Documentation / git-notes.txton commit Merge branch 'ab/commit-empty-message' (ea28bae)
   1git-notes(1)
   2============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-notes - Add/inspect object notes
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git notes' [list [<object>]]
  12'git notes' add [-f] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
  13'git notes' copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> <to-object> )
  14'git notes' append [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
  15'git notes' edit [<object>]
  16'git notes' show [<object>]
  17'git notes' remove [<object>]
  18'git notes' prune
  19
  20
  21DESCRIPTION
  22-----------
  23This command allows you to add/remove notes to/from objects, without
  24changing the objects themselves.
  25
  26A typical use of notes is to extend a commit message without having
  27to change the commit itself. Such commit notes can be shown by `git log`
  28along with the original commit message. To discern these notes from the
  29message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
  30message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
  31"Notes:" for the default setting).
  32
  33This command always manipulates the notes specified in "core.notesRef"
  34(see linkgit:git-config[1]), which can be overridden by GIT_NOTES_REF.
  35To change which notes are shown by 'git-log', see the
  36"notes.displayRef" configuration.
  37
  38See the description of "notes.rewrite.<command>" in
  39linkgit:git-config[1] for a way of carrying your notes across commands
  40that rewrite commits.
  41
  42
  43SUBCOMMANDS
  44-----------
  45
  46list::
  47        List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
  48        given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
  49        annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
  50        This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
  51
  52add::
  53        Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
  54        object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite an
  55        existing note).
  56
  57copy::
  58        Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
  59        Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
  60        object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
  61        second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
  62        `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
  63+
  64In `\--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
  65+
  66----------
  67<from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
  68----------
  69+
  70on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
  71corresponding <to-object>.  (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
  72the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
  73
  74append::
  75        Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
  76        Creates a new notes object if needed.
  77
  78edit::
  79        Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  80
  81show::
  82        Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  83
  84remove::
  85        Remove the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  86        This is equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
  87        the `edit` subcommand.
  88
  89prune::
  90        Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
  91
  92OPTIONS
  93-------
  94-f::
  95--force::
  96        When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
  97        overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
  98
  99-m <msg>::
 100--message=<msg>::
 101        Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
 102        If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
 103        are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
 104
 105-F <file>::
 106--file=<file>::
 107        Take the note message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 108        read the note message from the standard input.
 109
 110-C <object>::
 111--reuse-message=<object>::
 112        Reuse the note message from the given note object.
 113
 114-c <object>::
 115--reedit-message=<object>::
 116        Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
 117        the user can further edit the note message.
 118
 119--ref <ref>::
 120        Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>.  This overrides both
 121        GIT_NOTES_REF and the "core.notesRef" configuration.  The ref
 122        is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
 123
 124
 125NOTES
 126-----
 127
 128Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
 129You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
 130`git log -p notes/commits`.
 131
 132Currently the commit message only records which operation triggered
 133the update, and the commit authorship is determined according to the
 134usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).  These details may change in
 135the future.
 136
 137
 138Author
 139------
 140Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
 141Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
 142
 143Documentation
 144-------------
 145Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
 146
 147GIT
 148---
 149Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite