1git(1) 2====== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git - the stupid content tracker 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git' [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [--html-path] 13 [-p|--paginate|--no-pager] 14 [--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--work-tree=GIT_WORK_TREE] 15 [--help] COMMAND [ARGS] 16 17DESCRIPTION 18----------- 19Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an 20unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations 21and full access to internals. 22 23See linkgit:gittutorial[7] to get started, then see 24link:everyday.html[Everyday Git] for a useful minimum set of commands, and 25"man git-commandname" for documentation of each command. CVS users may 26also want to read linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7]. See 27the link:user-manual.html[Git User's Manual] for a more in-depth 28introduction. 29 30The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias 31as defined in the configuration file (see linkgit:git-config[1]). 32 33Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest git 34documentation can be viewed at 35`http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/`. 36 37ifdef::stalenotes[] 38[NOTE] 39============ 40 41You are reading the documentation for the latest (possibly 42unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master' 43branch of the `git.git` repository. 44Documentation for older releases are available here: 45 46* link:v1.6.4.3/git.html[documentation for release 1.6.4.3] 47 48* release notes for 49 link:RelNotes-1.6.4.3.txt[1.6.4.3], 50 link:RelNotes-1.6.4.2.txt[1.6.4.2], 51 link:RelNotes-1.6.4.1.txt[1.6.4.1], 52 link:RelNotes-1.6.4.txt[1.6.4]. 53 54* link:v1.6.3.4/git.html[documentation for release 1.6.3.4] 55 56* release notes for 57 link:RelNotes-1.6.3.4.txt[1.6.3.4], 58 link:RelNotes-1.6.3.3.txt[1.6.3.3], 59 link:RelNotes-1.6.3.2.txt[1.6.3.2], 60 link:RelNotes-1.6.3.1.txt[1.6.3.1], 61 link:RelNotes-1.6.3.txt[1.6.3]. 62 63* release notes for 64 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.5.txt[1.6.2.5], 65 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.4.txt[1.6.2.4], 66 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.3.txt[1.6.2.3], 67 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.2.txt[1.6.2.2], 68 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.1.txt[1.6.2.1], 69 link:RelNotes-1.6.2.txt[1.6.2]. 70 71* link:v1.6.1.3/git.html[documentation for release 1.6.1.3] 72 73* release notes for 74 link:RelNotes-1.6.1.3.txt[1.6.1.3], 75 link:RelNotes-1.6.1.2.txt[1.6.1.2], 76 link:RelNotes-1.6.1.1.txt[1.6.1.1], 77 link:RelNotes-1.6.1.txt[1.6.1]. 78 79* link:v1.6.0.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.6.0.6] 80 81* release notes for 82 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.6.txt[1.6.0.6], 83 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.5.txt[1.6.0.5], 84 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.4.txt[1.6.0.4], 85 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.3.txt[1.6.0.3], 86 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.2.txt[1.6.0.2], 87 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.1.txt[1.6.0.1], 88 link:RelNotes-1.6.0.txt[1.6.0]. 89 90* link:v1.5.6.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.6.6] 91 92* release notes for 93 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.6.txt[1.5.6.6], 94 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.5.txt[1.5.6.5], 95 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.4.txt[1.5.6.4], 96 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.3.txt[1.5.6.3], 97 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.2.txt[1.5.6.2], 98 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.1.txt[1.5.6.1], 99 link:RelNotes-1.5.6.txt[1.5.6]. 100 101* link:v1.5.5.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.5.6] 102 103* release notes for 104 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.6.txt[1.5.5.6], 105 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.5.txt[1.5.5.5], 106 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.4.txt[1.5.5.4], 107 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.3.txt[1.5.5.3], 108 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.2.txt[1.5.5.2], 109 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.1.txt[1.5.5.1], 110 link:RelNotes-1.5.5.txt[1.5.5]. 111 112* link:v1.5.4.7/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.4.7] 113 114* release notes for 115 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.7.txt[1.5.4.7], 116 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.6.txt[1.5.4.6], 117 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.5.txt[1.5.4.5], 118 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.4.txt[1.5.4.4], 119 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.3.txt[1.5.4.3], 120 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.2.txt[1.5.4.2], 121 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.1.txt[1.5.4.1], 122 link:RelNotes-1.5.4.txt[1.5.4]. 123 124* link:v1.5.3.8/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.3.8] 125 126* release notes for 127 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.8.txt[1.5.3.8], 128 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.7.txt[1.5.3.7], 129 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.6.txt[1.5.3.6], 130 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.5.txt[1.5.3.5], 131 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.4.txt[1.5.3.4], 132 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.3.txt[1.5.3.3], 133 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.2.txt[1.5.3.2], 134 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.1.txt[1.5.3.1], 135 link:RelNotes-1.5.3.txt[1.5.3]. 136 137* link:v1.5.2.5/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.2.5] 138 139* release notes for 140 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.5.txt[1.5.2.5], 141 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.4.txt[1.5.2.4], 142 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.3.txt[1.5.2.3], 143 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.2.txt[1.5.2.2], 144 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.1.txt[1.5.2.1], 145 link:RelNotes-1.5.2.txt[1.5.2]. 146 147* link:v1.5.1.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.1.6] 148 149* release notes for 150 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.6.txt[1.5.1.6], 151 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.5.txt[1.5.1.5], 152 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.4.txt[1.5.1.4], 153 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.3.txt[1.5.1.3], 154 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.2.txt[1.5.1.2], 155 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.1.txt[1.5.1.1], 156 link:RelNotes-1.5.1.txt[1.5.1]. 157 158* link:v1.5.0.7/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.0.7] 159 160* release notes for 161 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.7.txt[1.5.0.7], 162 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.6.txt[1.5.0.6], 163 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.5.txt[1.5.0.5], 164 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.3.txt[1.5.0.3], 165 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.2.txt[1.5.0.2], 166 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.1.txt[1.5.0.1], 167 link:RelNotes-1.5.0.txt[1.5.0]. 168 169* documentation for release link:v1.4.4.4/git.html[1.4.4.4], 170 link:v1.3.3/git.html[1.3.3], 171 link:v1.2.6/git.html[1.2.6], 172 link:v1.0.13/git.html[1.0.13]. 173 174============ 175 176endif::stalenotes[] 177 178OPTIONS 179------- 180--version:: 181 Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from. 182 183--help:: 184 Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used 185 commands. If the option '--all' or '-a' is given then all 186 available commands are printed. If a git command is named this 187 option will bring up the manual page for that command. 188+ 189Other options are available to control how the manual page is 190displayed. See linkgit:git-help[1] for more information, 191because `git --help ...` is converted internally into `git 192help ...`. 193 194--exec-path:: 195 Path to wherever your core git programs are installed. 196 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH 197 environment variable. If no path is given, 'git' will print 198 the current setting and then exit. 199 200--html-path:: 201 Print the path to wherever your git HTML documentation is installed 202 and exit. 203 204-p:: 205--paginate:: 206 Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER). 207 208--no-pager:: 209 Do not pipe git output into a pager. 210 211--git-dir=<path>:: 212 Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by 213 setting the GIT_DIR environment variable. It can be an absolute 214 path or relative path to current working directory. 215 216--work-tree=<path>:: 217 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 218 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 219 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 220 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE 221 environment variable and the core.worktree configuration 222 variable. It can be an absolute path or relative path to 223 the directory specified by --git-dir or GIT_DIR. 224 Note: If --git-dir or GIT_DIR are specified but none of 225 --work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE and core.worktree is specified, 226 the current working directory is regarded as the top directory 227 of your working tree. 228 229--bare:: 230 Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR 231 environment is not set, it is set to the current working 232 directory. 233 234 235FURTHER DOCUMENTATION 236--------------------- 237 238See the references above to get started using git. The following is 239probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user. 240 241The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 242user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7] both provide 243introductions to the underlying git architecture. 244 245See linkgit:gitworkflows[7] for an overview of recommended workflows. 246 247See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful 248examples. 249 250The internals are documented in the 251link:technical/api-index.html[GIT API documentation]. 252 253GIT COMMANDS 254------------ 255 256We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level 257("plumbing") commands. 258 259High-level commands (porcelain) 260------------------------------- 261 262We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some 263ancillary user utilities. 264 265Main porcelain commands 266~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 267 268include::cmds-mainporcelain.txt[] 269 270Ancillary Commands 271~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 272Manipulators: 273 274include::cmds-ancillarymanipulators.txt[] 275 276Interrogators: 277 278include::cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt[] 279 280 281Interacting with Others 282~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 283 284These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other 285people via patch over e-mail. 286 287include::cmds-foreignscminterface.txt[] 288 289 290Low-level commands (plumbing) 291----------------------------- 292 293Although git includes its 294own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support 295development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains 296might start by reading about linkgit:git-update-index[1] and 297linkgit:git-read-tree[1]. 298 299The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics) 300to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable 301than Porcelain level commands, because these commands are 302primarily for scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands 303on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the 304end user experience. 305 306The following description divides 307the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in 308the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and 309compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between 310repositories. 311 312 313Manipulation commands 314~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 315 316include::cmds-plumbingmanipulators.txt[] 317 318 319Interrogation commands 320~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 321 322include::cmds-plumbinginterrogators.txt[] 323 324In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in 325the working tree. 326 327 328Synching repositories 329~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 330 331include::cmds-synchingrepositories.txt[] 332 333The following are helper commands used by the above; end users 334typically do not use them directly. 335 336include::cmds-synchelpers.txt[] 337 338 339Internal helper commands 340~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 341 342These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end 343users typically do not use them directly. 344 345include::cmds-purehelpers.txt[] 346 347 348Configuration Mechanism 349----------------------- 350 351Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file 352is used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a 353simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some 354people. Here is an example: 355 356------------ 357# 358# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment. 359# 360 361; core variables 362[core] 363 ; Don't trust file modes 364 filemode = false 365 366; user identity 367[user] 368 name = "Junio C Hamano" 369 email = "junkio@twinsun.com" 370 371------------ 372 373Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust 374their operation accordingly. 375 376 377Identifier Terminology 378---------------------- 379<object>:: 380 Indicates the object name for any type of object. 381 382<blob>:: 383 Indicates a blob object name. 384 385<tree>:: 386 Indicates a tree object name. 387 388<commit>:: 389 Indicates a commit object name. 390 391<tree-ish>:: 392 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A 393 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to 394 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences 395 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>. 396 397<commit-ish>:: 398 Indicates a commit or tag object name. A 399 command that takes a <commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to 400 operate on a <commit> object but automatically dereferences 401 <tag> objects that point at a <commit>. 402 403<type>:: 404 Indicates that an object type is required. 405 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`. 406 407<file>:: 408 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the 409 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes. 410 411Symbolic Identifiers 412-------------------- 413Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following 414symbolic notation: 415 416HEAD:: 417 indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the 418 contents of `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`). 419 420<tag>:: 421 a valid tag 'name' 422 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`). 423 424<head>:: 425 a valid head 'name' 426 (i.e. the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`). 427 428For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see 429"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]. 430 431 432File/Directory Structure 433------------------------ 434 435Please see the linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5] document. 436 437Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about each hook. 438 439Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the 440`$GIT_DIR`. 441 442 443Terminology 444----------- 445Please see linkgit:gitglossary[7]. 446 447 448Environment Variables 449--------------------- 450Various git commands use the following environment variables: 451 452The git Repository 453~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 454These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it 455is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above 456git so take care if using Cogito etc. 457 458'GIT_INDEX_FILE':: 459 This environment allows the specification of an alternate 460 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index` 461 is used. 462 463'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY':: 464 If the object storage directory is specified via this 465 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created 466 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects` 467 directory is used. 468 469'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES':: 470 Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be 471 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable 472 specifies a ":" separated (on Windows ";" separated) list 473 of git object directories which can be used to search for git 474 objects. New objects will not be written to these directories. 475 476'GIT_DIR':: 477 If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it 478 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git` 479 for the base of the repository. 480 481'GIT_WORK_TREE':: 482 Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be 483 used in combination with repositories found automatically in 484 a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). 485 This can also be controlled by the '--work-tree' command line 486 option and the core.worktree configuration variable. 487 488'GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES':: 489 This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths. 490 If set, it is a list of directories that git should not chdir 491 up into while looking for a repository directory. 492 It will not exclude the current working directory or 493 a GIT_DIR set on the command line or in the environment. 494 (Useful for excluding slow-loading network directories.) 495 496git Commits 497~~~~~~~~~~~ 498'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME':: 499'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL':: 500'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE':: 501'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME':: 502'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL':: 503'GIT_COMMITTER_DATE':: 504'EMAIL':: 505 see linkgit:git-commit-tree[1] 506 507git Diffs 508~~~~~~~~~ 509'GIT_DIFF_OPTS':: 510 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the 511 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created. 512 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option 513 value passed on the git diff command line. 514 515'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF':: 516 When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the 517 program named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation 518 described above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified, 519 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 7 parameters: 520 521 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode 522+ 523where: 524 525 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the 526 contents of <old|new>, 527 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes, 528 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes. 529 530+ 531The file parameters can point at the user's working file 532(e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file` 533when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the 534index). 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' should not worry about unlinking the 535temporary file --- it is removed when 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' exits. 536+ 537For a path that is unmerged, 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is called with 1 538parameter, <path>. 539 540other 541~~~~~ 542'GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY':: 543 A number controlling the amount of output shown by 544 the recursive merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity. 545 See linkgit:git-merge[1] 546 547'GIT_PAGER':: 548 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set 549 to an empty string or to the value "cat", git will not launch 550 a pager. See also the `core.pager` option in 551 linkgit:git-config[1]. 552 553'GIT_SSH':: 554 If this environment variable is set then 'git-fetch' 555 and 'git-push' will use this command instead 556 of 'ssh' when they need to connect to a remote system. 557 The '$GIT_SSH' command will be given exactly two arguments: 558 the 'username@host' (or just 'host') from the URL and the 559 shell command to execute on that remote system. 560+ 561To pass options to the program that you want to list in GIT_SSH 562you will need to wrap the program and options into a shell script, 563then set GIT_SSH to refer to the shell script. 564+ 565Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your 566personal `.ssh/config` file. Please consult your ssh documentation 567for further details. 568 569'GIT_FLUSH':: 570 If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such 571 as 'git-blame' (in incremental mode), 'git-rev-list', 'git-log', 572 and 'git-whatchanged' will force a flush of the output stream 573 after each commit-oriented record have been flushed. If this 574 variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done 575 using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is 576 not set, git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing 577 based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not. 578 579'GIT_TRACE':: 580 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison 581 is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on 582 stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command 583 execution and external command execution. 584 If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1 585 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this 586 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the 587 trace messages into this file descriptor. 588 Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path 589 (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this 590 as a file path and will try to write the trace messages 591 into it. 592 593Discussion[[Discussion]] 594------------------------ 595 596More detail on the following is available from the 597link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the 598user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7]. 599 600A git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git" 601subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other 602things, a compressed object database representing the complete history 603of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current 604contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such 605as tags and branch heads. 606 607The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which 608hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up 609directory hierarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree 610and some number of parent commits. 611 612The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or 613"version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent 614represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one 615parent represent merges of independent lines of development. 616 617All objects are named by the SHA1 hash of their contents, normally 618written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique. 619The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing 620just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this 621purpose. 622 623When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for 624efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files". 625 626Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref 627may contain the SHA1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs 628with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA1 name of the most 629recent commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA1 names of 630tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named 631`HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch. 632 633The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each 634path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents 635the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The 636attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the 637corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the 638working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may 639be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the 640content stored in the index. 641 642The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages") 643for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various 644unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress. 645 646Authors 647------- 648* git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>. 649* The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>. 650* The git potty was written by Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se>. 651* General upbringing is handled by the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 652 653Documentation 654-------------- 655The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves 656<david@dgreaves.com>, and later enhanced greatly by the 657contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 658 659SEE ALSO 660-------- 661linkgit:gittutorial[7], linkgit:gittutorial-2[7], 662link:everyday.html[Everyday Git], linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7], 663linkgit:gitglossary[7], linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7], 664linkgit:gitcli[7], link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual], 665linkgit:gitworkflows[7] 666 667GIT 668--- 669Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite