1git-p4(1) 2========= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>... 13'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...] 14'git p4 rebase' 15'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>] 16 17 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories 21using Git. 22 23Create a new Git repository from an existing p4 repository using 24'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate 25new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command 26is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths. 27Submit Git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command 28'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto 29the updated p4 remote branch. 30 31 32EXAMPLE 33------- 34* Clone a repository: 35+ 36------------ 37$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 38------------ 39 40* Do some work in the newly created Git repository: 41+ 42------------ 43$ cd project 44$ vi foo.h 45$ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h" 46------------ 47 48* Update the Git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your 49 work on top: 50+ 51------------ 52$ git p4 rebase 53------------ 54 55* Submit your commits back to p4: 56+ 57------------ 58$ git p4 submit 59------------ 60 61 62COMMANDS 63-------- 64 65Clone 66~~~~~ 67Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new Git directory 68from an existing p4 repository: 69------------ 70$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project 71------------ 72This: 73 741. Creates an empty Git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'. 75+ 762. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4 77depot path into a single commit in the Git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'. 78+ 793. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out. 80 81To reproduce the entire p4 history in Git, use the '@all' modifier on 82the depot path: 83------------ 84$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all 85------------ 86 87 88Sync 89~~~~ 90As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can 91be included in the Git repository using: 92------------ 93$ git p4 sync 94------------ 95This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as Git commits. 96 97P4 repositories can be added to an existing Git repository using 98'git p4 sync' too: 99------------ 100$ mkdir repo-git 101$ cd repo-git 102$ git init 103$ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot 104------------ 105This imports the specified depot into 106'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing Git repository. The 107'--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to 108be used for the p4 content. 109 110If a Git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these 111will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since 112importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes 113from a Git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment. 114 115If there are multiple branches, doing 'git p4 sync' will automatically 116use the "BRANCH DETECTION" algorithm to try to partition new changes 117into the right branch. This can be overridden with the '--branch' 118option to specify just a single branch to update. 119 120 121Rebase 122~~~~~~ 123A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot 124and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository 125is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes 126sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move 127local commits on top of updated p4 changes. 128------------ 129$ git p4 rebase 130------------ 131 132 133Submit 134~~~~~~ 135Submitting changes from a Git repository back to the p4 repository 136requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified 137using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the Git configuration 138variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root 139will be created and populated if it does not already exist. 140 141To submit all changes that are in the current Git branch but not in 142the 'p4/master' branch, use: 143------------ 144$ git p4 submit 145------------ 146 147To specify a branch other than the current one, use: 148------------ 149$ git p4 submit topicbranch 150------------ 151 152The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can 153be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option. 154 155The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The 156'--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified 157according to the author of the Git commit. This option requires admin 158privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'. 159 160 161OPTIONS 162------- 163 164General options 165~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 166All commands except clone accept these options. 167 168--git-dir <dir>:: 169 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1]. 170 171--verbose, -v:: 172 Provide more progress information. 173 174Sync options 175~~~~~~~~~~~~ 176These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in 177subsequent 'sync' operations. 178 179--branch <ref>:: 180 Import changes into <ref> instead of refs/remotes/p4/master. 181 If <ref> starts with refs/, it is used as is. Otherwise, if 182 it does not start with p4/, that prefix is added. 183+ 184By default a <ref> not starting with refs/ is treated as the 185name of a remote-tracking branch (under refs/remotes/). This 186behavior can be modified using the --import-local option. 187+ 188The default <ref> is "master". 189+ 190This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing 191Git repository: 192+ 193---- 194 $ git init 195 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2 196---- 197 198--detect-branches:: 199 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is 200 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION". 201 202--changesfile <file>:: 203 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per 204 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository 205 state and detects the changes it should import. 206 207--silent:: 208 Do not print any progress information. 209 210--detect-labels:: 211 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add 212 them as tags in Git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels 213 associated with new changelists. Deprecated. 214 215--import-labels:: 216 Import labels from p4 into Git. 217 218--import-local:: 219 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/', 220 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by 221 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead 222 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future 223 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that 224 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads. 225 226--max-changes <n>:: 227 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to 228 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision 229 specifier. 230 231--keep-path:: 232 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to Git, by 233 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this 234 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in Git. For example, 235 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from 236 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the 237 Git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'. 238 239--use-client-spec:: 240 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4. 241 See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below. 242 243Clone options 244~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 245These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync' 246options described above. 247 248--destination <directory>:: 249 Where to create the Git repository. If not provided, the last 250 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new 251 directory. 252 253--bare:: 254 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1]. 255 256-/ <path>:: 257 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning. 258 259Submit options 260~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 261These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior. 262 263--origin <commit>:: 264 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to 265 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable 266 from 'HEAD'. 267 268-M:: 269 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be 270 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There 271 is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are 272 variables for both moves and copies. 273 274--preserve-user:: 275 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option 276 requires p4 admin privileges. 277 278--export-labels:: 279 Export tags from Git as p4 labels. Tags found in Git are applied 280 to the perforce working directory. 281 282--dry-run, -n:: 283 Show just what commits would be submitted to p4; do not change 284 state in Git or p4. 285 286--prepare-p4-only:: 287 Apply a commit to the p4 workspace, opening, adding and deleting 288 files in p4 as for a normal submit operation. Do not issue the 289 final "p4 submit", but instead print a message about how to 290 submit manually or revert. This option always stops after the 291 first (oldest) commit. Git tags are not exported to p4. 292 293--conflict=(ask|skip|quit):: 294 Conflicts can occur when applying a commit to p4. When this 295 happens, the default behavior ("ask") is to prompt whether to 296 skip this commit and continue, or quit. This option can be used 297 to bypass the prompt, causing conflicting commits to be automatically 298 skipped, or to quit trying to apply commits, without prompting. 299 300--branch <branch>:: 301 After submitting, sync this named branch instead of the default 302 p4/master. See the "Sync options" section above for more 303 information. 304 305Rebase options 306~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 307These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior. 308 309--import-labels:: 310 Import p4 labels. 311 312DEPOT PATH SYNTAX 313----------------- 314The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can 315be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional 316p4 revision specifier on the end: 317 318"//depot/my/project":: 319 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree. 320 321"//depot/my/project@all":: 322 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path. 323 324"//depot/my/project@1,6":: 325 Import only changes 1 through 6. 326 327"//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all":: 328 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single 329 repository. Only files below these directories are included. 330 There is not a subdirectory in Git for each "proj1" and "proj2". 331 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more 332 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified 333 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the 334 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently 335 updated version of the file is the one that appears in Git. 336 337See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers. 338 339 340CLIENT SPEC 341----------- 342The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command 343and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot 344is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands 345can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or 346when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the 347useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository 348configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to 349work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does 350not have a command-line option. 351 352The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'git p4' 353knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line 354mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes 355around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles 356'...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'git p4' will complain 357if it encounters an unhandled wildcard. 358 359Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot 360paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository, 361'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without 362dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'. 363 364The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The 365variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise, 366normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment 367variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name. 368 369 370BRANCH DETECTION 371---------------- 372P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as Git. Instead, 373p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention 374different logical branches are in different locations in the tree. 375The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between 376different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4' 377can use these mappings to determine branch relationships. 378 379If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as 380subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches' 381when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find 382subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in Git. 383 384For example, if the P4 repository structure is: 385---- 386//depot/main/... 387//depot/branch1/... 388---- 389 390And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like: 391---- 392//depot/main/... //depot/branch1/... 393---- 394 395Then this 'git p4 clone' command: 396---- 397git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all 398---- 399produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main, 400called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'. 401 402However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use 403them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch 404relationships automatically, a Git configuration setting 405'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch 406relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a 407simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are 408the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the 409presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will 410occur with: 411---- 412git init depot 413cd depot 414git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1 415git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all . 416---- 417 418 419PERFORMANCE 420----------- 421The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for 422each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, Git garbage compression 423(linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files, 424but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance. 425 426 427CONFIGURATION VARIABLES 428----------------------- 429The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior. 430They all are in the 'git-p4' section. 431 432General variables 433~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 434git-p4.user:: 435 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'. 436 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead. 437 438git-p4.password:: 439 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 440 '-P <password>'. 441 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead. 442 443git-p4.port:: 444 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 445 '-p <port>'. 446 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead. 447 448git-p4.host:: 449 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 450 '-h <host>'. 451 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead. 452 453git-p4.client:: 454 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with 455 '-c <client>', including the client spec. 456 457Clone and sync variables 458~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 459git-p4.syncFromOrigin:: 460 Because importing commits from other Git repositories is much faster 461 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes 462 first in Git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4', 463 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This 464 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior. 465 466git-p4.branchUser:: 467 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches 468 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are 469 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned 470 by the single user named in the variable. 471 472git-p4.branchList:: 473 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is 474 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated 475 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and 476 branchB were created from main: 477+ 478------------- 479git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA 480git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB 481------------- 482 483git-p4.ignoredP4Labels:: 484 List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as 485 unimportable labels are discovered. 486 487git-p4.importLabels:: 488 Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels. 489 490git-p4.labelImportRegexp:: 491 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The 492 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. 493 494git-p4.useClientSpec:: 495 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4 496 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the 497 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above. 498 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client. 499 500Submit variables 501~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 502git-p4.detectRenames:: 503 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true, 504 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -M'. 505 506git-p4.detectCopies:: 507 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true, 508 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -C'. 509 510git-p4.detectCopiesHarder:: 511 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. A boolean. 512 513git-p4.preserveUser:: 514 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the Git author, 515 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'. 516 517git-p4.allowMissingP4Users:: 518 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it 519 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting 520 submits the change regardless. 521 522git-p4.skipSubmitEdit:: 523 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change 524 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing 525 step is skipped. 526 527git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck:: 528 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that 529 the description really was changed by looking at the file 530 modification time. This option disables that test. 531 532git-p4.allowSubmit:: 533 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4 534 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only 535 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names 536 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be 537 separated by commas (","), with no spaces. 538 539git-p4.skipUserNameCheck:: 540 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4 541 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force 542 submission regardless. 543 544git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup:: 545 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords 546 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent 547 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at 548 present. 549 550git-p4.exportLabels:: 551 Export Git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels. 552 553git-p4.labelExportRegexp:: 554 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The 555 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. 556 557git-p4.conflict:: 558 Specify submit behavior when a conflict with p4 is found, as per 559 --conflict. The default behavior is 'ask'. 560 561IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 562---------------------- 563* Changesets from p4 are imported using Git fast-import. 564* Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are 565 collected using 'p4 print'. 566* Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location 567 as the Git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to 568 this p4 client and submitted from there. 569* Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log 570 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This 571 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4 572 changes are new.