Documentation/git.txt

   1 git(7)
   2 ======
   3 May 2005
   4
   5 NAME
   6 ----
   7 git - the stupid content tracker
   8
   9
  10 SYNOPSIS
  11 --------
  12 'git-<command>' <args>
  13
  14 DESCRIPTION
  15 -----------
  16
  17 This is reference information for the core git commands.
  18
  19 The Discussion section below contains much useful definition and
  20 clarification info - read that first.  And of the commands, I suggest
  21 reading link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache] and
  22 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree] first - I wish I had!
  23
  24 David Greaves <david@dgreaves.com>
  25 08/05/05
  26
  27 Updated by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> on 2005-05-05 to
  28 reflect recent changes.
  29
  30 Commands Overview
  31 -----------------
  32 The git commands can helpfully be split into those that manipulate
  33 the repository, the cache and the working fileset and those that
  34 interrogate and compare them.
  35
  36 There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
  37 aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
  38 SCMs layered over git.
  39
  40 Manipulation commands
  41 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  42 link:git-checkout-cache.html[git-checkout-cache]::
  43         Copy files from the cache to the working directory
  44
  45 link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]::
  46         Creates a new commit object
  47
  48 link:git-init-db.html[git-init-db]::
  49         Creates an empty git object database
  50
  51 link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
  52         Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge
  53
  54 link:git-mkdelta.html[git-mkdelta]::
  55         Creates a delta object
  56
  57 link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
  58         Creates a tag object
  59
  60 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree]::
  61         Reads tree information into the directory cache
  62
  63 link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
  64         Modifies the index or directory cache
  65
  66 link:git-write-blob.html[git-write-blob]::
  67         Creates a blob from a file
  68
  69 link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
  70         Creates a tree from the current cache
  71
  72 Interrogation commands
  73 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  74 link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
  75         Provide content or type information for repository objects
  76
  77 link:git-check-files.html[git-check-files]::
  78         Verify a list of files are up-to-date
  79
  80 link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
  81         Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
  82
  83 link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files]::
  84         Compares files in the working tree and the cache
  85
  86 link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
  87         Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects
  88
  89 link:git-export.html[git-export]::
  90         Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents
  91
  92 link:git-fsck-cache.html[git-fsck-cache]::
  93         Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
  94
  95 link:git-ls-files.html[git-ls-files]::
  96         Information about files in the cache/working directory
  97
  98 link:git-ls-tree.html[git-ls-tree]::
  99         Displays a tree object in human readable form
 100
 101 link:git-merge-cache.html[git-merge-cache]::
 102         Runs a merge for files needing merging
 103
 104 link:git-rev-list.html[git-rev-list]::
 105         Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order
 106
 107 link:git-rev-tree.html[git-rev-tree]::
 108         Provides the revision tree for one or more commits
 109
 110 link:git-tar-tree.html[git-tar-tree]::
 111         Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree
 112
 113 link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
 114         Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents
 115
 116 The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
 117 touch the working file set - but in general they don't
 118
 119
 120 Ancilliary Commands
 121 -------------------
 122 Manipulators:
 123
 124 link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
 125         Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
 126
 127 link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
 128         Converts old-style GIT repository
 129
 130 link:git-http-pull.html[git-http-pull]::
 131         Downloads a remote GIT repository via HTTP
 132
 133 link:git-local-pull.html[git-local-pull]::
 134         Duplicates another GIT repository on a local system
 135
 136 link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
 137         The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
 138
 139 link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
 140         Script used by Linus to pull and merge a remote repository
 141
 142 link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
 143         Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database
 144
 145 link:git-resolve-script.html[git-resolve-script]::
 146         Script used to merge two trees
 147
 148 link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
 149         An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG
 150
 151 link:git-rpull.html[git-rpull]::
 152         Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection
 153
 154 Interogators:
 155
 156 link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
 157         Generates patch format output for git-diff-*
 158
 159 link:git-rpush.html[git-rpush]::
 160         Helper "server-side" program used by git-rpull
 161
 162
 163
 164 Identifier Terminology
 165 ----------------------
 166 <object>::
 167         Indicates the sha1 identifier for any type of object
 168
 169 <blob>::
 170         Indicates a blob object sha1 identifier
 171
 172 <tree>::
 173         Indicates a tree object sha1 identifier
 174
 175 <commit>::
 176         Indicates a commit object sha1 identifier
 177
 178 <tree-ish>::
 179         Indicates a tree, commit or tag object sha1 identifier.  A
 180         command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 181         operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 182         <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 183
 184 <type>::
 185         Indicates that an object type is required.
 186         Currently one of: blob/tree/commit/tag
 187
 188 <file>::
 189         Indicates a filename - always relative to the root of
 190         the tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.
 191
 192 Symbolic Identifiers
 193 --------------------
 194 Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
 195 symbolic notation:
 196
 197 HEAD::
 198         indicates the head of the repository (ie the contents of
 199         `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`)
 200 <tag>::
 201         a valid tag 'name'+
 202         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`)
 203 <head>::
 204         a valid head 'name'+
 205         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`)
 206 <snap>::
 207         a valid snapshot 'name'+
 208         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/snap/<snap>`)
 209
 210
 211 File/Directory Structure
 212 ------------------------
 213 The git-core manipulates the following areas in the directory:
 214
 215  .git/         The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
 216    objects/    The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
 217      ??/       'First 2 chars of object' directories
 218
 219 It can interrogate (but never updates) the following areas:
 220
 221    refs/       Directories containing symbolic names for objects
 222                (each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
 223      heads/    Commits which are heads of various sorts
 224      tags/     Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
 225      snap/     ????
 226    ...         Everything else isn't shared
 227    HEAD        Symlink to refs/heads/<something>
 228
 229 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 230 GIT_DIR.
 231
 232 Terminology
 233 -----------
 234 Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
 235
 236  object database, .git directory
 237  directory cache, index
 238  id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
 239  type, tag
 240
 241
 242 Environment Variables
 243 ---------------------
 244 Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 245
 246 The git Repository
 247 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 248 These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 249 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 250 git so take care if using Cogito etc
 251
 252 'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 253         This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 254         cache/index file. If not specified, the default of
 255         `$GIT_DIR/index` is used.
 256
 257 'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 258         If the object storage directory is specified via this
 259         environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 260         underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 261         directory is used.
 262
 263 'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 264         Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 265         archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 266         specifies a ":" seperated list of git object directories which
 267         can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 268         written to these directories.
 269
 270 'GIT_DIR'::
 271         If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it specifies
 272         a path to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the
 273         repository.
 274
 275 git Commits
 276 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 277 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 278 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 279 'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 280 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 281 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 282         see link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]
 283
 284 git Diffs
 285 ~~~~~~~~~
 286 'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 287 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 288         see the "generating patches" section in :
 289         link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache];
 290         link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files];
 291         link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]
 292
 293 Discussion
 294 ----------
 295 include::../README[]
 296
 297 Author
 298 ------
 299 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 300
 301 Documentation
 302 --------------
 303 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 304
 305 GIT
 306 ---
 307 Part of the link:git.html[git] suite
 308