1git-replace(1) 2============== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-replace - Create, list, delete refs to replace objects 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git replace' [-f] <object> <replacement> 12'git replace' [-f] --edit <object> 13'git replace' -d <object>... 14'git replace' [--format=<format>] [-l [<pattern>]] 15 16DESCRIPTION 17----------- 18Adds a 'replace' reference in `refs/replace/` namespace. 19 20The name of the 'replace' reference is the SHA-1 of the object that is 21replaced. The content of the 'replace' reference is the SHA-1 of the 22replacement object. 23 24The replaced object and the replacement object must be of the same type. 25This restriction can be bypassed using `-f`. 26 27Unless `-f` is given, the 'replace' reference must not yet exist. 28 29There is no other restriction on the replaced and replacement objects. 30Merge commits can be replaced by non-merge commits and vice versa. 31 32Replacement references will be used by default by all Git commands 33except those doing reachability traversal (prune, pack transfer and 34fsck). 35 36It is possible to disable use of replacement references for any 37command using the `--no-replace-objects` option just after 'git'. 38 39For example if commit 'foo' has been replaced by commit 'bar': 40 41------------------------------------------------ 42$ git --no-replace-objects cat-file commit foo 43------------------------------------------------ 44 45shows information about commit 'foo', while: 46 47------------------------------------------------ 48$ git cat-file commit foo 49------------------------------------------------ 50 51shows information about commit 'bar'. 52 53The 'GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS' environment variable can be set to 54achieve the same effect as the `--no-replace-objects` option. 55 56OPTIONS 57------- 58-f:: 59--force:: 60 If an existing replace ref for the same object exists, it will 61 be overwritten (instead of failing). 62 63-d:: 64--delete:: 65 Delete existing replace refs for the given objects. 66 67--edit <object>:: 68 Edit an object's content interactively. The existing content 69 for <object> is pretty-printed into a temporary file, an 70 editor is launched on the file, and the result is parsed to 71 create a new object of the same type as <object>. A 72 replacement ref is then created to replace <object> with the 73 newly created object. See linkgit:git-var[1] for details about 74 how the editor will be chosen. 75 76--raw:: 77 When editing, provide the raw object contents rather than 78 pretty-printed ones. Currently this only affects trees, which 79 will be shown in their binary form. This is harder to work with, 80 but can help when repairing a tree that is so corrupted it 81 cannot be pretty-printed. Note that you may need to configure 82 your editor to cleanly read and write binary data. 83 84-l <pattern>:: 85--list <pattern>:: 86 List replace refs for objects that match the given pattern (or 87 all if no pattern is given). 88 Typing "git replace" without arguments, also lists all replace 89 refs. 90 91--format=<format>:: 92 When listing, use the specified <format>, which can be one of 93 'short', 'medium' and 'long'. When omitted, the format 94 defaults to 'short'. 95 96FORMATS 97------- 98 99The following format are available: 100 101* 'short': 102 <replaced sha1> 103* 'medium': 104 <replaced sha1> -> <replacement sha1> 105* 'long': 106 <replaced sha1> (<replaced type>) -> <replacement sha1> (<replacement type>) 107 108CREATING REPLACEMENT OBJECTS 109---------------------------- 110 111linkgit:git-filter-branch[1], linkgit:git-hash-object[1] and 112linkgit:git-rebase[1], among other git commands, can be used to create 113replacement objects from existing objects. The `--edit` option can 114also be used with 'git replace' to create a replacement object by 115editing an existing object. 116 117If you want to replace many blobs, trees or commits that are part of a 118string of commits, you may just want to create a replacement string of 119commits and then only replace the commit at the tip of the target 120string of commits with the commit at the tip of the replacement string 121of commits. 122 123BUGS 124---- 125Comparing blobs or trees that have been replaced with those that 126replace them will not work properly. And using `git reset --hard` to 127go back to a replaced commit will move the branch to the replacement 128commit instead of the replaced commit. 129 130There may be other problems when using 'git rev-list' related to 131pending objects. 132 133SEE ALSO 134-------- 135linkgit:git-hash-object[1] 136linkgit:git-filter-branch[1] 137linkgit:git-rebase[1] 138linkgit:git-tag[1] 139linkgit:git-branch[1] 140linkgit:git-commit[1] 141linkgit:git-var[1] 142linkgit:git[1] 143 144GIT 145--- 146Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite