NAME
----
-git-notes - Add/inspect commit notes
+git-notes - Add or inspect object notes
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git notes' (edit [-F <file> | -m <msg>] | show) [commit]
+'git notes' [list [<object>]]
+'git notes' add [-f] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
+'git notes' copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> <to-object> )
+'git notes' append [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
+'git notes' edit [<object>]
+'git notes' show [<object>]
+'git notes' merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes_ref>
+'git notes' merge --commit [-v | -q]
+'git notes' merge --abort [-v | -q]
+'git notes' remove [--ignore-missing] [--stdin] [<object>...]
+'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
+'git notes' get-ref
+
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-This command allows you to add notes to commit messages, without
-changing the commit. To discern these notes from the message stored
-in the commit object, the notes are indented like the message, after
-an unindented line saying "Notes:".
+Adds, removes, or reads notes attached to objects, without touching
+the objects themselves.
+
+By default, notes are saved to and read from `refs/notes/commits`, but
+this default can be overridden. See the OPTIONS, CONFIGURATION, and
+ENVIRONMENT sections below. If this ref does not exist, it will be
+quietly created when it is first needed to store a note.
+
+A typical use of notes is to supplement a commit message without
+changing the commit itself. Notes can be shown by 'git log' along with
+the original commit message. To distinguish these notes from the
+message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
+message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
+"Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).
+
+To change which notes are shown by 'git log', see the
+"notes.displayRef" configuration in linkgit:git-log[1].
-To disable commit notes, you have to set the config variable
-core.notesRef to the empty string. Alternatively, you can set it
-to a different ref, something like "refs/notes/bugzilla". This setting
-can be overridden by the environment variable "GIT_NOTES_REF".
+See the "notes.rewrite.<command>" configuration for a way to carry
+notes across commands that rewrite commits.
SUBCOMMANDS
-----------
+list::
+ List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
+ given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
+ annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
+ This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
+
+add::
+ Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
+ object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite existing notes).
+ However, if you're using `add` interactively (using an editor
+ to supply the notes contents), then - instead of aborting -
+ the existing notes will be opened in the editor (like the `edit`
+ subcommand).
+
+copy::
+ Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
+ Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
+ object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
+ second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
+ `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
++
+In `\--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
++
+----------
+<from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
+----------
++
+on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
+corresponding <to-object>. (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
+the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
+
+append::
+ Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
+ Creates a new notes object if needed.
+
edit::
- Edit the notes for a given commit (defaults to HEAD).
+ Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
show::
- Show the notes for a given commit (defaults to HEAD).
+ Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
+merge::
+ Merge the given notes ref into the current notes ref.
+ This will try to merge the changes made by the given
+ notes ref (called "remote") since the merge-base (if
+ any) into the current notes ref (called "local").
++
+If conflicts arise and a strategy for automatically resolving
+conflicting notes (see the -s/--strategy option) is not given,
+the "manual" resolver is used. This resolver checks out the
+conflicting notes in a special worktree (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`),
+and instructs the user to manually resolve the conflicts there.
+When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
+'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
+'git notes merge --abort'.
+
+remove::
+ Remove the notes for given objects (defaults to HEAD). When
+ giving zero or one object from the command line, this is
+ equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
+ the `edit` subcommand.
+
+prune::
+ Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
+
+get-ref::
+ Print the current notes ref. This provides an easy way to
+ retrieve the current notes ref (e.g. from scripts).
OPTIONS
-------
+-f::
+--force::
+ When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
+ overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
+
-m <msg>::
+--message=<msg>::
Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
- If multiple `-m` (or `-F`) options are given, their
- values are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
+ If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
+ are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
+ Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
+ single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
-F <file>::
+--file=<file>::
Take the note message from the given file. Use '-' to
read the note message from the standard input.
- If multiple `-F` (or `-m`) options are given, their
- values are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
+ Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
+ single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
+
+-C <object>::
+--reuse-message=<object>::
+ Take the note message from the given blob object (for
+ example, another note).
+
+-c <object>::
+--reedit-message=<object>::
+ Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
+ the user can further edit the note message.
+
+--ref <ref>::
+ Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>. This overrides
+ 'GIT_NOTES_REF' and the "core.notesRef" configuration. The ref
+ is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
+
+--ignore-missing::
+ Do not consider it an error to request removing notes from an
+ object that does not have notes attached to it.
+
+--stdin::
+ Also read the object names to remove notes from from the standard
+ input (there is no reason you cannot combine this with object
+ names from the command line).
+
+-n::
+--dry-run::
+ Do not remove anything; just report the object names whose notes
+ would be removed.
+
+-s <strategy>::
+--strategy=<strategy>::
+ When merging notes, resolve notes conflicts using the given
+ strategy. The following strategies are recognized: "manual"
+ (default), "ours", "theirs", "union" and "cat_sort_uniq".
+ See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section below for more
+ information on each notes merge strategy.
+
+--commit::
+ Finalize an in-progress 'git notes merge'. Use this option
+ when you have resolved the conflicts that 'git notes merge'
+ stored in .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. This amends the partial
+ merge commit created by 'git notes merge' (stored in
+ .git/NOTES_MERGE_PARTIAL) by adding the notes in
+ .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. The notes ref stored in the
+ .git/NOTES_MERGE_REF symref is updated to the resulting commit.
+
+--abort::
+ Abort/reset a in-progress 'git notes merge', i.e. a notes merge
+ with conflicts. This simply removes all files related to the
+ notes merge.
+
+-q::
+--quiet::
+ When merging notes, operate quietly.
+
+-v::
+--verbose::
+ When merging notes, be more verbose.
+ When pruning notes, report all object names whose notes are
+ removed.
+
+
+DISCUSSION
+----------
+
+Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object
+(usually information to supplement a commit's message). These blobs
+are taken from notes refs. A notes ref is usually a branch which
+contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects
+they describe, with some directory separators included for performance
+reasons footnote:[Permitted pathnames have the form
+'ab'`/`'cd'`/`'ef'`/`'...'`/`'abcdef...': a sequence of directory
+names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the
+rest of the object ID.].
+
+Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
+You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
+`git log -p notes/commits`. Currently the commit message only records
+which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is
+determined according to the usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).
+These details may change in the future.
+
+It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree
+object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with
+`git log -p -g <refname>`.
+
+
+NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES
+----------------------
+
+The default notes merge strategy is "manual", which checks out
+conflicting notes in a special work tree for resolving notes conflicts
+(`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to resolve the
+conflicts in that work tree.
+When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
+'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
+'git notes merge --abort'.
+
+"ours" automatically resolves conflicting notes in favor of the local
+version (i.e. the current notes ref).
+
+"theirs" automatically resolves notes conflicts in favor of the remote
+version (i.e. the given notes ref being merged into the current notes
+ref).
+
+"union" automatically resolves notes conflicts by concatenating the
+local and remote versions.
+
+"cat_sort_uniq" is similar to "union", but in addition to concatenating
+the local and remote versions, this strategy also sorts the resulting
+lines, and removes duplicate lines from the result. This is equivalent
+to applying the "cat | sort | uniq" shell pipeline to the local and
+remote versions. This strategy is useful if the notes follow a line-based
+format where one wants to avoid duplicated lines in the merge result.
+Note that if either the local or remote version contain duplicate lines
+prior to the merge, these will also be removed by this notes merge
+strategy.
+
+
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not
+available at the time a commit was written.
+
+------------
+$ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
+$ git show -s 72a144e
+[...]
+ Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
+
+Notes:
+ Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
+------------
+
+In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of
+(non-)format is accepted. You can binary-safely create notes from
+arbitrary files using 'git hash-object':
+
+------------
+$ cc *.c
+$ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
+$ git notes --ref=built add -C "$blob" HEAD
+------------
+
+Of course, it doesn't make much sense to display non-text-format notes
+with 'git log', so if you use such notes, you'll probably need to write
+some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.
+
+
+CONFIGURATION
+-------------
+
+core.notesRef::
+ Notes ref to read and manipulate instead of
+ `refs/notes/commits`. Must be an unabbreviated ref name.
+ This setting can be overridden through the environment and
+ command line.
+
+notes.displayRef::
+ Which ref (or refs, if a glob or specified more than once), in
+ addition to the default set by `core.notesRef` or
+ 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
+ messages with the 'git log' family of commands.
+ This setting can be overridden on the command line or by the
+ 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF' environment variable.
+ See linkgit:git-log[1].
+
+notes.rewrite.<command>::
+ When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
+ `rebase`), if this variable is `false`, git will not copy
+ notes from the original to the rewritten commit. Defaults to
+ `true`. See also "`notes.rewriteRef`" below.
++
+This setting can be overridden by the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'
+environment variable.
+
+notes.rewriteMode::
+ When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
+ commit already has a note. Must be one of `overwrite`,
+ `concatenate`, and `ignore`. Defaults to `concatenate`.
++
+This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`
+environment variable.
+
+notes.rewriteRef::
+ When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully
+ qualified) ref whose notes should be copied. May be a glob,
+ in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied. You
+ may also specify this configuration several times.
++
+Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
+enable note rewriting.
++
+Can be overridden with the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF' environment variable.
+
+
+ENVIRONMENT
+-----------
+
+'GIT_NOTES_REF'::
+ Which ref to manipulate notes from, instead of `refs/notes/commits`.
+ This overrides the `core.notesRef` setting.
+
+'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF'::
+ Colon-delimited list of refs or globs indicating which refs,
+ in addition to the default from `core.notesRef` or
+ 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
+ messages.
+ This overrides the `notes.displayRef` setting.
++
+A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that
+does not match any refs is silently ignored.
+
+'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE'::
+ When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
+ commit already has a note.
+ Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, and `ignore`.
+ This overrides the `core.rewriteMode` setting.
+
+'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'::
+ When rewriting commits, which notes to copy from the original
+ to the rewritten commit. Must be a colon-delimited list of
+ refs or globs.
++
+If not set in the environment, the list of notes to copy depends
+on the `notes.rewrite.<command>` and `notes.rewriteRef` settings.
Author
------
-Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
+Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
+Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
Documentation
-------------
-Documentation by Johannes Schindelin
+Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
GIT
---