in-depth introduction.
After you mastered the basic concepts, you can come back to this
-page to learn what commands git offers. You can learn more about
-individual git commands with "git help command". linkgit:gitcli[7]
+page to learn what commands Git offers. You can learn more about
+individual Git commands with "git help command". linkgit:gitcli[7]
manual page gives you an overview of the command line command syntax.
-Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest git documentation
+Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest Git documentation
can be viewed at `http://git-htmldocs.googlecode.com/git/git.html`.
ifdef::stalenotes[]
============
You are reading the documentation for the latest (possibly
-unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master'
+unreleased) version of Git, that is available from 'master'
branch of the `git.git` repository.
Documentation for older releases are available here:
-* link:v1.8.1.4/git.html[documentation for release 1.8.1.4]
+* link:v1.8.2/git.html[documentation for release 1.8.2]
* release notes for
+ link:RelNotes/1.8.2.txt[1.8.2].
+
+* link:v1.8.1.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.8.1.6]
+
+* release notes for
+ link:RelNotes/1.8.1.6.txt[1.8.1.6],
+ link:RelNotes/1.8.1.5.txt[1.8.1.5],
link:RelNotes/1.8.1.4.txt[1.8.1.4],
link:RelNotes/1.8.1.3.txt[1.8.1.3],
link:RelNotes/1.8.1.2.txt[1.8.1.2],
OPTIONS
-------
--version::
- Prints the git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
+ Prints the Git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
--help::
Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
commands. If the option '--all' or '-a' is given then all
- available commands are printed. If a git command is named this
+ available commands are printed. If a Git command is named this
option will bring up the manual page for that command.
+
Other options are available to control how the manual page is
'git config' (subkeys separated by dots).
--exec-path[=<path>]::
- Path to wherever your core git programs are installed.
+ Path to wherever your core Git programs are installed.
This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
environment variable. If no path is given, 'git' will print
the current setting and then exit.
--html-path::
- Print the path, without trailing slash, where git's HTML
+ Print the path, without trailing slash, where Git's HTML
documentation is installed and exit.
--man-path::
Print the manpath (see `man(1)`) for the man pages for
- this version of git and exit.
+ this version of Git and exit.
--info-path::
Print the path where the Info files documenting this
- version of git are installed and exit.
+ version of Git are installed and exit.
-p::
--paginate::
below).
--no-pager::
- Do not pipe git output into a pager.
+ Do not pipe Git output into a pager.
--git-dir=<path>::
Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by
more detailed discussion).
--namespace=<path>::
- Set the git namespace. See linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for more
+ Set the Git namespace. See linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for more
details. Equivalent to setting the `GIT_NAMESPACE` environment
variable.
directory.
--no-replace-objects::
- Do not use replacement refs to replace git objects. See
+ Do not use replacement refs to replace Git objects. See
linkgit:git-replace[1] for more information.
+--literal-pathspecs::
+ Treat pathspecs literally, rather than as glob patterns. This is
+ equivalent to setting the `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS` environment
+ variable to `1`.
+
GIT COMMANDS
------------
-We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
+We divide Git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
("plumbing") commands.
High-level commands (porcelain)
Low-level commands (plumbing)
-----------------------------
-Although git includes its
+Although Git includes its
own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains
might start by reading about linkgit:git-update-index[1] and
Configuration Mechanism
-----------------------
-Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), `.git/config` file
-is used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a
-simple text file modeled after `.ini` format familiar to some
-people. Here is an example:
+Git uses a simple text format to store customizations that are per
+repository and are per user. Such a configuration file may look
+like this:
------------
#
; user identity
[user]
name = "Junio C Hamano"
- email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
+ email = "gitster@pobox.com"
------------
Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
their operation accordingly. See linkgit:git-config[1] for a
-list.
+list and more details about the configuration mechanism.
Identifier Terminology
Symbolic Identifiers
--------------------
-Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
+Any Git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
symbolic notation:
HEAD::
Environment Variables
---------------------
-Various git commands use the following environment variables:
+Various Git commands use the following environment variables:
-The git Repository
+The Git Repository
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
+These environment variables apply to 'all' core Git commands. Nb: it
is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
-git so take care if using Cogito etc.
+Git so take care if using Cogito etc.
'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
This environment allows the specification of an alternate
directory is used.
'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
- Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
+ Due to the immutable nature of Git objects, old objects can be
archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
specifies a ":" separated (on Windows ";" separated) list
- of git object directories which can be used to search for git
+ of Git object directories which can be used to search for Git
objects. New objects will not be written to these directories.
'GIT_DIR'::
option and the core.worktree configuration variable.
'GIT_NAMESPACE'::
- Set the git namespace; see linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for details.
+ Set the Git namespace; see linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for details.
The '--namespace' command-line option also sets this value.
'GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES'::
- This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths.
- If set, it is a list of directories that git should not chdir
- up into while looking for a repository directory.
- It will not exclude the current working directory or
- a GIT_DIR set on the command line or in the environment.
- (Useful for excluding slow-loading network directories.)
+ This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths. If
+ set, it is a list of directories that Git should not chdir up
+ into while looking for a repository directory (useful for
+ excluding slow-loading network directories). It will not
+ exclude the current working directory or a GIT_DIR set on the
+ command line or in the environment. Normally, Git has to read
+ the entries in this list and resolve any symlink that
+ might be present in order to compare them with the current
+ directory. However, if even this access is slow, you
+ can add an empty entry to the list to tell Git that the
+ subsequent entries are not symlinks and needn't be resolved;
+ e.g.,
+ 'GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=/maybe/symlink::/very/slow/non/symlink'.
'GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM'::
When run in a directory that does not have ".git" repository
- directory, git tries to find such a directory in the parent
+ directory, Git tries to find such a directory in the parent
directories to find the top of the working tree, but by default it
does not cross filesystem boundaries. This environment variable
- can be set to true to tell git not to stop at filesystem
+ can be set to true to tell Git not to stop at filesystem
boundaries. Like 'GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES', this will not affect
an explicit repository directory set via 'GIT_DIR' or on the
command line.
-git Commits
+Git Commits
~~~~~~~~~~~
'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
'EMAIL'::
see linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
-git Diffs
+Git Diffs
~~~~~~~~~
'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the
number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created.
This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option
- value passed on the git diff command line.
+ value passed on the Git diff command line.
'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
When the environment variable 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF' is set, the
'GIT_PAGER'::
This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set
- to an empty string or to the value "cat", git will not launch
+ to an empty string or to the value "cat", Git will not launch
a pager. See also the `core.pager` option in
linkgit:git-config[1].
'GIT_EDITOR'::
This environment variable overrides `$EDITOR` and `$VISUAL`.
- It is used by several git commands when, on interactive mode,
+ It is used by several Git commands when, on interactive mode,
an editor is to be launched. See also linkgit:git-var[1]
and the `core.editor` option in linkgit:git-config[1].
If this environment variable is set then 'git fetch'
and 'git push' will use this command instead
of 'ssh' when they need to connect to a remote system.
- The '$GIT_SSH' command will be given exactly two arguments:
- the 'username@host' (or just 'host') from the URL and the
- shell command to execute on that remote system.
+ The '$GIT_SSH' command will be given exactly two or
+ four arguments: the 'username@host' (or just 'host')
+ from the URL and the shell command to execute on that
+ remote system, optionally preceded by '-p' (literally) and
+ the 'port' from the URL when it specifies something other
+ than the default SSH port.
+
To pass options to the program that you want to list in GIT_SSH
you will need to wrap the program and options into a shell script,
for further details.
'GIT_ASKPASS'::
- If this environment variable is set, then git commands which need to
+ If this environment variable is set, then Git commands which need to
acquire passwords or passphrases (e.g. for HTTP or IMAP authentication)
will call this program with a suitable prompt as command line argument
and read the password from its STDOUT. See also the 'core.askpass'
after each commit-oriented record have been flushed. If this
variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done
using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is
- not set, git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing
+ not set, Git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing
based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not.
'GIT_TRACE'::
If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
- is case insensitive), git will print `trace:` messages on
+ is case insensitive), Git will print `trace:` messages on
stderr telling about alias expansion, built-in command
execution and external command execution.
If this variable is set to an integer value greater than 1
- and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret this
+ and lower than 10 (strictly) then Git will interpret this
value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
trace messages into this file descriptor.
Alternatively, if this variable is set to an absolute path
- (starting with a '/' character), git will interpret this
+ (starting with a '/' character), Git will interpret this
as a file path and will try to write the trace messages
into it.
+GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS::
+ Setting this variable to `1` will cause Git to treat all
+ pathspecs literally, rather than as glob patterns. For example,
+ running `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS=1 git log -- '*.c'` will search
+ for commits that touch the path `*.c`, not any paths that the
+ glob `*.c` matches. You might want this if you are feeding
+ literal paths to Git (e.g., paths previously given to you by
+ `git ls-tree`, `--raw` diff output, etc).
+
+
Discussion[[Discussion]]
------------------------
More detail on the following is available from the
-link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the
+link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7].
-A git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git"
+A Git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git"
subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other
things, a compressed object database representing the complete history
of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current
---------------------
See the references in the "description" section to get started
-using git. The following is probably more detail than necessary
+using Git. The following is probably more detail than necessary
for a first-time user.
-The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[git concepts chapter of the
+The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7] both provide
-introductions to the underlying git architecture.
+introductions to the underlying Git architecture.
See linkgit:gitworkflows[7] for an overview of recommended workflows.
examples.
The internals are documented in the
-link:technical/api-index.html[GIT API documentation].
+link:technical/api-index.html[Git API documentation].
Users migrating from CVS may also want to
read linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
Authors
-------
Git was started by Linus Torvalds, and is currently maintained by Junio
-C Hamano. Numerous contributions have come from the git mailing list
+C Hamano. Numerous contributions have come from the Git mailing list
<git@vger.kernel.org>. http://www.ohloh.net/p/git/contributors/summary
gives you a more complete list of contributors.