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