SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git bisect' <subcommand> <options>
+'git bisect' <subcommand> <options>
DESCRIPTION
-----------
The command takes various subcommands, and different options depending
on the subcommand:
- git bisect start [<paths>...]
- git bisect bad <rev>
- git bisect good <rev>
+ git bisect help
+ git bisect start [<bad> [<good>...]] [--] [<paths>...]
+ git bisect bad [<rev>]
+ git bisect good [<rev>...]
+ git bisect skip [<rev>...]
git bisect reset [<branch>]
git bisect visualize
git bisect replay <logfile>
binary search process to find which change introduced a bug, given an
old "good" commit object name and a later "bad" commit object name.
+Getting help
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Use "git bisect" to get a short usage description, and "git bisect
+help" or "git bisect -h" to get a long usage description.
+
Basic bisect commands: start, bad, good
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
$ git bisect visualize
------------
-to see the currently remaining suspects in `gitk`.
+to see the currently remaining suspects in `gitk`. `visualize` is a bit
+too long to type and `view` is provided as a synonym.
+
+If `DISPLAY` environment variable is not set, `git log` is used
+instead. You can even give command line options such as `-p` and
+`--stat`.
+
+------------
+$ git bisect view --stat
+------------
Bisect log and bisect replay
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then compile and test the one you chose to try. After that, tell
bisect what the result was as usual.
-Cutting down bisection by giving path parameter to bisect start
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Bisect skip
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Instead of choosing by yourself a nearby commit, you may just want git
+to do it for you using:
+
+------------
+$ git bisect skip # Current version cannot be tested
+------------
+
+But computing the commit to test may be slower afterwards and git may
+eventually not be able to tell the first bad among a bad and one or
+more "skip"ped commits.
+
+Cutting down bisection by giving more parameters to bisect start
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can further cut down the number of trials if you know what part of
the tree is involved in the problem you are tracking down, by giving
paths parameters when you say `bisect start`, like this:
------------
-$ git bisect start arch/i386 include/asm-i386
+$ git bisect start -- arch/i386 include/asm-i386
+------------
+
+If you know beforehand more than one good commits, you can narrow the
+bisect space down without doing the whole tree checkout every time you
+give good commits. You give the bad revision immediately after `start`
+and then you give all the good revisions you have:
+
+------------
+$ git bisect start v2.6.20-rc6 v2.6.20-rc4 v2.6.20-rc1 --
+ # v2.6.20-rc6 is bad
+ # v2.6.20-rc4 and v2.6.20-rc1 are good
------------
Bisect run
------------
Note that the "run" script (`my_script` in the above example) should
-exit with code 0 in case the current source code is good and with a
-code between 1 and 127 (included) in case the current source code is
-bad.
+exit with code 0 in case the current source code is good. Exit with a
+code between 1 and 127 (inclusive), except 125, if the current
+source code is bad.
Any other exit code will abort the automatic bisect process. (A
program that does "exit(-1)" leaves $? = 255, see exit(3) manual page,
the value is chopped with "& 0377".)
+The special exit code 125 should be used when the current source code
+cannot be tested. If the "run" script exits with this code, the current
+revision will be skipped, see `git bisect skip` above.
+
You may often find that during bisect you want to have near-constant
tweaks (e.g., s/#define DEBUG 0/#define DEBUG 1/ in a header file, or
"revision that does not have this commit needs this patch applied to
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
-
+Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite