NAME
----
-git-notes - Add/inspect object notes
+git-notes - Add or inspect object notes
SYNOPSIS
--------
'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 [<object>]
-'git notes' prune
+'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
+'git notes' get-ref
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-This command allows you to add/remove notes to/from objects, without
-changing the objects themselves.
+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 extend a commit message without having
-to change the commit itself. Such commit notes can be shown by `git log`
-along with the original commit message. To discern these notes from the
+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].
-See the description of "notes.rewrite.<command>" in
-linkgit:git-config[1] for a way of carrying your notes across commands
-that rewrite commits.
+See the "notes.rewrite.<command>" configuration for a way to carry
+notes across commands that rewrite commits.
SUBCOMMANDS
show::
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 a given object (defaults to HEAD).
This is equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
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::
'GIT_NOTES_REF' and the "core.notesRef" configuration. The ref
is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
+-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
----------
`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
--------
notes.rewrite.<command>::
When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
- `rebase`) and this variable is set to `true`, git
- automatically copies your notes from the original to the
- rewritten commit. Defaults to `true`, but see
- "notes.rewriteRef" below.
+ `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 (see the
- "notes.rewrite.<command>" option), determines what to do if
- the target commit already has a note. Must be one of
- `overwrite`, `concatenate`, or `ignore`. Defaults to
- `concatenate`.
+ 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. The ref may be a
- glob, in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied.
- You may also specify this configuration several times.
+ 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.
+
-This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF`
-environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or
-globs.
+Can be overridden with the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF' environment variable.
ENVIRONMENT
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
------