SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-filter-branch' [--env-filter <command>] [--tree-filter <command>]
+'git filter-branch' [--env-filter <command>] [--tree-filter <command>]
[--index-filter <command>] [--parent-filter <command>]
[--msg-filter <command>] [--commit-filter <command>]
[--tag-name-filter <command>] [--subdirectory-filter <directory>]
[--original <namespace>] [-d <directory>] [-f | --force]
- [<rev-list options>...]
+ [--] [<rev-list options>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
be able to easily push and distribute the rewritten branch on top of the
original branch. Please do not use this command if you do not know the
full implications, and avoid using it anyway, if a simple single commit
-would suffice to fix your problem.
+would suffice to fix your problem. (See the "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM
+REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for further information about
+rewriting published history.)
Always verify that the rewritten version is correct: The original refs,
if different from the rewritten ones, will be stored in the namespace
This is the filter for rewriting the commit's parent list.
It will receive the parent string on stdin and shall output
the new parent string on stdout. The parent string is in
- a format accepted by linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]: empty for
+ the format described in linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]: empty for
the initial commit, "-p parent" for a normal commit and
"-p parent1 -p parent2 -p parent3 ..." for a merge commit.
--commit-filter <command>::
This is the filter for performing the commit.
If this filter is specified, it will be called instead of the
- linkgit:git-commit-tree[1] 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.
+
As a special extension, the commit filter may emit multiple
-commit ids; in that case, ancestors of the original commit will
+commit ids; in that case, the rewritten children of the original commit will
have all of them as parents.
+
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 linkgit:git-rebase[1] instead).
+that, use 'git-rebase' instead).
--tag-name-filter <command>::
This is the filter for rewriting tag names. When passed,
case, be very careful and make sure you have the old tags
backed up in case the conversion has run afoul.
+
-Note that there is currently no support for proper rewriting of
-tag objects; in layman terms, if the tag has a message or signature
-attached, the rewritten tag won't have it. Sorry. (It is by
-definition impossible to preserve signatures at any rate.)
+Nearly proper rewriting of tag objects is supported. If the tag has
+a message attached, a new tag object will be created with the same message,
+author, and timestamp. If the tag has a signature attached, the
+signature will be stripped. It is by definition impossible to preserve
+signatures. The reason this is "nearly" proper, is because ideally if
+the tag did not change (points to the same object, has the same name, etc.)
+it should retain any signature. That is not the case, signatures will always
+be removed, buyer beware. There is also no support for changing the
+author or timestamp (or the tag message for that matter). Tags which point
+to other tags will be rewritten to point to the underlying commit.
--subdirectory-filter <directory>::
Only look at the history which touches the given subdirectory.
does this in the '.git-rewrite/' directory but you can override
that choice by this parameter.
--f|--force::
- `git filter-branch` refuses to start with an existing temporary
+-f::
+--force::
+ '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>::
- When options are given after the new branch name, they will
- be passed to linkgit:git-rev-list[1]. Only commits in the resulting
- output will be filtered, although the filtered commits can still
- reference parents which are outside of that set.
+<rev-list options>...::
+ 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.
Examples
git filter-branch --tree-filter 'rm filename' HEAD
-------------------------------------------------------
+However, if the file is absent from the tree of some commit,
+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:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-git filter-branch --index-filter 'git update-index --remove filename' HEAD
+git filter-branch --index-filter 'git rm --cached filename' HEAD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, you will get the rewritten history saved in HEAD.
+To rewrite the repository to look as if `foodir/` had been its project
+root, and discard all other history:
+
+-------------------------------------------------------
+git filter-branch --subdirectory-filter foodir -- --all
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+Thus you can, e.g., turn a library subdirectory into a repository of
+its own. Note the `\--` that separates 'filter-branch' options from
+revision options, and the `\--all` to rewrite all branches and tags.
+
To set a commit (which typically is at the tip of another
history) to be the parent of the current initial commit, in
order to paste the other history behind the current 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.
*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 linkgit:git-rebase[1].
+interactive mode of 'git-rebase'.
Consider this history:
GIT
---
-Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite