-GIT index format
+Git index format
================
-== The git index file has the following format
+== The Git index file has the following format
All binary numbers are in network byte order. Version 2 is described
here unless stated otherwise.
The signature is { 'D', 'I', 'R', 'C' } (stands for "dircache")
4-byte version number:
- The current supported versions are 2 and 3.
+ The current supported versions are 2, 3 and 4.
32-bit number of index entries.
- Extensions
Extensions are identified by signature. Optional extensions can
- be ignored if GIT does not understand them.
+ be ignored if Git does not understand them.
- GIT currently supports cached tree and resolve undo extensions.
+ Git currently supports cached tree and resolve undo extensions.
4-byte extension signature. If the first byte is 'A'..'Z' the
extension is optional and can be ignored.
12-bit name length if the length is less than 0xFFF; otherwise 0xFFF
is stored in this field.
- (Version 3) A 16-bit field, only applicable if the "extended flag"
- above is 1, split into (high to low bits).
+ (Version 3 or later) A 16-bit field, only applicable if the
+ "extended flag" above is 1, split into (high to low bits).
1-bit reserved for future
this span of index as a tree.
An entry can be in an invalidated state and is represented by having
- -1 in the entry_count field. In this case, there is no object name
- and the next entry starts immediately after the newline.
+ a negative number in the entry_count field. In this case, there is no
+ object name and the next entry starts immediately after the newline.
+ When writing an invalid entry, -1 should always be used as entry_count.
The entries are written out in the top-down, depth-first order. The
first entry represents the root level of the repository, followed by the