Documentation / git.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/deprecate-recursive' (e38604e)
   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]] [-p|--paginate]
  13    [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
  14
  15DESCRIPTION
  16-----------
  17Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
  18unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
  19and full access to internals.
  20
  21See this link:tutorial.html[tutorial] to get started, then see
  22link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and
  23"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command.  CVS users may
  24also want to read link:cvs-migration.html[CVS migration].
  25
  26The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias
  27as defined in the configuration file (see gitlink:git-repo-config[1]).
  28
  29OPTIONS
  30-------
  31--version::
  32        Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
  33
  34--help::
  35        Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
  36        commands.  If a git command is named this option will bring up
  37        the man-page for that command. If the option '--all' or '-a' is
  38        given then all available commands are printed.
  39
  40--exec-path::
  41        Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
  42        This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
  43        environment variable. If no path is given 'git' will print
  44        the current setting and then exit.
  45
  46-p|--paginate::
  47        Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER).
  48
  49--git-dir=<path>::
  50        Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by
  51        setting the GIT_DIR environment variable.
  52
  53--bare::
  54        Same as --git-dir=`pwd`.
  55
  56FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
  57---------------------
  58
  59See the references above to get started using git.  The following is
  60probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
  61
  62The <<Discussion,Discussion>> section below and the
  63link:core-tutorial.html[Core tutorial] both provide introductions to the
  64underlying git architecture.
  65
  66See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
  67examples.
  68
  69GIT COMMANDS
  70------------
  71
  72We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
  73("plumbing") commands.
  74
  75Low-level commands (plumbing)
  76-----------------------------
  77
  78Although git includes its
  79own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
  80development of alternative porcelains.  Developers of such porcelains
  81might start by reading about gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
  82gitlink:git-read-tree[1].
  83
  84We divide the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
  85the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
  86compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
  87repositories.
  88
  89Manipulation commands
  90~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  91gitlink:git-apply[1]::
  92        Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
  93        applies it to the working tree.
  94
  95gitlink:git-checkout-index[1]::
  96        Copy files from the index to the working tree.
  97
  98gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]::
  99        Creates a new commit object.
 100
 101gitlink:git-hash-object[1]::
 102        Computes the object ID from a file.
 103
 104gitlink:git-index-pack[1]::
 105        Build pack idx file for an existing packed archive.
 106
 107gitlink:git-init-db[1]::
 108        Creates an empty git object database, or reinitialize an
 109        existing one.
 110
 111gitlink:git-merge-index[1]::
 112        Runs a merge for files needing merging.
 113
 114gitlink:git-mktag[1]::
 115        Creates a tag object.
 116
 117gitlink:git-mktree[1]::
 118        Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text.
 119
 120gitlink:git-pack-objects[1]::
 121        Creates a packed archive of objects.
 122
 123gitlink:git-prune-packed[1]::
 124        Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
 125
 126gitlink:git-read-tree[1]::
 127        Reads tree information into the index.
 128
 129gitlink:git-repo-config[1]::
 130        Get and set options in .git/config.
 131
 132gitlink:git-unpack-objects[1]::
 133        Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
 134
 135gitlink:git-update-index[1]::
 136        Registers files in the working tree to the index.
 137
 138gitlink:git-write-tree[1]::
 139        Creates a tree from the index.
 140
 141
 142Interrogation commands
 143~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 144
 145gitlink:git-cat-file[1]::
 146        Provide content or type/size information for repository objects.
 147
 148gitlink:git-describe[1]::
 149        Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
 150
 151gitlink:git-diff-index[1]::
 152        Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository.
 153
 154gitlink:git-diff-files[1]::
 155        Compares files in the working tree and the index.
 156
 157gitlink:git-diff-stages[1]::
 158        Compares two "merge stages" in the index.
 159
 160gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]::
 161        Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
 162
 163gitlink:git-fsck-objects[1]::
 164        Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
 165
 166gitlink:git-ls-files[1]::
 167        Information about files in the index and the working tree.
 168
 169gitlink:git-ls-tree[1]::
 170        Displays a tree object in human readable form.
 171
 172gitlink:git-merge-base[1]::
 173        Finds as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
 174
 175gitlink:git-name-rev[1]::
 176        Find symbolic names for given revs.
 177
 178gitlink:git-pack-redundant[1]::
 179        Find redundant pack files.
 180
 181gitlink:git-rev-list[1]::
 182        Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
 183
 184gitlink:git-show-index[1]::
 185        Displays contents of a pack idx file.
 186
 187gitlink:git-tar-tree[1]::
 188        Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree object.
 189
 190gitlink:git-unpack-file[1]::
 191        Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
 192
 193gitlink:git-var[1]::
 194        Displays a git logical variable.
 195
 196gitlink:git-verify-pack[1]::
 197        Validates packed git archive files.
 198
 199In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
 200the working tree.
 201
 202
 203Synching repositories
 204~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 205
 206gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1]::
 207        Updates from a remote repository (engine for ssh and
 208        local transport).
 209
 210gitlink:git-http-fetch[1]::
 211        Downloads a remote git repository via HTTP by walking
 212        commit chain.
 213
 214gitlink:git-local-fetch[1]::
 215        Duplicates another git repository on a local system by
 216        walking commit chain.
 217
 218gitlink:git-peek-remote[1]::
 219        Lists references on a remote repository using
 220        upload-pack protocol (engine for ssh and local
 221        transport).
 222
 223gitlink:git-receive-pack[1]::
 224        Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 225
 226gitlink:git-send-pack[1]::
 227        Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 228
 229gitlink:git-http-push[1]::
 230        Push missing objects using HTTP/DAV.
 231
 232gitlink:git-shell[1]::
 233        Restricted shell for GIT-only SSH access.
 234
 235gitlink:git-ssh-fetch[1]::
 236        Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection by
 237        walking commit chain.
 238
 239gitlink:git-ssh-upload[1]::
 240        Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-fetch.
 241
 242gitlink:git-update-server-info[1]::
 243        Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 244        clients discover references and packs on it.
 245
 246gitlink:git-upload-pack[1]::
 247        Invoked by 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 248        what are asked for.
 249
 250
 251High-level commands (porcelain)
 252-------------------------------
 253
 254We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
 255ancillary user utilities.
 256
 257Main porcelain commands
 258~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 259
 260gitlink:git-add[1]::
 261        Add paths to the index.
 262
 263gitlink:git-am[1]::
 264        Apply patches from a mailbox, but cooler.
 265
 266gitlink:git-applymbox[1]::
 267        Apply patches from a mailbox, original version by Linus.
 268
 269gitlink:git-archive[1]::
 270        Creates an archive of files from a named tree.
 271
 272gitlink:git-bisect[1]::
 273        Find the change that introduced a bug by binary search.
 274
 275gitlink:git-branch[1]::
 276        Create and Show branches.
 277
 278gitlink:git-checkout[1]::
 279        Checkout and switch to a branch.
 280
 281gitlink:git-cherry-pick[1]::
 282        Cherry-pick the effect of an existing commit.
 283
 284gitlink:git-clean[1]::
 285        Remove untracked files from the working tree.
 286
 287gitlink:git-clone[1]::
 288        Clones a repository into a new directory.
 289
 290gitlink:git-commit[1]::
 291        Record changes to the repository.
 292
 293gitlink:git-diff[1]::
 294        Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
 295
 296gitlink:git-fetch[1]::
 297        Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 298
 299gitlink:git-format-patch[1]::
 300        Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
 301
 302gitlink:git-grep[1]::
 303        Print lines matching a pattern.
 304
 305gitlink:gitk[1]::
 306        The git repository browser.
 307
 308gitlink:git-log[1]::
 309        Shows commit logs.
 310
 311gitlink:git-ls-remote[1]::
 312        Shows references in a remote or local repository.
 313
 314gitlink:git-merge[1]::
 315        Grand unified merge driver.
 316
 317gitlink:git-mv[1]::
 318        Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
 319
 320gitlink:git-pull[1]::
 321        Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
 322
 323gitlink:git-push[1]::
 324        Update remote refs along with associated objects.
 325
 326gitlink:git-rebase[1]::
 327        Rebase local commits to the updated upstream head.
 328
 329gitlink:git-repack[1]::
 330        Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
 331
 332gitlink:git-rerere[1]::
 333        Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
 334
 335gitlink:git-reset[1]::
 336        Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
 337
 338gitlink:git-resolve[1]::
 339        Merge two commits.
 340
 341gitlink:git-revert[1]::
 342        Revert an existing commit.
 343
 344gitlink:git-rm[1]::
 345        Remove files from the working tree and from the index.
 346
 347gitlink:git-shortlog[1]::
 348        Summarizes 'git log' output.
 349
 350gitlink:git-show[1]::
 351        Show one commit log and its diff.
 352
 353gitlink:git-show-branch[1]::
 354        Show branches and their commits.
 355
 356gitlink:git-status[1]::
 357        Shows the working tree status.
 358
 359gitlink:git-verify-tag[1]::
 360        Check the GPG signature of tag.
 361
 362gitlink:git-whatchanged[1]::
 363        Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
 364
 365
 366Ancillary Commands
 367~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 368Manipulators:
 369
 370gitlink:git-applypatch[1]::
 371        Apply one patch extracted from an e-mail.
 372
 373gitlink:git-archimport[1]::
 374        Import an arch repository into git.
 375
 376gitlink:git-convert-objects[1]::
 377        Converts old-style git repository.
 378
 379gitlink:git-cvsimport[1]::
 380        Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
 381
 382gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1]::
 383        Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
 384
 385gitlink:git-cvsserver[1]::
 386        A CVS server emulator for git.
 387
 388gitlink:git-lost-found[1]::
 389        Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been pruned.
 390
 391gitlink:git-merge-one-file[1]::
 392        The standard helper program to use with `git-merge-index`.
 393
 394gitlink:git-prune[1]::
 395        Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database.
 396
 397gitlink:git-quiltimport[1]::
 398        Applies a quilt patchset onto the current branch.
 399
 400gitlink:git-relink[1]::
 401        Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
 402
 403gitlink:git-svn[1]::
 404        Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git.
 405
 406gitlink:git-svnimport[1]::
 407        Import a SVN repository into git.
 408
 409gitlink:git-sh-setup[1]::
 410        Common git shell script setup code.
 411
 412gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 413        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 414
 415gitlink:git-tag[1]::
 416        An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG.
 417
 418gitlink:git-update-ref[1]::
 419        Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
 420
 421
 422Interrogators:
 423
 424gitlink:git-annotate[1]::
 425        Annotate file lines with commit info.
 426
 427gitlink:git-blame[1]::
 428        Blame file lines on commits.
 429
 430gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1]::
 431        Make sure ref name is well formed.
 432
 433gitlink:git-cherry[1]::
 434        Find commits not merged upstream.
 435
 436gitlink:git-count-objects[1]::
 437        Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
 438
 439gitlink:git-daemon[1]::
 440        A really simple server for git repositories.
 441
 442gitlink:git-fmt-merge-msg[1]::
 443        Produce a merge commit message.
 444
 445gitlink:git-get-tar-commit-id[1]::
 446        Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-tar-tree.
 447
 448gitlink:git-imap-send[1]::
 449        Dump a mailbox from stdin into an imap folder.
 450
 451gitlink:git-instaweb[1]::
 452        Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb.
 453
 454gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]::
 455        Extracts patch and authorship information from a single
 456        e-mail message, optionally transliterating the commit
 457        message into utf-8.
 458
 459gitlink:git-mailsplit[1]::
 460        A stupid program to split UNIX mbox format mailbox into
 461        individual pieces of e-mail.
 462
 463gitlink:git-merge-tree[1]::
 464        Show three-way merge without touching index.
 465
 466gitlink:git-patch-id[1]::
 467        Compute unique ID for a patch.
 468
 469gitlink:git-parse-remote[1]::
 470        Routines to help parsing `$GIT_DIR/remotes/` files.
 471
 472gitlink:git-request-pull[1]::
 473        git-request-pull.
 474
 475gitlink:git-rev-parse[1]::
 476        Pick out and massage parameters.
 477
 478gitlink:git-send-email[1]::
 479        Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
 480
 481gitlink:git-symbolic-ref[1]::
 482        Read and modify symbolic refs.
 483
 484gitlink:git-stripspace[1]::
 485        Filter out empty lines.
 486
 487
 488Configuration Mechanism
 489-----------------------
 490
 491Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
 492is used to hold per-repository configuration options.  It is a
 493simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some
 494people.  Here is an example:
 495
 496------------
 497#
 498# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
 499#
 500
 501; core variables
 502[core]
 503        ; Don't trust file modes
 504        filemode = false
 505
 506; user identity
 507[user]
 508        name = "Junio C Hamano"
 509        email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
 510
 511------------
 512
 513Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
 514their operation accordingly.
 515
 516
 517Identifier Terminology
 518----------------------
 519<object>::
 520        Indicates the object name for any type of object.
 521
 522<blob>::
 523        Indicates a blob object name.
 524
 525<tree>::
 526        Indicates a tree object name.
 527
 528<commit>::
 529        Indicates a commit object name.
 530
 531<tree-ish>::
 532        Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name.  A
 533        command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 534        operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 535        <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 536
 537<type>::
 538        Indicates that an object type is required.
 539        Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
 540
 541<file>::
 542        Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
 543        root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
 544
 545Symbolic Identifiers
 546--------------------
 547Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
 548symbolic notation:
 549
 550HEAD::
 551        indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the
 552        contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`).
 553
 554<tag>::
 555        a valid tag 'name'
 556        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`).
 557
 558<head>::
 559        a valid head 'name'
 560        (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`).
 561
 562
 563File/Directory Structure
 564------------------------
 565
 566Please see link:repository-layout.html[repository layout] document.
 567
 568Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about each hook.
 569
 570Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 571`$GIT_DIR`.
 572
 573
 574Terminology
 575-----------
 576Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
 577
 578
 579Environment Variables
 580---------------------
 581Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 582
 583The git Repository
 584~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 585These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 586is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 587git so take care if using Cogito etc.
 588
 589'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 590        This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 591        index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
 592        is used.
 593
 594'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 595        If the object storage directory is specified via this
 596        environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 597        underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 598        directory is used.
 599
 600'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 601        Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 602        archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 603        specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
 604        can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 605        written to these directories.
 606
 607'GIT_DIR'::
 608        If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it
 609        specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
 610        for the base of the repository.
 611
 612git Commits
 613~~~~~~~~~~~
 614'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 615'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 616'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 617'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 618'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 619        see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 620
 621git Diffs
 622~~~~~~~~~
 623'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 624'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 625        see the "generating patches" section in :
 626        gitlink:git-diff-index[1];
 627        gitlink:git-diff-files[1];
 628        gitlink:git-diff-tree[1]
 629
 630other
 631~~~~~
 632'GIT_PAGER'::
 633        This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`.
 634
 635'GIT_TRACE'::
 636        If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
 637        is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on
 638        stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command
 639        execution and external command execution.
 640        If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1
 641        and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this
 642        value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
 643        trace messages into this file descriptor.
 644        Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path
 645        (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this
 646        as a file path and will try to write the trace messages
 647        into it.
 648
 649Discussion[[Discussion]]
 650------------------------
 651include::README[]
 652
 653Authors
 654-------
 655* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
 656* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>.
 657* The git potty was written by Andres Ericsson <ae@op5.se>.
 658* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 659
 660Documentation
 661--------------
 662The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
 663<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the
 664contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 665
 666GIT
 667---
 668Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 669