Git User's Manual (for version 1.5.1 or newer)
______________________________________________
+
+Git is a fast distributed revision control system.
+
This manual is designed to be readable by someone with basic unix
command-line skills, but no previous knowledge of git.
-Chapter 1 gives a brief overview of git commands, without any
-explanation; you may prefer to skip to chapter 2 on a first reading.
+<<repositories-and-branches>> and <<exploring-git-history>> explain how
+to fetch and study a project using git--read these chapters to learn how
+to build and test a particular version of a software project, search for
+regressions, and so on.
-Chapters 2 and 3 explain how to fetch and study a project using
-git--the tools you'd need to build and test a particular version of a
-software project, to search for regressions, and so on.
-
-Chapter 4 explains how to do development with git, and chapter 5 how
-to share that development with others.
+People needing to do actual development will also want to read
+<<Developing-with-git>> and <<sharing-development>>.
Further chapters cover more specialized topics.
$ man git-clone
------------------------------------------------
-[[git-quick-start]]
-Git Quick Start
-===============
-
-This is a quick summary of the major commands; the following chapters
-will explain how these work in more detail.
-
-[[quick-creating-a-new-repository]]
-Creating a new repository
--------------------------
-
-From a tarball:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ tar xzf project.tar.gz
-$ cd project
-$ git init
-Initialized empty Git repository in .git/
-$ git add .
-$ git commit
------------------------------------------------
-
-From a remote repository:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git clone git://example.com/pub/project.git
-$ cd project
------------------------------------------------
-
-[[managing-branches]]
-Managing branches
------------------
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git branch # list all local branches in this repo
-$ git checkout test # switch working directory to branch "test"
-$ git branch new # create branch "new" starting at current HEAD
-$ git branch -d new # delete branch "new"
------------------------------------------------
-
-Instead of basing new branch on current HEAD (the default), use:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git branch new test # branch named "test"
-$ git branch new v2.6.15 # tag named v2.6.15
-$ git branch new HEAD^ # commit before the most recent
-$ git branch new HEAD^^ # commit before that
-$ git branch new test~10 # ten commits before tip of branch "test"
------------------------------------------------
-
-Create and switch to a new branch at the same time:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git checkout -b new v2.6.15
------------------------------------------------
-
-Update and examine branches from the repository you cloned from:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git fetch # update
-$ git branch -r # list
- origin/master
- origin/next
- ...
-$ git checkout -b masterwork origin/master
------------------------------------------------
-
-Fetch a branch from a different repository, and give it a new
-name in your repository:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git fetch git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch
-$ git fetch git://example.com/project.git v2.6.15:mybranch
------------------------------------------------
-
-Keep a list of repositories you work with regularly:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git remote add example git://example.com/project.git
-$ git remote # list remote repositories
-example
-origin
-$ git remote show example # get details
-* remote example
- URL: git://example.com/project.git
- Tracked remote branches
- master next ...
-$ git fetch example # update branches from example
-$ git branch -r # list all remote branches
------------------------------------------------
-
-
-[[exploring-history]]
-Exploring history
------------------
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ gitk # visualize and browse history
-$ git log # list all commits
-$ git log src/ # ...modifying src/
-$ git log v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # ...in v2.6.16, not in v2.6.15
-$ git log master..test # ...in branch test, not in branch master
-$ git log test..master # ...in branch master, but not in test
-$ git log test...master # ...in one branch, not in both
-$ git log -S'foo()' # ...where difference contain "foo()"
-$ git log --since="2 weeks ago"
-$ git log -p # show patches as well
-$ git show # most recent commit
-$ git diff v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # diff between two tagged versions
-$ git diff v2.6.15..HEAD # diff with current head
-$ git grep "foo()" # search working directory for "foo()"
-$ git grep v2.6.15 "foo()" # search old tree for "foo()"
-$ git show v2.6.15:a.txt # look at old version of a.txt
------------------------------------------------
-
-Search for regressions:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git bisect start
-$ git bisect bad # current version is bad
-$ git bisect good v2.6.13-rc2 # last known good revision
-Bisecting: 675 revisions left to test after this
- # test here, then:
-$ git bisect good # if this revision is good, or
-$ git bisect bad # if this revision is bad.
- # repeat until done.
------------------------------------------------
-
-[[making-changes]]
-Making changes
---------------
-
-Make sure git knows who to blame:
-
-------------------------------------------------
-$ cat >>~/.gitconfig <<\EOF
-[user]
- name = Your Name Comes Here
- email = you@yourdomain.example.com
-EOF
-------------------------------------------------
-
-Select file contents to include in the next commit, then make the
-commit:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git add a.txt # updated file
-$ git add b.txt # new file
-$ git rm c.txt # old file
-$ git commit
------------------------------------------------
-
-Or, prepare and create the commit in one step:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git commit d.txt # use latest content only of d.txt
-$ git commit -a # use latest content of all tracked files
------------------------------------------------
-
-[[merging]]
-Merging
--------
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git merge test # merge branch "test" into the current branch
-$ git pull git://example.com/project.git master
- # fetch and merge in remote branch
-$ git pull . test # equivalent to git merge test
------------------------------------------------
-
-[[sharing-your-changes]]
-Sharing your changes
---------------------
-
-Importing or exporting patches:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git format-patch origin..HEAD # format a patch for each commit
- # in HEAD but not in origin
-$ git am mbox # import patches from the mailbox "mbox"
------------------------------------------------
-
-Fetch a branch in a different git repository, then merge into the
-current branch:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch
------------------------------------------------
-
-Store the fetched branch into a local branch before merging into the
-current branch:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch
------------------------------------------------
-
-After creating commits on a local branch, update the remote
-branch with your commits:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git push ssh://example.com/project.git mybranch:theirbranch
------------------------------------------------
-
-When remote and local branch are both named "test":
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git push ssh://example.com/project.git test
------------------------------------------------
-
-Shortcut version for a frequently used remote repository:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git remote add example ssh://example.com/project.git
-$ git push example test
------------------------------------------------
-
-[[repository-maintenance]]
-Repository maintenance
-----------------------
-
-Check for corruption:
-
------------------------------------------------
-$ git fsck
------------------------------------------------
+See also <<git-quick-start>> for a brief overview of git commands,
+without any explanation.
-Recompress, remove unused cruft:
+Also, see <<todo>> for ways that you can help make this manual more
+complete.
------------------------------------------------
-$ git gc
------------------------------------------------
[[repositories-and-branches]]
Repositories and Branches
Examples
--------
+[[counting-commits-on-a-branch]]
+Counting the number of commits on a branch
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Suppose you want to know how many commits you've made on "mybranch"
+since it diverged from "origin":
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log --pretty=oneline origin..mybranch | wc -l
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Alternatively, you may often see this sort of thing done with the
+lower-level command gitlink:git-rev-list[1], which just lists the SHA1's
+of all the given commits:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git rev-list origin..mybranch | wc -l
+-------------------------------------------------
+
[[checking-for-equal-branches]]
Check whether two branches point at the same history
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Which shows that e05db0fd is reachable from itself, from v1.5.0-rc1, and
from v1.5.0-rc2, but not from v1.5.0-rc0.
+[[showing-commits-unique-to-a-branch]]
+Showing commits unique to a given branch
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-[[Developing-with-git]]
-Developing with git
-===================
+Suppose you would like to see all the commits reachable from the branch
+head named "master" but not from any other head in your repository.
-[[telling-git-your-name]]
-Telling git your name
----------------------
+We can list all the heads in this repository with
+gitlink:git-show-ref[1]:
-Before creating any commits, you should introduce yourself to git. The
-easiest way to do so is to make sure the following lines appear in a
-file named .gitconfig in your home directory:
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git show-ref --heads
+bf62196b5e363d73353a9dcf094c59595f3153b7 refs/heads/core-tutorial
+db768d5504c1bb46f63ee9d6e1772bd047e05bf9 refs/heads/maint
+a07157ac624b2524a059a3414e99f6f44bebc1e7 refs/heads/master
+24dbc180ea14dc1aebe09f14c8ecf32010690627 refs/heads/tutorial-2
+1e87486ae06626c2f31eaa63d26fc0fd646c8af2 refs/heads/tutorial-fixes
+-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-[user]
- name = Your Name Comes Here
- email = you@yourdomain.example.com
-------------------------------------------------
+We can get just the branch-head names, and remove "master", with
+the help of the standard utilities cut and grep:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git show-ref --heads | cut -d' ' -f2 | grep -v '^refs/heads/master'
+refs/heads/core-tutorial
+refs/heads/maint
+refs/heads/tutorial-2
+refs/heads/tutorial-fixes
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+And then we can ask to see all the commits reachable from master
+but not from these other heads:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ gitk master --not $( git show-ref --heads | cut -d' ' -f2 |
+ grep -v '^refs/heads/master' )
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Obviously, endless variations are possible; for example, to see all
+commits reachable from some head but not from any tag in the repository:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ gitk ($ git show-ref --heads ) --not $( git show-ref --tags )
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+(See gitlink:git-rev-parse[1] for explanations of commit-selecting
+syntax such as `--not`.)
+
+[[making-a-release]]
+Creating a changelog and tarball for a software release
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The gitlink:git-archive[1] command can create a tar or zip archive from
+any version of a project; for example:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git archive --format=tar --prefix=project/ HEAD | gzip >latest.tar.gz
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+will use HEAD to produce a tar archive in which each filename is
+preceded by "prefix/".
+
+If you're releasing a new version of a software project, you may want
+to simultaneously make a changelog to include in the release
+announcement.
+
+Linus Torvalds, for example, makes new kernel releases by tagging them,
+then running:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ release-script 2.6.12 2.6.13-rc6 2.6.13-rc7
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+where release-script is a shell script that looks like:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+#!/bin/sh
+stable="$1"
+last="$2"
+new="$3"
+echo "# git tag v$new"
+echo "git archive --prefix=linux-$new/ v$new | gzip -9 > ../linux-$new.tar.gz"
+echo "git diff v$stable v$new | gzip -9 > ../patch-$new.gz"
+echo "git log --no-merges v$new ^v$last > ../ChangeLog-$new"
+echo "git shortlog --no-merges v$new ^v$last > ../ShortLog"
+echo "git diff --stat --summary -M v$last v$new > ../diffstat-$new"
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+and then he just cut-and-pastes the output commands after verifying that
+they look OK.
+
+Finding commits referencing a file with given content
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+Somebody hands you a copy of a file, and asks which commits modified a
+file such that it contained the given content either before or after the
+commit. You can find out with this:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log --raw -r --abbrev=40 --pretty=oneline -- filename |
+ grep -B 1 `git hash-object filename`
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Figuring out why this works is left as an exercise to the (advanced)
+student. The gitlink:git-log[1], gitlink:git-diff-tree[1], and
+gitlink:git-hash-object[1] man pages may prove helpful.
+
+[[Developing-with-git]]
+Developing with git
+===================
+
+[[telling-git-your-name]]
+Telling git your name
+---------------------
+
+Before creating any commits, you should introduce yourself to git. The
+easiest way to do so is to make sure the following lines appear in a
+file named .gitconfig in your home directory:
+
+------------------------------------------------
+[user]
+ name = Your Name Comes Here
+ email = you@yourdomain.example.com
+------------------------------------------------
(See the "CONFIGURATION FILE" section of gitlink:git-config[1] for
details on the configuration file.)
the first line on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the
body.
+[[ignoring-files]]
+Ignoring files
+--------------
+
+A project will often generate files that you do 'not' want to track with git.
+This typically includes files generated by a build process or temporary
+backup files made by your editor. Of course, 'not' tracking files with git
+is just a matter of 'not' calling "`git add`" on them. But it quickly becomes
+annoying to have these untracked files lying around; e.g. they make
+"`git add .`" and "`git commit -a`" practically useless, and they keep
+showing up in the output of "`git status`", etc.
+
+Git therefore provides "exclude patterns" for telling git which files to
+actively ignore. Exclude patterns are thoroughly explained in the
+"Exclude Patterns" section of the gitlink:git-ls-files[1] manual page,
+but the heart of the concept is simply a list of files which git should
+ignore. Entries in the list may contain globs to specify multiple files,
+or may be prefixed by "`!`" to explicitly include (un-ignore) a previously
+excluded (ignored) file (i.e. later exclude patterns override earlier ones).
+The following example should illustrate such patterns:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+# Lines starting with '#' are considered comments.
+# Ignore foo.txt.
+foo.txt
+# Ignore (generated) html files,
+*.html
+# except foo.html which is maintained by hand.
+!foo.html
+# Ignore objects and archives.
+*.[oa]
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+The next question is where to put these exclude patterns so that git can
+find them. Git looks for exclude patterns in the following files:
+
+`.gitignore` files in your working tree:::
+ You may store multiple `.gitignore` files at various locations in your
+ working tree. Each `.gitignore` file is applied to the directory where
+ it's located, including its subdirectories. Furthermore, the
+ `.gitignore` files can be tracked like any other files in your working
+ tree; just do a "`git add .gitignore`" and commit. `.gitignore` is
+ therefore the right place to put exclude patterns that are meant to
+ be shared between all project participants, such as build output files
+ (e.g. `\*.o`), etc.
+`.git/info/exclude` in your repo:::
+ Exclude patterns in this file are applied to the working tree as a
+ whole. Since the file is not located in your working tree, it does
+ not follow push/pull/clone like `.gitignore` can do. This is therefore
+ the place to put exclude patterns that are local to your copy of the
+ repo (i.e. 'not' shared between project participants), such as
+ temporary backup files made by your editor (e.g. `\*~`), etc.
+The file specified by the `core.excludesfile` config directive:::
+ By setting the `core.excludesfile` config directive you can tell git
+ where to find more exclude patterns (see gitlink:git-config[1] for
+ more information on configuration options). This config directive
+ can be set in the per-repo `.git/config` file, in which case the
+ exclude patterns will apply to that repo only. Alternatively, you
+ can set the directive in the global `~/.gitconfig` file to apply
+ the exclude pattern to all your git repos. As with the above
+ `.git/info/exclude` (and, indeed, with git config directives in
+ general), this directive does not follow push/pull/clone, but remain
+ local to your repo(s).
+
+[NOTE]
+In addition to the above alternatives, there are git commands that can take
+exclude patterns directly on the command line. See gitlink:git-ls-files[1]
+for an example of this.
+
[[how-to-merge]]
How to merge
------------
These will display all commits which exist only on HEAD or on
MERGE_HEAD, and which touch an unmerged file.
-You may also use gitlink:git-mergetool, which lets you merge the
+You may also use gitlink:git-mergetool[1], which lets you merge the
unmerged files using external tools such as emacs or kdiff3.
Each time you resolve the conflicts in a file and update the index:
the original mailbox, with authorship and commit log message each
taken from the message containing each patch.
-[[setting-up-a-public-repository]]
-Setting up a public repository
-------------------------------
+[[public-repositories]]
+Public git repositories
+-----------------------
-Another way to submit changes to a project is to simply tell the
-maintainer of that project to pull from your repository, exactly as
-you did in the section "<<getting-updates-with-git-pull, Getting
-updates with git pull>>".
+Another way to submit changes to a project is to tell the maintainer of
+that project to pull the changes from your repository using git-pull[1].
+In the section "<<getting-updates-with-git-pull, Getting updates with
+git pull>>" we described this as a way to get updates from the "main"
+repository, but it works just as well in the other direction.
-If you and maintainer both have accounts on the same machine, then
-then you can just pull changes from each other's repositories
-directly; note that all of the commands (gitlink:git-clone[1],
-git-fetch[1], git-pull[1], etc.) that accept a URL as an argument
-will also accept a local directory name; so, for example, you can
-use
+If you and the maintainer both have accounts on the same machine, then
+you can just pull changes from each other's repositories directly;
+commands that accepts repository URLs as arguments will also accept a
+local directory name:
-------------------------------------------------
$ git clone /path/to/repository
$ git pull /path/to/other/repository
-------------------------------------------------
-If this sort of setup is inconvenient or impossible, another (more
-common) option is to set up a public repository on a public server.
-This also allows you to cleanly separate private work in progress
-from publicly visible work.
+However, the more common way to do this is to maintain a separate public
+repository (usually on a different host) for others to pull changes
+from. This is usually more convenient, and allows you to cleanly
+separate private work in progress from publicly visible work.
You will continue to do your day-to-day work in your personal
repository, but periodically "push" changes from your personal
| they push V
their public repo <------------------- their repo
-Now, assume your personal repository is in the directory ~/proj. We
-first create a new clone of the repository:
+[[setting-up-a-public-repository]]
+Setting up a public repository
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Assume your personal repository is in the directory ~/proj. We
+first create a new clone of the repository and tell git-daemon that it
+is meant to be public:
-------------------------------------------------
-$ git clone --bare proj.git
+$ git clone --bare ~/proj proj.git
+$ touch proj.git/git-daemon-export-ok
-------------------------------------------------
-The resulting directory proj.git will contains a "bare" git
-repository--it is just the contents of the ".git" directory, without
-a checked-out copy of a working directory.
+The resulting directory proj.git contains a "bare" git repository--it is
+just the contents of the ".git" directory, without any files checked out
+around it.
Next, copy proj.git to the server where you plan to host the
public repository. You can use scp, rsync, or whatever is most
convenient.
-If somebody else maintains the public server, they may already have
-set up a git service for you, and you may skip to the section
+[[exporting-via-git]]
+Exporting a git repository via the git protocol
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This is the preferred method.
+
+If someone else administers the server, they should tell you what
+directory to put the repository in, and what git:// url it will appear
+at. You can then skip to the section
"<<pushing-changes-to-a-public-repository,Pushing changes to a public
repository>>", below.
-Otherwise, the following sections explain how to export your newly
-created public repository:
+Otherwise, all you need to do is start gitlink:git-daemon[1]; it will
+listen on port 9418. By default, it will allow access to any directory
+that looks like a git directory and contains the magic file
+git-daemon-export-ok. Passing some directory paths as git-daemon
+arguments will further restrict the exports to those paths.
+
+You can also run git-daemon as an inetd service; see the
+gitlink:git-daemon[1] man page for details. (See especially the
+examples section.)
[[exporting-via-http]]
Exporting a git repository via http
------------------------------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The git protocol gives better performance and reliability, but on a
host with a web server set up, http exports may be simpler to set up.
for a slightly more sophisticated setup using WebDAV which also
allows pushing over http.)
-[[exporting-via-git]]
-Exporting a git repository via the git protocol
------------------------------------------------
-
-This is the preferred method.
-
-For now, we refer you to the gitlink:git-daemon[1] man page for
-instructions. (See especially the examples section.)
-
[[pushing-changes-to-a-public-repository]]
Pushing changes to a public repository
---------------------------------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Note that the two techniques outline above (exporting via
+Note that the two techniques outlined above (exporting via
<<exporting-via-http,http>> or <<exporting-via-git,git>>) allow other
maintainers to fetch your latest changes, but they do not allow write
access, which you will need to update the public repository with the
[[setting-up-a-shared-repository]]
Setting up a shared repository
-------------------------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another way to collaborate is by using a model similar to that
commonly used in CVS, where several developers with special rights
link:cvs-migration.txt[git for CVS users] for instructions on how to
set this up.
+However, while there is nothing wrong with git's support for shared
+repositories, this mode of operation is not generally recommended,
+simply because the mode of collaboration that git supports--by
+exchanging patches and pulling from public repositories--has so many
+advantages over the central shared repository:
+
+ - Git's ability to quickly import and merge patches allows a
+ single maintainer to process incoming changes even at very
+ high rates. And when that becomes too much, git-pull provides
+ an easy way for that maintainer to delegate this job to other
+ maintainers while still allowing optional review of incoming
+ changes.
+ - Since every developer's repository has the same complete copy
+ of the project history, no repository is special, and it is
+ trivial for another developer to take over maintenance of a
+ project, either by mutual agreement, or because a maintainer
+ becomes unresponsive or difficult to work with.
+ - The lack of a central group of "committers" means there is
+ less need for formal decisions about who is "in" and who is
+ "out".
+
[[setting-up-gitweb]]
-Allow web browsing of a repository
-----------------------------------
+Allowing web browsing of a repository
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The gitweb cgi script provides users an easy way to browse your
project's files and history without having to install git; see the file
Examples
--------
-TODO: topic branches, typical roles as in everyday.txt, ?
+[[maintaining-topic-branches]]
+Maintaining topic branches for a Linux subsystem maintainer
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This describes how Tony Luck uses git in his role as maintainer of the
+IA64 architecture for the Linux kernel.
+
+He uses two public branches:
+
+ - A "test" tree into which patches are initially placed so that they
+ can get some exposure when integrated with other ongoing development.
+ This tree is available to Andrew for pulling into -mm whenever he
+ wants.
+
+ - A "release" tree into which tested patches are moved for final sanity
+ checking, and as a vehicle to send them upstream to Linus (by sending
+ him a "please pull" request.)
+
+He also uses a set of temporary branches ("topic branches"), each
+containing a logical grouping of patches.
+
+To set this up, first create your work tree by cloning Linus's public
+tree:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git work
+$ cd work
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Linus's tree will be stored in the remote branch named origin/master,
+and can be updated using gitlink:git-fetch[1]; you can track other
+public trees using gitlink:git-remote[1] to set up a "remote" and
+git-fetch[1] to keep them up-to-date; see <<repositories-and-branches>>.
+
+Now create the branches in which you are going to work; these start out
+at the current tip of origin/master branch, and should be set up (using
+the --track option to gitlink:git-branch[1]) to merge changes in from
+Linus by default.
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git branch --track test origin/master
+$ git branch --track release origin/master
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+These can be easily kept up to date using gitlink:git-pull[1]
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout test && git pull
+$ git checkout release && git pull
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Important note! If you have any local changes in these branches, then
+this merge will create a commit object in the history (with no local
+changes git will simply do a "Fast forward" merge). Many people dislike
+the "noise" that this creates in the Linux history, so you should avoid
+doing this capriciously in the "release" branch, as these noisy commits
+will become part of the permanent history when you ask Linus to pull
+from the release branch.
+
+A few configuration variables (see gitlink:git-config[1]) can
+make it easy to push both branches to your public tree. (See
+<<setting-up-a-public-repository>>.)
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ cat >> .git/config <<EOF
+[remote "mytree"]
+ url = master.kernel.org:/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/aegl/linux-2.6.git
+ push = release
+ push = test
+EOF
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Then you can push both the test and release trees using
+gitlink:git-push[1]:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git push mytree
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+or push just one of the test and release branches using:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git push mytree test
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+or
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git push mytree release
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Now to apply some patches from the community. Think of a short
+snappy name for a branch to hold this patch (or related group of
+patches), and create a new branch from the current tip of Linus's
+branch:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout -b speed-up-spinlocks origin
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Now you apply the patch(es), run some tests, and commit the change(s). If
+the patch is a multi-part series, then you should apply each as a separate
+commit to this branch.
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ ... patch ... test ... commit [ ... patch ... test ... commit ]*
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+When you are happy with the state of this change, you can pull it into the
+"test" branch in preparation to make it public:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout test && git pull . speed-up-spinlocks
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+It is unlikely that you would have any conflicts here ... but you might if you
+spent a while on this step and had also pulled new versions from upstream.
+
+Some time later when enough time has passed and testing done, you can pull the
+same branch into the "release" tree ready to go upstream. This is where you
+see the value of keeping each patch (or patch series) in its own branch. It
+means that the patches can be moved into the "release" tree in any order.
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout release && git pull . speed-up-spinlocks
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+After a while, you will have a number of branches, and despite the
+well chosen names you picked for each of them, you may forget what
+they are for, or what status they are in. To get a reminder of what
+changes are in a specific branch, use:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log linux..branchname | git-shortlog
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+To see whether it has already been merged into the test or release branches
+use:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log test..branchname
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+or
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log release..branchname
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+(If this branch has not yet been merged you will see some log entries.
+If it has been merged, then there will be no output.)
+
+Once a patch completes the great cycle (moving from test to release,
+then pulled by Linus, and finally coming back into your local
+"origin/master" branch) the branch for this change is no longer needed.
+You detect this when the output from:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log origin..branchname
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+is empty. At this point the branch can be deleted:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git branch -d branchname
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Some changes are so trivial that it is not necessary to create a separate
+branch and then merge into each of the test and release branches. For
+these changes, just apply directly to the "release" branch, and then
+merge that into the "test" branch.
+
+To create diffstat and shortlog summaries of changes to include in a "please
+pull" request to Linus you can use:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git diff --stat origin..release
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+and
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log -p origin..release | git shortlog
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+Here are some of the scripts that simplify all this even further.
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+==== update script ====
+# Update a branch in my GIT tree. If the branch to be updated
+# is origin, then pull from kernel.org. Otherwise merge
+# origin/master branch into test|release branch
+
+case "$1" in
+test|release)
+ git checkout $1 && git pull . origin
+ ;;
+origin)
+ before=$(cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/master)
+ git fetch origin
+ after=$(cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/master)
+ if [ $before != $after ]
+ then
+ git log $before..$after | git shortlog
+ fi
+ ;;
+*)
+ echo "Usage: $0 origin|test|release" 1>&2
+ exit 1
+ ;;
+esac
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+==== merge script ====
+# Merge a branch into either the test or release branch
+
+pname=$0
+
+usage()
+{
+ echo "Usage: $pname branch test|release" 1>&2
+ exit 1
+}
+
+if [ ! -f .git/refs/heads/"$1" ]
+then
+ echo "Can't see branch <$1>" 1>&2
+ usage
+fi
+
+case "$2" in
+test|release)
+ if [ $(git log $2..$1 | wc -c) -eq 0 ]
+ then
+ echo $1 already merged into $2 1>&2
+ exit 1
+ fi
+ git checkout $2 && git pull . $1
+ ;;
+*)
+ usage
+ ;;
+esac
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+==== status script ====
+# report on status of my ia64 GIT tree
+
+gb=$(tput setab 2)
+rb=$(tput setab 1)
+restore=$(tput setab 9)
+
+if [ `git rev-list test..release | wc -c` -gt 0 ]
+then
+ echo $rb Warning: commits in release that are not in test $restore
+ git log test..release
+fi
+
+for branch in `ls .git/refs/heads`
+do
+ if [ $branch = test -o $branch = release ]
+ then
+ continue
+ fi
+
+ echo -n $gb ======= $branch ====== $restore " "
+ status=
+ for ref in test release origin/master
+ do
+ if [ `git rev-list $ref..$branch | wc -c` -gt 0 ]
+ then
+ status=$status${ref:0:1}
+ fi
+ done
+ case $status in
+ trl)
+ echo $rb Need to pull into test $restore
+ ;;
+ rl)
+ echo "In test"
+ ;;
+ l)
+ echo "Waiting for linus"
+ ;;
+ "")
+ echo $rb All done $restore
+ ;;
+ *)
+ echo $rb "<$status>" $restore
+ ;;
+ esac
+ git log origin/master..$branch | git shortlog
+done
+-------------------------------------------------
[[cleaning-up-history]]
then the following commands will all do the same thing:
-------------------------------------------------
-$ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git master:ref/remotes/example/master
-$ git fetch example master:ref/remotes/example/master
-$ git fetch example example/master
+$ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git master:refs/remotes/example/master
+$ git fetch example master:refs/remotes/example/master
$ git fetch example
-------------------------------------------------
contrast, running "git prune" while somebody is actively changing the
repository is a *BAD* idea).
+[[birdview-on-the-source-code]]
+A birds-eye view of Git's source code
+-------------------------------------
+
+It is not always easy for new developers to find their way through Git's
+source code. This section gives you a little guidance to show where to
+start.
+
+A good place to start is with the contents of the initial commit, with:
+
+----------------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout e83c5163
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+The initial revision lays the foundation for almost everything git has
+today, but is small enough to read in one sitting.
+
+Note that terminology has changed since that revision. For example, the
+README in that revision uses the word "changeset" to describe what we
+now call a <<def_commit_object,commit>>.
+
+Also, we do not call it "cache" any more, but "index", however, the
+file is still called `cache.h`. Remark: Not much reason to change it now,
+especially since there is no good single name for it anyway, because it is
+basically _the_ header file which is included by _all_ of Git's C sources.
+
+If you grasp the ideas in that initial commit, you should check out a
+more recent version and skim `cache.h`, `object.h` and `commit.h`.
+
+In the early days, Git (in the tradition of UNIX) was a bunch of programs
+which were extremely simple, and which you used in scripts, piping the
+output of one into another. This turned out to be good for initial
+development, since it was easier to test new things. However, recently
+many of these parts have become builtins, and some of the core has been
+"libified", i.e. put into libgit.a for performance, portability reasons,
+and to avoid code duplication.
+
+By now, you know what the index is (and find the corresponding data
+structures in `cache.h`), and that there are just a couple of object types
+(blobs, trees, commits and tags) which inherit their common structure from
+`struct object`, which is their first member (and thus, you can cast e.g.
+`(struct object *)commit` to achieve the _same_ as `&commit->object`, i.e.
+get at the object name and flags).
+
+Now is a good point to take a break to let this information sink in.
+
+Next step: get familiar with the object naming. Read <<naming-commits>>.
+There are quite a few ways to name an object (and not only revisions!).
+All of these are handled in `sha1_name.c`. Just have a quick look at
+the function `get_sha1()`. A lot of the special handling is done by
+functions like `get_sha1_basic()` or the likes.
+
+This is just to get you into the groove for the most libified part of Git:
+the revision walker.
+
+Basically, the initial version of `git log` was a shell script:
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+$ git-rev-list --pretty $(git-rev-parse --default HEAD "$@") | \
+ LESS=-S ${PAGER:-less}
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+What does this mean?
+
+`git-rev-list` is the original version of the revision walker, which
+_always_ printed a list of revisions to stdout. It is still functional,
+and needs to, since most new Git programs start out as scripts using
+`git-rev-list`.
+
+`git-rev-parse` is not as important any more; it was only used to filter out
+options that were relevant for the different plumbing commands that were
+called by the script.
+
+Most of what `git-rev-list` did is contained in `revision.c` and
+`revision.h`. It wraps the options in a struct named `rev_info`, which
+controls how and what revisions are walked, and more.
+
+The original job of `git-rev-parse` is now taken by the function
+`setup_revisions()`, which parses the revisions and the common command line
+options for the revision walker. This information is stored in the struct
+`rev_info` for later consumption. You can do your own command line option
+parsing after calling `setup_revisions()`. After that, you have to call
+`prepare_revision_walk()` for initialization, and then you can get the
+commits one by one with the function `get_revision()`.
+
+If you are interested in more details of the revision walking process,
+just have a look at the first implementation of `cmd_log()`; call
+`git-show v1.3.0~155^2~4` and scroll down to that function (note that you
+no longer need to call `setup_pager()` directly).
+
+Nowadays, `git log` is a builtin, which means that it is _contained_ in the
+command `git`. The source side of a builtin is
+
+- a function called `cmd_<bla>`, typically defined in `builtin-<bla>.c`,
+ and declared in `builtin.h`,
+
+- an entry in the `commands[]` array in `git.c`, and
+
+- an entry in `BUILTIN_OBJECTS` in the `Makefile`.
+
+Sometimes, more than one builtin is contained in one source file. For
+example, `cmd_whatchanged()` and `cmd_log()` both reside in `builtin-log.c`,
+since they share quite a bit of code. In that case, the commands which are
+_not_ named like the `.c` file in which they live have to be listed in
+`BUILT_INS` in the `Makefile`.
+
+`git log` looks more complicated in C than it does in the original script,
+but that allows for a much greater flexibility and performance.
+
+Here again it is a good point to take a pause.
+
+Lesson three is: study the code. Really, it is the best way to learn about
+the organization of Git (after you know the basic concepts).
+
+So, think about something which you are interested in, say, "how can I
+access a blob just knowing the object name of it?". The first step is to
+find a Git command with which you can do it. In this example, it is either
+`git show` or `git cat-file`.
+
+For the sake of clarity, let's stay with `git cat-file`, because it
+
+- is plumbing, and
+
+- was around even in the initial commit (it literally went only through
+ some 20 revisions as `cat-file.c`, was renamed to `builtin-cat-file.c`
+ when made a builtin, and then saw less than 10 versions).
+
+So, look into `builtin-cat-file.c`, search for `cmd_cat_file()` and look what
+it does.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+ git_config(git_default_config);
+ if (argc != 3)
+ usage("git-cat-file [-t|-s|-e|-p|<type>] <sha1>");
+ if (get_sha1(argv[2], sha1))
+ die("Not a valid object name %s", argv[2]);
+------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Let's skip over the obvious details; the only really interesting part
+here is the call to `get_sha1()`. It tries to interpret `argv[2]` as an
+object name, and if it refers to an object which is present in the current
+repository, it writes the resulting SHA-1 into the variable `sha1`.
+
+Two things are interesting here:
+
+- `get_sha1()` returns 0 on _success_. This might surprise some new
+ Git hackers, but there is a long tradition in UNIX to return different
+ negative numbers in case of different errors -- and 0 on success.
+
+- the variable `sha1` in the function signature of `get_sha1()` is `unsigned
+ char \*`, but is actually expected to be a pointer to `unsigned
+ char[20]`. This variable will contain the 160-bit SHA-1 of the given
+ commit. Note that whenever a SHA-1 is passed as `unsigned char \*`, it
+ is the binary representation, as opposed to the ASCII representation in
+ hex characters, which is passed as `char *`.
+
+You will see both of these things throughout the code.
+
+Now, for the meat:
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ case 0:
+ buf = read_object_with_reference(sha1, argv[1], &size, NULL);
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This is how you read a blob (actually, not only a blob, but any type of
+object). To know how the function `read_object_with_reference()` actually
+works, find the source code for it (something like `git grep
+read_object_with | grep ":[a-z]"` in the git repository), and read
+the source.
+
+To find out how the result can be used, just read on in `cmd_cat_file()`:
+
+-----------------------------------
+ write_or_die(1, buf, size);
+-----------------------------------
+
+Sometimes, you do not know where to look for a feature. In many such cases,
+it helps to search through the output of `git log`, and then `git show` the
+corresponding commit.
+
+Example: If you know that there was some test case for `git bundle`, but
+do not remember where it was (yes, you _could_ `git grep bundle t/`, but that
+does not illustrate the point!):
+
+------------------------
+$ git log --no-merges t/
+------------------------
+
+In the pager (`less`), just search for "bundle", go a few lines back,
+and see that it is in commit 18449ab0... Now just copy this object name,
+and paste it into the command line
+
+-------------------
+$ git show 18449ab0
+-------------------
+
+Voila.
+
+Another example: Find out what to do in order to make some script a
+builtin:
+
+-------------------------------------------------
+$ git log --no-merges --diff-filter=A builtin-*.c
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+You see, Git is actually the best tool to find out about the source of Git
+itself!
+
[[glossary]]
include::glossary.txt[]
+[[git-quick-start]]
+Appendix A: Git Quick Start
+===========================
+
+This is a quick summary of the major commands; the following chapters
+will explain how these work in more detail.
+
+[[quick-creating-a-new-repository]]
+Creating a new repository
+-------------------------
+
+From a tarball:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ tar xzf project.tar.gz
+$ cd project
+$ git init
+Initialized empty Git repository in .git/
+$ git add .
+$ git commit
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+From a remote repository:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git clone git://example.com/pub/project.git
+$ cd project
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+[[managing-branches]]
+Managing branches
+-----------------
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git branch # list all local branches in this repo
+$ git checkout test # switch working directory to branch "test"
+$ git branch new # create branch "new" starting at current HEAD
+$ git branch -d new # delete branch "new"
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Instead of basing new branch on current HEAD (the default), use:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git branch new test # branch named "test"
+$ git branch new v2.6.15 # tag named v2.6.15
+$ git branch new HEAD^ # commit before the most recent
+$ git branch new HEAD^^ # commit before that
+$ git branch new test~10 # ten commits before tip of branch "test"
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Create and switch to a new branch at the same time:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git checkout -b new v2.6.15
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Update and examine branches from the repository you cloned from:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git fetch # update
+$ git branch -r # list
+ origin/master
+ origin/next
+ ...
+$ git checkout -b masterwork origin/master
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Fetch a branch from a different repository, and give it a new
+name in your repository:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git fetch git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch
+$ git fetch git://example.com/project.git v2.6.15:mybranch
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Keep a list of repositories you work with regularly:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git remote add example git://example.com/project.git
+$ git remote # list remote repositories
+example
+origin
+$ git remote show example # get details
+* remote example
+ URL: git://example.com/project.git
+ Tracked remote branches
+ master next ...
+$ git fetch example # update branches from example
+$ git branch -r # list all remote branches
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+
+[[exploring-history]]
+Exploring history
+-----------------
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ gitk # visualize and browse history
+$ git log # list all commits
+$ git log src/ # ...modifying src/
+$ git log v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # ...in v2.6.16, not in v2.6.15
+$ git log master..test # ...in branch test, not in branch master
+$ git log test..master # ...in branch master, but not in test
+$ git log test...master # ...in one branch, not in both
+$ git log -S'foo()' # ...where difference contain "foo()"
+$ git log --since="2 weeks ago"
+$ git log -p # show patches as well
+$ git show # most recent commit
+$ git diff v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # diff between two tagged versions
+$ git diff v2.6.15..HEAD # diff with current head
+$ git grep "foo()" # search working directory for "foo()"
+$ git grep v2.6.15 "foo()" # search old tree for "foo()"
+$ git show v2.6.15:a.txt # look at old version of a.txt
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Search for regressions:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git bisect start
+$ git bisect bad # current version is bad
+$ git bisect good v2.6.13-rc2 # last known good revision
+Bisecting: 675 revisions left to test after this
+ # test here, then:
+$ git bisect good # if this revision is good, or
+$ git bisect bad # if this revision is bad.
+ # repeat until done.
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+[[making-changes]]
+Making changes
+--------------
+
+Make sure git knows who to blame:
+
+------------------------------------------------
+$ cat >>~/.gitconfig <<\EOF
+[user]
+ name = Your Name Comes Here
+ email = you@yourdomain.example.com
+EOF
+------------------------------------------------
+
+Select file contents to include in the next commit, then make the
+commit:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git add a.txt # updated file
+$ git add b.txt # new file
+$ git rm c.txt # old file
+$ git commit
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Or, prepare and create the commit in one step:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git commit d.txt # use latest content only of d.txt
+$ git commit -a # use latest content of all tracked files
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+[[merging]]
+Merging
+-------
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git merge test # merge branch "test" into the current branch
+$ git pull git://example.com/project.git master
+ # fetch and merge in remote branch
+$ git pull . test # equivalent to git merge test
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+[[sharing-your-changes]]
+Sharing your changes
+--------------------
+
+Importing or exporting patches:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git format-patch origin..HEAD # format a patch for each commit
+ # in HEAD but not in origin
+$ git am mbox # import patches from the mailbox "mbox"
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Fetch a branch in a different git repository, then merge into the
+current branch:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Store the fetched branch into a local branch before merging into the
+current branch:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+After creating commits on a local branch, update the remote
+branch with your commits:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git push ssh://example.com/project.git mybranch:theirbranch
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+When remote and local branch are both named "test":
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git push ssh://example.com/project.git test
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Shortcut version for a frequently used remote repository:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git remote add example ssh://example.com/project.git
+$ git push example test
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+[[repository-maintenance]]
+Repository maintenance
+----------------------
+
+Check for corruption:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git fsck
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Recompress, remove unused cruft:
+
+-----------------------------------------------
+$ git gc
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+
[[todo]]
-Notes and todo list for this manual
-===================================
+Appendix B: Notes and todo list for this manual
+===============================================
This is a work in progress.
allow people to get to important topics without necessarily reading
everything in between.
-Say something about .gitignore.
-
Scan Documentation/ for other stuff left out; in particular:
howto's
some of technical/?