DESCRIPTION
-----------
This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories
-using git.
+using Git.
-Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using
+Create a new Git repository from an existing p4 repository using
'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate
new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command
is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths.
-Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command
+Submit Git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command
'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto
the updated p4 remote branch.
$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
------------
-* Do some work in the newly created git repository:
+* Do some work in the newly created Git repository:
+
------------
$ cd project
$ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"
------------
-* Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
+* Update the Git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
work on top:
+
------------
Clone
~~~~~
-Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory
+Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new Git directory
from an existing p4 repository:
------------
$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
------------
This:
-1. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
+1. Creates an empty Git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
+
2. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4
-depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
+depot path into a single commit in the Git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
+
3. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out.
-To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on
+To reproduce the entire p4 history in Git, use the '@all' modifier on
the depot path:
------------
$ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all
Sync
~~~~
As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can
-be included in the git repository using:
+be included in the Git repository using:
------------
$ git p4 sync
------------
-This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits.
+This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as Git commits.
-P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using
+P4 repositories can be added to an existing Git repository using
'git p4 sync' too:
------------
$ mkdir repo-git
$ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
------------
This imports the specified depot into
-'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The
+'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing Git repository. The
'--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to
be used for the p4 content.
-If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
+If a Git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since
importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes
-from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
+from a Git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
+
+If there are multiple branches, doing 'git p4 sync' will automatically
+use the "BRANCH DETECTION" algorithm to try to partition new changes
+into the right branch. This can be overridden with the '--branch'
+option to specify just a single branch to update.
Rebase
Submit
~~~~~~
-Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository
+Submitting changes from a Git repository back to the p4 repository
requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified
-using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration
+using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the Git configuration
variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root
will be created and populated if it does not already exist.
-To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in
+To submit all changes that are in the current Git branch but not in
the 'p4/master' branch, use:
------------
$ git p4 submit
The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The
'--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified
-according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin
+according to the author of the Git commit. This option requires admin
privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'.
--branch <branch>::
Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with
- 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
- will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'. If used
- with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out.
+ 'refs/', it will be used as is. Otherwise if it does not start
+ with 'p4/', that prefix is added. The branch is assumed to
+ name a remote tracking, but this can be modified using
+ '--import-local', or by giving a full ref name. The default
+ branch is 'master'.
+
This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing
-git repository:
+Git repository:
+
----
$ git init
--detect-labels::
Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
- them as tags in git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels
+ them as tags in Git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels
associated with new changelists. Deprecated.
--import-labels::
- Import labels from p4 into git.
+ Import labels from p4 into Git.
--import-local::
By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
specifier.
--keep-path::
- The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
+ The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to Git, by
default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this
- option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example,
+ option, the full p4 depot path is retained in Git. For example,
path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
'//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the
- git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
+ Git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
--use-client-spec::
Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
options described above.
--destination <directory>::
- Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last
+ Where to create the Git repository. If not provided, the last
component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
directory.
requires p4 admin privileges.
--export-labels::
- Export tags from git as p4 labels. Tags found in git are applied
+ Export tags from Git as p4 labels. Tags found in Git are applied
to the perforce working directory.
--dry-run, -n::
Show just what commits would be submitted to p4; do not change
- state in git or p4.
+ state in Git or p4.
--prepare-p4-only::
Apply a commit to the p4 workspace, opening, adding and deleting
to bypass the prompt, causing conflicting commits to be automatically
skipped, or to quit trying to apply commits, without prompting.
+--branch <branch>::
+ After submitting, sync this named branch instead of the default
+ p4/master. See the "Sync options" section above for more
+ information.
+
Rebase options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior.
"//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
repository. Only files below these directories are included.
- There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
+ There is not a subdirectory in Git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified
identically on each depot path. If there are files in the
depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
- updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
+ updated version of the file is the one that appears in Git.
See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does
not have a command-line option.
-The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4'
+The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'git p4'
knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line
mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes
around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles
-'...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain
+'...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'git p4' will complain
if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.
Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot
BRANCH DETECTION
----------------
-P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
+P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as Git. Instead,
p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
-subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
+subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in Git.
For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
----
However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
-relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
+relationships automatically, a Git configuration setting
'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
occur with:
----
+git init depot
+cd depot
git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
-git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
+git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all .
----
PERFORMANCE
-----------
The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
-each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
+each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, Git garbage compression
(linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
Clone and sync variables
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
- Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
+ Because importing commits from other Git repositories is much faster
than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
- first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
+ first in Git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. A boolean.
git-p4.preserveUser::
- On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
+ On submit, re-author changes to reflect the Git author,
regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
present.
git-p4.exportLabels::
- Export git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels.
+ Export Git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels.
git-p4.labelExportRegexp::
Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The
IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
----------------------
-* Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
+* Changesets from p4 are imported using Git fast-import.
* Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
collected using 'p4 print'.
* Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
- as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
+ as the Git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
this p4 client and submitted from there.
* Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This