIT_DIR`.
 554
 555
 556Terminology
 557-----------
 558Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
 559
 560
 561Environment Variables
 562---------------------
 563Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 564
 565The git Repository
 566~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 567These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 568is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 569git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 570
 571'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 572        This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 573        index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
 574        is used.
 575
 576'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 577        If the object storage directory is specified via this
 578        environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 579        underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 580        directory is used.
 581
 582'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 583        Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 584        archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 585        specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
 586        can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 587        written to these directories.
 588
 589'GIT_DIR'::
 590        If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it
 591        specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
 592        for the base of the repository.
 593
 594git Commits
 595~~~~~~~~~~~
 596'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 597'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 598'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 599'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 600'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 601        see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 602
 603git Diffs
 604~~~~~~~~~
 605'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 606'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 607        see the "generating patches" section in :
 608        gitlink:git-diff-index[1];
 609        gitlink:git-diff-files[1];
 610        gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]
 611
 612Discussion[[Discussion]]
 613------------------------
 614include::README[]
 615
 616Authors
 617-------
 618* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
 619* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>.
 620* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>.
 621* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 622
 623Documentation
 624--------------
 625The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
 626<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the
 627contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 628
 629GIT
 630---
 631Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 632