[--index-filter <command>] [--parent-filter <command>]
[--msg-filter <command>] [--commit-filter <command>]
[--tag-name-filter <command>] [--subdirectory-filter <directory>]
+ [--prune-empty]
[--original <namespace>] [-d <directory>] [-f | --force]
[--] [<rev-list options>...]
--index-filter <command>::
This is the filter for rewriting the index. It is similar to the
tree filter but does not check out the tree, which makes it much
- faster. For hairy cases, see linkgit:git-update-index[1].
+ faster. Frequently used with `git rm \--cached
+ \--ignore-unmatch ...`, see EXAMPLES below. For hairy
+ cases, see linkgit:git-update-index[1].
--parent-filter <command>::
This is the filter for rewriting the commit's parent list.
--commit-filter <command>::
This is the filter for performing the commit.
If this filter is specified, it will be called instead of the
- 'git-commit-tree' command, with arguments of the form
+ 'git commit-tree' command, with arguments of the form
"<TREE_ID> [-p <PARENT_COMMIT_ID>]..." and the log message on
stdin. The commit id is expected on stdout.
+
You can use the 'map' convenience function in this filter, and other
convenience functions, too. For example, calling 'skip_commit "$@"'
will leave out the current commit (but not its changes! If you want
-that, use 'git-rebase' instead).
+that, use 'git rebase' instead).
+
-You can also use the 'git_commit_non_empty_tree "$@"' instead of
-'git commit-tree "$@"' if you don't wish to keep commits with a single parent
+You can also use the `git_commit_non_empty_tree "$@"` instead of
+`git commit-tree "$@"` if you don't wish to keep commits with a single parent
and that makes no change to the tree.
--tag-name-filter <command>::
--subdirectory-filter <directory>::
Only look at the history which touches the given subdirectory.
The result will contain that directory (and only that) as its
- project root.
+ project root. Implies --remap-to-ancestor.
+
+--remap-to-ancestor::
+ Rewrite refs to the nearest rewritten ancestor instead of
+ ignoring them.
++
+Normally, positive refs on the command line are only changed if the
+commit they point to was rewritten. However, you can limit the extent
+of this rewriting by using linkgit:rev-list[1] arguments, e.g., path
+limiters. Refs pointing to such excluded commits would then normally
+be ignored. With this option, they are instead rewritten to point at
+the nearest ancestor that was not excluded.
--prune-empty::
Some kind of filters will generate empty commits, that left the tree
and only one parent, it will hence keep merges points. Also, this
option is not compatible with the use of '--commit-filter'. Though you
just need to use the function 'git_commit_non_empty_tree "$@"' instead
- of the 'git commit-tree "$@"' idiom in your commit filter to make that
+ of the `git commit-tree "$@"` idiom in your commit filter to make that
happen.
--original <namespace>::
-f::
--force::
- 'git-filter-branch' refuses to start with an existing temporary
+ 'git filter-branch' refuses to start with an existing temporary
directory or when there are already refs starting with
'refs/original/', unless forced.
<rev-list options>...::
- Arguments for 'git-rev-list'. All positive refs included by
+ Arguments for 'git rev-list'. All positive refs included by
these options are rewritten. You may also specify options
such as '--all', but you must use '--' to separate them from
- the 'git-filter-branch' options.
+ the 'git filter-branch' options.
Examples
a simple `rm filename` will fail for that tree and commit.
Thus you may instead want to use `rm -f filename` as the script.
-A significantly faster version:
+Using `\--index-filter` with 'git rm' yields a significantly faster
+version. Like with using `rm filename`, `git rm --cached filename`
+will fail if the file is absent from the tree of a commit. If you
+want to "completely forget" a file, it does not matter when it entered
+history, so we also add `\--ignore-unmatch`:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-git filter-branch --index-filter 'git rm --cached filename' HEAD
+git filter-branch --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch filename' HEAD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, you will get the rewritten history saved in HEAD.
-As with using `rm filename`, `git rm --cached filename` will fail
-if the file is absent from the tree of a commit. If it is not important
-whether the file is already absent from the tree, you can use
-`git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch filename` instead.
-
To rewrite the repository to look as if `foodir/` had been its project
root, and discard all other history:
as their parents instead of the merge commit.
You can rewrite the commit log messages using `--msg-filter`. For
-example, 'git-svn-id' strings in a repository created by 'git-svn' can
+example, 'git svn-id' strings in a repository created by 'git svn' can
be removed this way:
-------------------------------------------------------
To restrict rewriting to only part of the history, specify a revision
range in addition to the new branch name. The new branch name will
-point to the top-most revision that a 'git-rev-list' of this range
+point to the top-most revision that a 'git rev-list' of this range
will print.
+If you need to add 'Acked-by' lines to, say, the last 10 commits (none
+of which is a merge), use this command:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------
+git filter-branch --msg-filter '
+ cat &&
+ echo "Acked-by: Bugs Bunny <bunny@bugzilla.org>"
+' HEAD~10..HEAD
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
*NOTE* the changes introduced by the commits, and which are not reverted
by subsequent commits, will still be in the rewritten branch. If you want
to throw out _changes_ together with the commits, you should use the
-interactive mode of 'git-rebase'.
+interactive mode of 'git rebase'.
Consider this history:
---------------------------------------------------------------
git filter-branch --index-filter \
- 'git ls-files -s | sed "s-\t-&newsubdir/-" |
+ 'git ls-files -s | sed "s-\t\"*-&newsubdir/-" |
GIT_INDEX_FILE=$GIT_INDEX_FILE.new \
git update-index --index-info &&
mv $GIT_INDEX_FILE.new $GIT_INDEX_FILE' HEAD