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, those that
  34 interrogate and compare them, and those that moves objects and
  35 references between repositories.
  36
  37 In addition, git itself comes with a spartan set of porcelain
  38 commands.  They are usable but are not meant to compete with real
  39 Porcelains.
  40
  41 There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
  42 aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
  43 SCMs layered over git.
  44
  45 Manipulation commands
  46 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  47 link:git-checkout-cache.html[git-checkout-cache]::
  48         Copy files from the cache to the working directory
  49
  50 link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]::
  51         Creates a new commit object
  52
  53 link:git-init-db.html[git-init-db]::
  54         Creates an empty git object database
  55
  56 link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
  57         Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge
  58
  59 link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
  60         Creates a tag object
  61
  62 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree]::
  63         Reads tree information into the directory cache
  64
  65 link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
  66         Modifies the index or directory cache
  67
  68 link:git-hash-object.html[git-hash-object]::
  69         Computes the object ID from a file.
  70
  71 link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
  72         Creates a tree from the current cache
  73
  74 Interrogation commands
  75 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  76 link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
  77         Provide content or type information for repository objects
  78
  79 link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
  80         Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
  81
  82 link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files]::
  83         Compares files in the working tree and the cache
  84
  85 link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
  86         Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects
  87
  88 link:git-export.html[git-export]::
  89         Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents
  90
  91 link:git-fsck-cache.html[git-fsck-cache]::
  92         Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
  93
  94 link:git-ls-files.html[git-ls-files]::
  95         Information about files in the cache/working directory
  96
  97 link:git-ls-tree.html[git-ls-tree]::
  98         Displays a tree object in human readable form
  99
 100 link:git-merge-cache.html[git-merge-cache]::
 101         Runs a merge for files needing merging
 102
 103 link:git-rev-list.html[git-rev-list]::
 104         Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order
 105
 106 link:git-rev-tree.html[git-rev-tree]::
 107         Provides the revision tree for one or more commits
 108
 109 link:git-tar-tree.html[git-tar-tree]::
 110         Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree
 111
 112 link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
 113         Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents
 114
 115 link:git-var.html[git-var]::
 116         Displays a git logical variable
 117
 118 link:git-verify-pack.html[git-verify-pack]::
 119         Validates packed GIT archive files
 120
 121 The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
 122 touch the working file set - but in general they don't
 123
 124
 125 Synching repositories
 126 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 127
 128 link:git-clone-script.html[git-clone-script]::
 129         Clones a repository into the current repository (user interface)
 130
 131 link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
 132         Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
 133         for ssh and local transport)
 134
 135 link:git-http-pull.html[git-http-pull]::
 136         Downloads a remote GIT repository via HTTP
 137
 138 link:git-local-pull.html[git-local-pull]::
 139         Duplicates another GIT repository on a local system
 140
 141 link:git-ssh-pull.html[git-ssh-pull]::
 142         Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection
 143
 144 link:git-send-pack.html[git-send-pack]::
 145         Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
 146
 147 link:git-receive-pack.html[git-receive-pack]::
 148         Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
 149
 150 link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
 151         Clones from a remote repository.
 152
 153 link:git-fetch-pack.html[git-fetch-pack]::
 154         Updates from a remote repository.
 155
 156 link:git-peek-remote.html[git-peek-remote]::
 157         Lists references on a remote repository using upload-pack protocol.
 158
 159 link:git-upload-pack.html[git-upload-pack]::
 160         Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 161         what are asked for.
 162
 163 link:git-update-server-info.html[git-update-server-info]::
 164         Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
 165         clients discover references and packs on it.
 166
 167
 168 Porcelainish Commands
 169 ---------------------
 170 link:git-fetch-script.html[git-fetch-script]::
 171         Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
 172
 173 link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
 174         Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
 175
 176 link:git-commit-script.html[git-commit-script]::
 177         Record changes to the repository.
 178
 179
 180 Ancilliary Commands
 181 -------------------
 182 Manipulators:
 183
 184 link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
 185         Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
 186
 187 link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
 188         Converts old-style GIT repository
 189
 190 link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
 191         The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
 192
 193 link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
 194         Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database
 195
 196 link:git-resolve-script.html[git-resolve-script]::
 197         Script used to merge two trees
 198
 199 link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
 200         An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG
 201
 202
 203 Interogators:
 204
 205 link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
 206         Generates patch format output for git-diff-*
 207
 208 link:git-ssh-push.html[git-ssh-push]::
 209         Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-pull
 210
 211
 212
 213 Identifier Terminology
 214 ----------------------
 215 <object>::
 216         Indicates the sha1 identifier for any type of object
 217
 218 <blob>::
 219         Indicates a blob object sha1 identifier
 220
 221 <tree>::
 222         Indicates a tree object sha1 identifier
 223
 224 <commit>::
 225         Indicates a commit object sha1 identifier
 226
 227 <tree-ish>::
 228         Indicates a tree, commit or tag object sha1 identifier.  A
 229         command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 230         operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 231         <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 232
 233 <type>::
 234         Indicates that an object type is required.
 235         Currently one of: blob/tree/commit/tag
 236
 237 <file>::
 238         Indicates a filename - always relative to the root of
 239         the tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.
 240
 241 Symbolic Identifiers
 242 --------------------
 243 Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
 244 symbolic notation:
 245
 246 HEAD::
 247         indicates the head of the repository (ie the contents of
 248         `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`)
 249 <tag>::
 250         a valid tag 'name'+
 251         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`)
 252 <head>::
 253         a valid head 'name'+
 254         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`)
 255 <snap>::
 256         a valid snapshot 'name'+
 257         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/snap/<snap>`)
 258
 259
 260 File/Directory Structure
 261 ------------------------
 262 The git-core manipulates the following areas in the directory:
 263
 264  .git/         The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
 265    objects/    The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
 266      ??/       'First 2 chars of object' directories.
 267      pack/     Packed archives.
 268
 269    refs/       Directories containing symbolic names for objects
 270                (each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
 271      heads/    Commits which are heads of various sorts
 272      tags/     Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
 273      */        Any other subdirectory of refs/ can be used to store
 274                files similar to what are under refs/heads/.
 275    HEAD        Symlink to refs/heads/<current-branch-name>
 276
 277 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 278 GIT_DIR.
 279
 280 Terminology
 281 -----------
 282 Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
 283
 284  object database, .git directory
 285  directory cache, index
 286  id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
 287  type, tag
 288
 289
 290 Environment Variables
 291 ---------------------
 292 Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 293
 294 The git Repository
 295 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 296 These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 297 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 298 git so take care if using Cogito etc
 299
 300 'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 301         This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 302         cache/index file. If not specified, the default of
 303         `$GIT_DIR/index` is used.
 304
 305 'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 306         If the object storage directory is specified via this
 307         environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 308         underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 309         directory is used.
 310
 311 'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 312         Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 313         archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 314         specifies a ":" seperated list of git object directories which
 315         can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 316         written to these directories.
 317
 318 'GIT_DIR'::
 319         If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it specifies
 320         a path to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the
 321         repository.
 322
 323 git Commits
 324 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 325 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 326 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 327 'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 328 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 329 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 330         see link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]
 331
 332 git Diffs
 333 ~~~~~~~~~
 334 'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 335 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 336         see the "generating patches" section in :
 337         link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache];
 338         link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files];
 339         link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]
 340
 341 Discussion
 342 ----------
 343 include::../README[]
 344
 345 Author
 346 ------
 347 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 348
 349 Documentation
 350 --------------
 351 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 352
 353 GIT
 354 ---
 355 Part of the link:git.html[git] suite
 356