NAME
----
-git-diff-index - Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
+git-diff-index - Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and repository
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
-----------
Compares the content and mode of the blobs found via a tree
-object with the content of the current cache and, optionally
+object with the content of the current index and, optionally
ignoring the stat state of the file on disk. When paths are
specified, compares only those named paths. Otherwise all
-entries in the cache are compared.
+entries in the index are compared.
OPTIONS
-------
-----------
If '--cached' is specified, it allows you to ask:
- show me the differences between HEAD and the current cache
+ show me the differences between HEAD and the current index
contents (the ones I'd write with a "git-write-tree")
For example, let's say that you have worked on your working directory, updated
-some files in the cache and are ready to commit. You want to see eactly
-*what* you are going to commit is without having to write a new tree
+some files in the index and are ready to commit. You want to see exactly
+*what* you are going to commit, without having to write a new tree
object and compare it that way, and to do that, you just do
- git-diff-index --cached $(cat .git/HEAD)
+ git-diff-index --cached HEAD
Example: let's say I had renamed `commit.c` to `git-commit.c`, and I had
done an "git-update-index" to make that effective in the index file.
"git-diff-files" wouldn't show anything at all, since the index file
matches my working directory. But doing a "git-diff-index" does:
- torvalds@ppc970:~/git> git-diff-index --cached $(cat .git/HEAD)
+ torvalds@ppc970:~/git> git-diff-index --cached HEAD
-100644 blob 4161aecc6700a2eb579e842af0b7f22b98443f74 commit.c
+100644 blob 4161aecc6700a2eb579e842af0b7f22b98443f74 git-commit.c
-You can trivially see that the above is a rename.
+You can see easily that the above is a rename.
In fact, "git-diff-index --cached" *should* always be entirely equivalent to
actually doing a "git-write-tree" and comparing that. Except this one is much
you *could* commit. Again, the output matches the "git-diff-tree -r"
output to a tee, but with a twist.
-The twist is that if some file doesn't match the cache, we don't have
+The twist is that if some file doesn't match the index, we don't have
a backing store thing for it, and we use the magic "all-zero" sha1 to
show that. So let's say that you have edited `kernel/sched.c`, but
have not actually done a "git-update-index" on it yet - there is no
"object" associated with the new state, and you get:
- torvalds@ppc970:~/v2.6/linux> git-diff-index $(cat .git/HEAD )
+ torvalds@ppc970:~/v2.6/linux> git-diff-index HEAD
*100644->100664 blob 7476bb......->000000...... kernel/sched.c
-ie it shows that the tree has changed, and that `kernel/sched.c` has is
+i.e., it shows that the tree has changed, and that `kernel/sched.c` has is
not up-to-date and may contain new stuff. The all-zero sha1 means that to
get the real diff, you need to look at the object in the working directory
directly rather than do an object-to-object diff.
actually look at the contents of the file at all. So maybe
`kernel/sched.c` hasn't actually changed, and it's just that you
touched it. In either case, it's a note that you need to
-"git-upate-cache" it to make the cache be in sync.
+"git-update-index" it to make the index be in sync.
NOTE: You can have a mixture of files show up as "has been updated"
and "is still dirty in the working directory" together. You can always