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0eb4f7cd | 1 | Git User's Manual (for version 1.5.3 or newer) |
71f4b183 | 2 | ______________________________________________ |
d19fbc3c | 3 | |
99eaefdd BF |
4 | |
5 | Git is a fast distributed revision control system. | |
6 | ||
02783075 | 7 | This manual is designed to be readable by someone with basic UNIX |
2de9b711 | 8 | command-line skills, but no previous knowledge of Git. |
d19fbc3c | 9 | |
2624d9a5 BF |
10 | <<repositories-and-branches>> and <<exploring-git-history>> explain how |
11 | to fetch and study a project using git--read these chapters to learn how | |
12 | to build and test a particular version of a software project, search for | |
13 | regressions, and so on. | |
ef89f701 | 14 | |
2624d9a5 | 15 | People needing to do actual development will also want to read |
aa971cb9 | 16 | <<Developing-With-git>> and <<sharing-development>>. |
6bd9b682 BF |
17 | |
18 | Further chapters cover more specialized topics. | |
19 | ||
d19fbc3c | 20 | Comprehensive reference documentation is available through the man |
b3d98887 | 21 | pages, or linkgit:git-help[1] command. For example, for the command |
1249d8ad | 22 | `git clone <repo>`, you can either use: |
d19fbc3c BF |
23 | |
24 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
25 | $ man git-clone | |
26 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
27 | ||
b3d98887 CC |
28 | or: |
29 | ||
30 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
31 | $ git help clone | |
32 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
33 | ||
34 | With the latter, you can use the manual viewer of your choice; see | |
35 | linkgit:git-help[1] for more information. | |
36 | ||
2de9b711 | 37 | See also <<git-quick-start>> for a brief overview of Git commands, |
2624d9a5 | 38 | without any explanation. |
b181d57f | 39 | |
99f171bb | 40 | Finally, see <<todo>> for ways that you can help make this manual more |
2624d9a5 | 41 | complete. |
b181d57f | 42 | |
b181d57f | 43 | |
e34caace | 44 | [[repositories-and-branches]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
45 | Repositories and Branches |
46 | ========================= | |
47 | ||
e34caace | 48 | [[how-to-get-a-git-repository]] |
2de9b711 | 49 | How to get a Git repository |
d19fbc3c BF |
50 | --------------------------- |
51 | ||
2de9b711 | 52 | It will be useful to have a Git repository to experiment with as you |
d19fbc3c BF |
53 | read this manual. |
54 | ||
5162e697 | 55 | The best way to get one is by using the linkgit:git-clone[1] command to |
a5f90f31 BF |
56 | download a copy of an existing repository. If you don't already have a |
57 | project in mind, here are some interesting examples: | |
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58 | |
59 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
2de9b711 | 60 | # Git itself (approx. 10MB download): |
d19fbc3c | 61 | $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git |
c7719fbe | 62 | # the Linux kernel (approx. 150MB download): |
d19fbc3c BF |
63 | $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git |
64 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
65 | ||
66 | The initial clone may be time-consuming for a large project, but you | |
67 | will only need to clone once. | |
68 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
69 | The clone command creates a new directory named after the project (`git` |
70 | or `linux-2.6` in the examples above). After you cd into this | |
d19fbc3c | 71 | directory, you will see that it contains a copy of the project files, |
0c4a33b5 | 72 | called the <<def_working_tree,working tree>>, together with a special |
1249d8ad | 73 | top-level directory named `.git`, which contains all the information |
0c4a33b5 | 74 | about the history of the project. |
d19fbc3c | 75 | |
e34caace | 76 | [[how-to-check-out]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
77 | How to check out a different version of a project |
78 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
79 | ||
a2ef9d63 BF |
80 | Git is best thought of as a tool for storing the history of a collection |
81 | of files. It stores the history as a compressed collection of | |
2de9b711 | 82 | interrelated snapshots of the project's contents. In Git each such |
a2ef9d63 | 83 | version is called a <<def_commit,commit>>. |
d19fbc3c | 84 | |
0c4a33b5 BF |
85 | Those snapshots aren't necessarily all arranged in a single line from |
86 | oldest to newest; instead, work may simultaneously proceed along | |
57283291 | 87 | parallel lines of development, called <<def_branch,branches>>, which may |
0c4a33b5 BF |
88 | merge and diverge. |
89 | ||
2de9b711 | 90 | A single Git repository can track development on multiple branches. It |
0c4a33b5 | 91 | does this by keeping a list of <<def_head,heads>> which reference the |
5162e697 | 92 | latest commit on each branch; the linkgit:git-branch[1] command shows |
81b6c950 | 93 | you the list of branch heads: |
d19fbc3c BF |
94 | |
95 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
96 | $ git branch | |
97 | * master | |
98 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
99 | ||
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100 | A freshly cloned repository contains a single branch head, by default |
101 | named "master", with the working directory initialized to the state of | |
102 | the project referred to by that branch head. | |
d19fbc3c | 103 | |
81b6c950 BF |
104 | Most projects also use <<def_tag,tags>>. Tags, like heads, are |
105 | references into the project's history, and can be listed using the | |
5162e697 | 106 | linkgit:git-tag[1] command: |
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107 | |
108 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
109 | $ git tag -l | |
110 | v2.6.11 | |
111 | v2.6.11-tree | |
112 | v2.6.12 | |
113 | v2.6.12-rc2 | |
114 | v2.6.12-rc3 | |
115 | v2.6.12-rc4 | |
116 | v2.6.12-rc5 | |
117 | v2.6.12-rc6 | |
118 | v2.6.13 | |
119 | ... | |
120 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
121 | ||
fe4b3e59 | 122 | Tags are expected to always point at the same version of a project, |
81b6c950 | 123 | while heads are expected to advance as development progresses. |
fe4b3e59 | 124 | |
81b6c950 | 125 | Create a new branch head pointing to one of these versions and check it |
5162e697 | 126 | out using linkgit:git-checkout[1]: |
d19fbc3c BF |
127 | |
128 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
129 | $ git checkout -b new v2.6.13 | |
130 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
131 | ||
132 | The working directory then reflects the contents that the project had | |
5162e697 | 133 | when it was tagged v2.6.13, and linkgit:git-branch[1] shows two |
d19fbc3c BF |
134 | branches, with an asterisk marking the currently checked-out branch: |
135 | ||
136 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
137 | $ git branch | |
138 | master | |
139 | * new | |
140 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
141 | ||
142 | If you decide that you'd rather see version 2.6.17, you can modify | |
143 | the current branch to point at v2.6.17 instead, with | |
144 | ||
145 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
146 | $ git reset --hard v2.6.17 | |
147 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
148 | ||
81b6c950 | 149 | Note that if the current branch head was your only reference to a |
d19fbc3c | 150 | particular point in history, then resetting that branch may leave you |
81b6c950 BF |
151 | with no way to find the history it used to point to; so use this command |
152 | carefully. | |
d19fbc3c | 153 | |
e34caace | 154 | [[understanding-commits]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
155 | Understanding History: Commits |
156 | ------------------------------ | |
157 | ||
158 | Every change in the history of a project is represented by a commit. | |
5162e697 | 159 | The linkgit:git-show[1] command shows the most recent commit on the |
d19fbc3c BF |
160 | current branch: |
161 | ||
162 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
163 | $ git show | |
e2618ff4 BF |
164 | commit 17cf781661e6d38f737f15f53ab552f1e95960d7 |
165 | Author: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@ppc970.osdl.org.(none)> | |
166 | Date: Tue Apr 19 14:11:06 2005 -0700 | |
167 | ||
168 | Remove duplicate getenv(DB_ENVIRONMENT) call | |
169 | ||
170 | Noted by Tony Luck. | |
171 | ||
172 | diff --git a/init-db.c b/init-db.c | |
173 | index 65898fa..b002dc6 100644 | |
174 | --- a/init-db.c | |
175 | +++ b/init-db.c | |
176 | @@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ | |
d19fbc3c | 177 | |
e2618ff4 BF |
178 | int main(int argc, char **argv) |
179 | { | |
180 | - char *sha1_dir = getenv(DB_ENVIRONMENT), *path; | |
181 | + char *sha1_dir, *path; | |
182 | int len, i; | |
183 | ||
184 | if (mkdir(".git", 0755) < 0) { | |
d19fbc3c BF |
185 | ------------------------------------------------ |
186 | ||
187 | As you can see, a commit shows who made the latest change, what they | |
188 | did, and why. | |
189 | ||
35121930 | 190 | Every commit has a 40-hexdigit id, sometimes called the "object name" or the |
1249d8ad | 191 | "SHA-1 id", shown on the first line of the `git show` output. You can usually |
35121930 BF |
192 | refer to a commit by a shorter name, such as a tag or a branch name, but this |
193 | longer name can also be useful. Most importantly, it is a globally unique | |
194 | name for this commit: so if you tell somebody else the object name (for | |
195 | example in email), then you are guaranteed that name will refer to the same | |
196 | commit in their repository that it does in yours (assuming their repository | |
197 | has that commit at all). Since the object name is computed as a hash over the | |
198 | contents of the commit, you are guaranteed that the commit can never change | |
199 | without its name also changing. | |
200 | ||
2de9b711 | 201 | In fact, in <<git-concepts>> we shall see that everything stored in Git |
35121930 BF |
202 | history, including file data and directory contents, is stored in an object |
203 | with a name that is a hash of its contents. | |
d19fbc3c | 204 | |
e34caace | 205 | [[understanding-reachability]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
206 | Understanding history: commits, parents, and reachability |
207 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
208 | ||
209 | Every commit (except the very first commit in a project) also has a | |
210 | parent commit which shows what happened before this commit. | |
211 | Following the chain of parents will eventually take you back to the | |
212 | beginning of the project. | |
213 | ||
2de9b711 | 214 | However, the commits do not form a simple list; Git allows lines of |
d19fbc3c BF |
215 | development to diverge and then reconverge, and the point where two |
216 | lines of development reconverge is called a "merge". The commit | |
217 | representing a merge can therefore have more than one parent, with | |
218 | each parent representing the most recent commit on one of the lines | |
219 | of development leading to that point. | |
220 | ||
5162e697 | 221 | The best way to see how this works is using the linkgit:gitk[1] |
2de9b711 TA |
222 | command; running gitk now on a Git repository and looking for merge |
223 | commits will help understand how the Git organizes history. | |
d19fbc3c BF |
224 | |
225 | In the following, we say that commit X is "reachable" from commit Y | |
226 | if commit X is an ancestor of commit Y. Equivalently, you could say | |
02783075 | 227 | that Y is a descendant of X, or that there is a chain of parents |
d19fbc3c BF |
228 | leading from commit Y to commit X. |
229 | ||
e34caace | 230 | [[history-diagrams]] |
3dff5379 PR |
231 | Understanding history: History diagrams |
232 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
d19fbc3c | 233 | |
2de9b711 | 234 | We will sometimes represent Git history using diagrams like the one |
d19fbc3c BF |
235 | below. Commits are shown as "o", and the links between them with |
236 | lines drawn with - / and \. Time goes left to right: | |
237 | ||
1dc71a91 BF |
238 | |
239 | ................................................ | |
d19fbc3c BF |
240 | o--o--o <-- Branch A |
241 | / | |
242 | o--o--o <-- master | |
243 | \ | |
244 | o--o--o <-- Branch B | |
1dc71a91 | 245 | ................................................ |
d19fbc3c BF |
246 | |
247 | If we need to talk about a particular commit, the character "o" may | |
248 | be replaced with another letter or number. | |
249 | ||
e34caace | 250 | [[what-is-a-branch]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
251 | Understanding history: What is a branch? |
252 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
253 | ||
81b6c950 BF |
254 | When we need to be precise, we will use the word "branch" to mean a line |
255 | of development, and "branch head" (or just "head") to mean a reference | |
256 | to the most recent commit on a branch. In the example above, the branch | |
257 | head named "A" is a pointer to one particular commit, but we refer to | |
258 | the line of three commits leading up to that point as all being part of | |
d19fbc3c BF |
259 | "branch A". |
260 | ||
81b6c950 BF |
261 | However, when no confusion will result, we often just use the term |
262 | "branch" both for branches and for branch heads. | |
d19fbc3c | 263 | |
e34caace | 264 | [[manipulating-branches]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
265 | Manipulating branches |
266 | --------------------- | |
267 | ||
268 | Creating, deleting, and modifying branches is quick and easy; here's | |
269 | a summary of the commands: | |
270 | ||
1249d8ad | 271 | `git branch`:: |
d19fbc3c | 272 | list all branches |
1249d8ad TK |
273 | `git branch <branch>`:: |
274 | create a new branch named `<branch>`, referencing the same | |
d19fbc3c | 275 | point in history as the current branch |
1249d8ad TK |
276 | `git branch <branch> <start-point>`:: |
277 | create a new branch named `<branch>`, referencing | |
278 | `<start-point>`, which may be specified any way you like, | |
d19fbc3c | 279 | including using a branch name or a tag name |
1249d8ad TK |
280 | `git branch -d <branch>`:: |
281 | delete the branch `<branch>`; if the branch you are deleting | |
c64415e2 BF |
282 | points to a commit which is not reachable from the current |
283 | branch, this command will fail with a warning. | |
1249d8ad | 284 | `git branch -D <branch>`:: |
d19fbc3c BF |
285 | even if the branch points to a commit not reachable |
286 | from the current branch, you may know that that commit | |
287 | is still reachable from some other branch or tag. In that | |
2de9b711 | 288 | case it is safe to use this command to force Git to delete |
d19fbc3c | 289 | the branch. |
1249d8ad TK |
290 | `git checkout <branch>`:: |
291 | make the current branch `<branch>`, updating the working | |
292 | directory to reflect the version referenced by `<branch>` | |
293 | `git checkout -b <new> <start-point>`:: | |
294 | create a new branch `<new>` referencing `<start-point>`, and | |
d19fbc3c BF |
295 | check it out. |
296 | ||
72a76c95 | 297 | The special symbol "HEAD" can always be used to refer to the current |
1249d8ad TK |
298 | branch. In fact, Git uses a file named `HEAD` in the `.git` directory |
299 | to remember which branch is current: | |
72a76c95 BF |
300 | |
301 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
302 | $ cat .git/HEAD | |
303 | ref: refs/heads/master | |
304 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
305 | ||
25d9f3fa | 306 | [[detached-head]] |
72a76c95 BF |
307 | Examining an old version without creating a new branch |
308 | ------------------------------------------------------ | |
309 | ||
6127c086 | 310 | The `git checkout` command normally expects a branch head, but will also |
72a76c95 BF |
311 | accept an arbitrary commit; for example, you can check out the commit |
312 | referenced by a tag: | |
313 | ||
314 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
315 | $ git checkout v2.6.17 | |
316 | Note: moving to "v2.6.17" which isn't a local branch | |
317 | If you want to create a new branch from this checkout, you may do so | |
318 | (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example: | |
319 | git checkout -b <new_branch_name> | |
320 | HEAD is now at 427abfa... Linux v2.6.17 | |
321 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
322 | ||
a6e5ef7d | 323 | The HEAD then refers to the SHA-1 of the commit instead of to a branch, |
72a76c95 BF |
324 | and git branch shows that you are no longer on a branch: |
325 | ||
326 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
327 | $ cat .git/HEAD | |
328 | 427abfa28afedffadfca9dd8b067eb6d36bac53f | |
953f3d6f | 329 | $ git branch |
72a76c95 BF |
330 | * (no branch) |
331 | master | |
332 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
333 | ||
334 | In this case we say that the HEAD is "detached". | |
335 | ||
953f3d6f BF |
336 | This is an easy way to check out a particular version without having to |
337 | make up a name for the new branch. You can still create a new branch | |
338 | (or tag) for this version later if you decide to. | |
d19fbc3c | 339 | |
e34caace | 340 | [[examining-remote-branches]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
341 | Examining branches from a remote repository |
342 | ------------------------------------------- | |
343 | ||
344 | The "master" branch that was created at the time you cloned is a copy | |
345 | of the HEAD in the repository that you cloned from. That repository | |
346 | may also have had other branches, though, and your local repository | |
66a062a1 MM |
347 | keeps branches which track each of those remote branches, called |
348 | remote-tracking branches, which you | |
1249d8ad | 349 | can view using the `-r` option to linkgit:git-branch[1]: |
d19fbc3c BF |
350 | |
351 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
352 | $ git branch -r | |
353 | origin/HEAD | |
354 | origin/html | |
355 | origin/maint | |
356 | origin/man | |
357 | origin/master | |
358 | origin/next | |
359 | origin/pu | |
360 | origin/todo | |
361 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
362 | ||
66a062a1 MM |
363 | In this example, "origin" is called a remote repository, or "remote" |
364 | for short. The branches of this repository are called "remote | |
365 | branches" from our point of view. The remote-tracking branches listed | |
366 | above were created based on the remote branches at clone time and will | |
1249d8ad | 367 | be updated by `git fetch` (hence `git pull`) and `git push`. See |
66a062a1 MM |
368 | <<Updating-a-repository-With-git-fetch>> for details. |
369 | ||
45dfd403 JN |
370 | You might want to build on one of these remote-tracking branches |
371 | on a branch of your own, just as you would for a tag: | |
d19fbc3c BF |
372 | |
373 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
374 | $ git checkout -b my-todo-copy origin/todo | |
375 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
376 | ||
1249d8ad | 377 | You can also check out `origin/todo` directly to examine it or |
45dfd403 JN |
378 | write a one-off patch. See <<detached-head,detached head>>. |
379 | ||
2de9b711 | 380 | Note that the name "origin" is just the name that Git uses by default |
d19fbc3c BF |
381 | to refer to the repository that you cloned from. |
382 | ||
383 | [[how-git-stores-references]] | |
f60b9642 BF |
384 | Naming branches, tags, and other references |
385 | ------------------------------------------- | |
d19fbc3c BF |
386 | |
387 | Branches, remote-tracking branches, and tags are all references to | |
f60b9642 | 388 | commits. All references are named with a slash-separated path name |
1249d8ad | 389 | starting with `refs`; the names we've been using so far are actually |
f60b9642 | 390 | shorthand: |
d19fbc3c | 391 | |
1249d8ad TK |
392 | - The branch `test` is short for `refs/heads/test`. |
393 | - The tag `v2.6.18` is short for `refs/tags/v2.6.18`. | |
394 | - `origin/master` is short for `refs/remotes/origin/master`. | |
d19fbc3c | 395 | |
f60b9642 BF |
396 | The full name is occasionally useful if, for example, there ever |
397 | exists a tag and a branch with the same name. | |
d19fbc3c | 398 | |
1249d8ad | 399 | (Newly created refs are actually stored in the `.git/refs` directory, |
fc74ecc1 BF |
400 | under the path given by their name. However, for efficiency reasons |
401 | they may also be packed together in a single file; see | |
5162e697 | 402 | linkgit:git-pack-refs[1]). |
fc74ecc1 | 403 | |
c64415e2 BF |
404 | As another useful shortcut, the "HEAD" of a repository can be referred |
405 | to just using the name of that repository. So, for example, "origin" | |
406 | is usually a shortcut for the HEAD branch in the repository "origin". | |
d19fbc3c | 407 | |
2de9b711 | 408 | For the complete list of paths which Git checks for references, and |
f60b9642 BF |
409 | the order it uses to decide which to choose when there are multiple |
410 | references with the same shorthand name, see the "SPECIFYING | |
9d83e382 | 411 | REVISIONS" section of linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. |
d19fbc3c | 412 | |
aa971cb9 | 413 | [[Updating-a-repository-With-git-fetch]] |
6127c086 | 414 | Updating a repository with git fetch |
d19fbc3c BF |
415 | ------------------------------------ |
416 | ||
417 | Eventually the developer cloned from will do additional work in her | |
418 | repository, creating new commits and advancing the branches to point | |
419 | at the new commits. | |
420 | ||
1249d8ad | 421 | The command `git fetch`, with no arguments, will update all of the |
d19fbc3c BF |
422 | remote-tracking branches to the latest version found in her |
423 | repository. It will not touch any of your own branches--not even the | |
424 | "master" branch that was created for you on clone. | |
425 | ||
e34caace | 426 | [[fetching-branches]] |
d5cd5de4 BF |
427 | Fetching branches from other repositories |
428 | ----------------------------------------- | |
429 | ||
430 | You can also track branches from repositories other than the one you | |
5162e697 | 431 | cloned from, using linkgit:git-remote[1]: |
d5cd5de4 BF |
432 | |
433 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
434 | $ git remote add linux-nfs git://linux-nfs.org/pub/nfs-2.6.git | |
04483524 | 435 | $ git fetch linux-nfs |
d5cd5de4 BF |
436 | * refs/remotes/linux-nfs/master: storing branch 'master' ... |
437 | commit: bf81b46 | |
438 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
439 | ||
440 | New remote-tracking branches will be stored under the shorthand name | |
1249d8ad | 441 | that you gave `git remote add`, in this case `linux-nfs`: |
d5cd5de4 BF |
442 | |
443 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
444 | $ git branch -r | |
445 | linux-nfs/master | |
446 | origin/master | |
447 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
448 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
449 | If you run `git fetch <remote>` later, the remote-tracking branches |
450 | for the named `<remote>` will be updated. | |
d5cd5de4 | 451 | |
1249d8ad | 452 | If you examine the file `.git/config`, you will see that Git has added |
d5cd5de4 BF |
453 | a new stanza: |
454 | ||
455 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
456 | $ cat .git/config | |
457 | ... | |
458 | [remote "linux-nfs"] | |
923642fe BF |
459 | url = git://linux-nfs.org/pub/nfs-2.6.git |
460 | fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/linux-nfs/* | |
d5cd5de4 BF |
461 | ... |
462 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
463 | ||
2de9b711 | 464 | This is what causes Git to track the remote's branches; you may modify |
1249d8ad | 465 | or delete these configuration options by editing `.git/config` with a |
fc90c536 | 466 | text editor. (See the "CONFIGURATION FILE" section of |
5162e697 | 467 | linkgit:git-config[1] for details.) |
d5cd5de4 | 468 | |
e34caace | 469 | [[exploring-git-history]] |
2de9b711 | 470 | Exploring Git history |
d19fbc3c BF |
471 | ===================== |
472 | ||
473 | Git is best thought of as a tool for storing the history of a | |
474 | collection of files. It does this by storing compressed snapshots of | |
1130845b | 475 | the contents of a file hierarchy, together with "commits" which show |
d19fbc3c BF |
476 | the relationships between these snapshots. |
477 | ||
478 | Git provides extremely flexible and fast tools for exploring the | |
479 | history of a project. | |
480 | ||
aacd404e | 481 | We start with one specialized tool that is useful for finding the |
d19fbc3c BF |
482 | commit that introduced a bug into a project. |
483 | ||
e34caace | 484 | [[using-bisect]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
485 | How to use bisect to find a regression |
486 | -------------------------------------- | |
487 | ||
488 | Suppose version 2.6.18 of your project worked, but the version at | |
489 | "master" crashes. Sometimes the best way to find the cause of such a | |
490 | regression is to perform a brute-force search through the project's | |
491 | history to find the particular commit that caused the problem. The | |
5162e697 | 492 | linkgit:git-bisect[1] command can help you do this: |
d19fbc3c BF |
493 | |
494 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
495 | $ git bisect start | |
496 | $ git bisect good v2.6.18 | |
497 | $ git bisect bad master | |
498 | Bisecting: 3537 revisions left to test after this | |
499 | [65934a9a028b88e83e2b0f8b36618fe503349f8e] BLOCK: Make USB storage depend on SCSI rather than selecting it [try #6] | |
500 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
501 | ||
1249d8ad | 502 | If you run `git branch` at this point, you'll see that Git has |
0e25790f CC |
503 | temporarily moved you in "(no branch)". HEAD is now detached from any |
504 | branch and points directly to a commit (with commit id 65934...) that | |
505 | is reachable from "master" but not from v2.6.18. Compile and test it, | |
506 | and see whether it crashes. Assume it does crash. Then: | |
d19fbc3c BF |
507 | |
508 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
509 | $ git bisect bad | |
510 | Bisecting: 1769 revisions left to test after this | |
511 | [7eff82c8b1511017ae605f0c99ac275a7e21b867] i2c-core: Drop useless bitmaskings | |
512 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
513 | ||
2de9b711 | 514 | checks out an older version. Continue like this, telling Git at each |
d19fbc3c BF |
515 | stage whether the version it gives you is good or bad, and notice |
516 | that the number of revisions left to test is cut approximately in | |
517 | half each time. | |
518 | ||
519 | After about 13 tests (in this case), it will output the commit id of | |
520 | the guilty commit. You can then examine the commit with | |
5162e697 | 521 | linkgit:git-show[1], find out who wrote it, and mail them your bug |
d19fbc3c BF |
522 | report with the commit id. Finally, run |
523 | ||
524 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
525 | $ git bisect reset | |
526 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
527 | ||
0e25790f | 528 | to return you to the branch you were on before. |
d19fbc3c | 529 | |
6127c086 | 530 | Note that the version which `git bisect` checks out for you at each |
d19fbc3c BF |
531 | point is just a suggestion, and you're free to try a different |
532 | version if you think it would be a good idea. For example, | |
533 | occasionally you may land on a commit that broke something unrelated; | |
534 | run | |
535 | ||
536 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
04483524 | 537 | $ git bisect visualize |
d19fbc3c BF |
538 | ------------------------------------------------- |
539 | ||
540 | which will run gitk and label the commit it chose with a marker that | |
843c81dc | 541 | says "bisect". Choose a safe-looking commit nearby, note its commit |
d19fbc3c BF |
542 | id, and check it out with: |
543 | ||
544 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
545 | $ git reset --hard fb47ddb2db... | |
546 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
547 | ||
1249d8ad | 548 | then test, run `bisect good` or `bisect bad` as appropriate, and |
d19fbc3c BF |
549 | continue. |
550 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
551 | Instead of `git bisect visualize` and then `git reset --hard |
552 | fb47ddb2db...`, you might just want to tell Git that you want to skip | |
0e25790f CC |
553 | the current commit: |
554 | ||
555 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
556 | $ git bisect skip | |
557 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
558 | ||
2de9b711 | 559 | In this case, though, Git may not eventually be able to tell the first |
a0178ae2 | 560 | bad one between some first skipped commits and a later bad commit. |
0e25790f CC |
561 | |
562 | There are also ways to automate the bisecting process if you have a | |
563 | test script that can tell a good from a bad commit. See | |
1249d8ad TK |
564 | linkgit:git-bisect[1] for more information about this and other `git |
565 | bisect` features. | |
0e25790f | 566 | |
e34caace | 567 | [[naming-commits]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
568 | Naming commits |
569 | -------------- | |
570 | ||
571 | We have seen several ways of naming commits already: | |
572 | ||
d55ae921 | 573 | - 40-hexdigit object name |
d19fbc3c BF |
574 | - branch name: refers to the commit at the head of the given |
575 | branch | |
576 | - tag name: refers to the commit pointed to by the given tag | |
577 | (we've seen branches and tags are special cases of | |
578 | <<how-git-stores-references,references>>). | |
579 | - HEAD: refers to the head of the current branch | |
580 | ||
eb6ae7f4 | 581 | There are many more; see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section of the |
9d83e382 | 582 | linkgit:gitrevisions[7] man page for the complete list of ways to |
d19fbc3c BF |
583 | name revisions. Some examples: |
584 | ||
585 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
d55ae921 | 586 | $ git show fb47ddb2 # the first few characters of the object name |
d19fbc3c BF |
587 | # are usually enough to specify it uniquely |
588 | $ git show HEAD^ # the parent of the HEAD commit | |
589 | $ git show HEAD^^ # the grandparent | |
590 | $ git show HEAD~4 # the great-great-grandparent | |
591 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
592 | ||
593 | Recall that merge commits may have more than one parent; by default, | |
1249d8ad | 594 | `^` and `~` follow the first parent listed in the commit, but you can |
d19fbc3c BF |
595 | also choose: |
596 | ||
597 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
598 | $ git show HEAD^1 # show the first parent of HEAD | |
599 | $ git show HEAD^2 # show the second parent of HEAD | |
600 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
601 | ||
602 | In addition to HEAD, there are several other special names for | |
603 | commits: | |
604 | ||
605 | Merges (to be discussed later), as well as operations such as | |
6127c086 | 606 | `git reset`, which change the currently checked-out commit, generally |
d19fbc3c BF |
607 | set ORIG_HEAD to the value HEAD had before the current operation. |
608 | ||
6127c086 FC |
609 | The `git fetch` operation always stores the head of the last fetched |
610 | branch in FETCH_HEAD. For example, if you run `git fetch` without | |
d19fbc3c BF |
611 | specifying a local branch as the target of the operation |
612 | ||
613 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
614 | $ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git theirbranch | |
615 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
616 | ||
617 | the fetched commits will still be available from FETCH_HEAD. | |
618 | ||
619 | When we discuss merges we'll also see the special name MERGE_HEAD, | |
620 | which refers to the other branch that we're merging in to the current | |
621 | branch. | |
622 | ||
5162e697 | 623 | The linkgit:git-rev-parse[1] command is a low-level command that is |
d55ae921 BF |
624 | occasionally useful for translating some name for a commit to the object |
625 | name for that commit: | |
aec053bb BF |
626 | |
627 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
628 | $ git rev-parse origin | |
629 | e05db0fd4f31dde7005f075a84f96b360d05984b | |
630 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
631 | ||
e34caace | 632 | [[creating-tags]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
633 | Creating tags |
634 | ------------- | |
635 | ||
636 | We can also create a tag to refer to a particular commit; after | |
637 | running | |
638 | ||
639 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
04483524 | 640 | $ git tag stable-1 1b2e1d63ff |
d19fbc3c BF |
641 | ------------------------------------------------- |
642 | ||
1249d8ad | 643 | You can use `stable-1` to refer to the commit 1b2e1d63ff. |
d19fbc3c | 644 | |
c64415e2 BF |
645 | This creates a "lightweight" tag. If you would also like to include a |
646 | comment with the tag, and possibly sign it cryptographically, then you | |
5162e697 | 647 | should create a tag object instead; see the linkgit:git-tag[1] man page |
c64415e2 | 648 | for details. |
d19fbc3c | 649 | |
e34caace | 650 | [[browsing-revisions]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
651 | Browsing revisions |
652 | ------------------ | |
653 | ||
5162e697 | 654 | The linkgit:git-log[1] command can show lists of commits. On its |
d19fbc3c BF |
655 | own, it shows all commits reachable from the parent commit; but you |
656 | can also make more specific requests: | |
657 | ||
658 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
659 | $ git log v2.5.. # commits since (not reachable from) v2.5 | |
660 | $ git log test..master # commits reachable from master but not test | |
661 | $ git log master..test # ...reachable from test but not master | |
662 | $ git log master...test # ...reachable from either test or master, | |
663 | # but not both | |
664 | $ git log --since="2 weeks ago" # commits from the last 2 weeks | |
665 | $ git log Makefile # commits which modify Makefile | |
666 | $ git log fs/ # ... which modify any file under fs/ | |
667 | $ git log -S'foo()' # commits which add or remove any file data | |
668 | # matching the string 'foo()' | |
669 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
670 | ||
671 | And of course you can combine all of these; the following finds | |
1249d8ad | 672 | commits since v2.5 which touch the `Makefile` or any file under `fs`: |
d19fbc3c BF |
673 | |
674 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
675 | $ git log v2.5.. Makefile fs/ | |
676 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
677 | ||
678 | You can also ask git log to show patches: | |
679 | ||
680 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
681 | $ git log -p | |
682 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
683 | ||
1249d8ad | 684 | See the `--pretty` option in the linkgit:git-log[1] man page for more |
d19fbc3c BF |
685 | display options. |
686 | ||
687 | Note that git log starts with the most recent commit and works | |
2de9b711 | 688 | backwards through the parents; however, since Git history can contain |
3dff5379 | 689 | multiple independent lines of development, the particular order that |
d19fbc3c BF |
690 | commits are listed in may be somewhat arbitrary. |
691 | ||
e34caace | 692 | [[generating-diffs]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
693 | Generating diffs |
694 | ---------------- | |
695 | ||
696 | You can generate diffs between any two versions using | |
5162e697 | 697 | linkgit:git-diff[1]: |
d19fbc3c BF |
698 | |
699 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
700 | $ git diff master..test | |
701 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
702 | ||
5b98d9bc BF |
703 | That will produce the diff between the tips of the two branches. If |
704 | you'd prefer to find the diff from their common ancestor to test, you | |
705 | can use three dots instead of two: | |
706 | ||
707 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
708 | $ git diff master...test | |
709 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
710 | ||
711 | Sometimes what you want instead is a set of patches; for this you can | |
5162e697 | 712 | use linkgit:git-format-patch[1]: |
d19fbc3c BF |
713 | |
714 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
715 | $ git format-patch master..test | |
716 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
717 | ||
718 | will generate a file with a patch for each commit reachable from test | |
5b98d9bc | 719 | but not from master. |
d19fbc3c | 720 | |
e34caace | 721 | [[viewing-old-file-versions]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
722 | Viewing old file versions |
723 | ------------------------- | |
724 | ||
725 | You can always view an old version of a file by just checking out the | |
726 | correct revision first. But sometimes it is more convenient to be | |
727 | able to view an old version of a single file without checking | |
728 | anything out; this command does that: | |
729 | ||
730 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
731 | $ git show v2.5:fs/locks.c | |
732 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
733 | ||
734 | Before the colon may be anything that names a commit, and after it | |
2de9b711 | 735 | may be any path to a file tracked by Git. |
d19fbc3c | 736 | |
e34caace | 737 | [[history-examples]] |
aec053bb BF |
738 | Examples |
739 | -------- | |
740 | ||
46acd3fa BF |
741 | [[counting-commits-on-a-branch]] |
742 | Counting the number of commits on a branch | |
743 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
744 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
745 | Suppose you want to know how many commits you've made on `mybranch` |
746 | since it diverged from `origin`: | |
46acd3fa BF |
747 | |
748 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
749 | $ git log --pretty=oneline origin..mybranch | wc -l | |
750 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
751 | ||
752 | Alternatively, you may often see this sort of thing done with the | |
a6e5ef7d | 753 | lower-level command linkgit:git-rev-list[1], which just lists the SHA-1's |
46acd3fa BF |
754 | of all the given commits: |
755 | ||
756 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
757 | $ git rev-list origin..mybranch | wc -l | |
758 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
759 | ||
e34caace | 760 | [[checking-for-equal-branches]] |
aec053bb | 761 | Check whether two branches point at the same history |
2f99710c | 762 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
aec053bb BF |
763 | |
764 | Suppose you want to check whether two branches point at the same point | |
765 | in history. | |
766 | ||
767 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
768 | $ git diff origin..master | |
769 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
770 | ||
69f7ad73 BF |
771 | will tell you whether the contents of the project are the same at the |
772 | two branches; in theory, however, it's possible that the same project | |
773 | contents could have been arrived at by two different historical | |
d55ae921 | 774 | routes. You could compare the object names: |
aec053bb BF |
775 | |
776 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
777 | $ git rev-list origin | |
778 | e05db0fd4f31dde7005f075a84f96b360d05984b | |
779 | $ git rev-list master | |
780 | e05db0fd4f31dde7005f075a84f96b360d05984b | |
781 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
782 | ||
1249d8ad | 783 | Or you could recall that the `...` operator selects all commits |
69f7ad73 | 784 | contained reachable from either one reference or the other but not |
ddd2369c | 785 | both; so |
aec053bb BF |
786 | |
787 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
788 | $ git log origin...master | |
789 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
790 | ||
791 | will return no commits when the two branches are equal. | |
792 | ||
e34caace | 793 | [[finding-tagged-descendants]] |
b181d57f BF |
794 | Find first tagged version including a given fix |
795 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
aec053bb | 796 | |
69f7ad73 BF |
797 | Suppose you know that the commit e05db0fd fixed a certain problem. |
798 | You'd like to find the earliest tagged release that contains that | |
799 | fix. | |
800 | ||
801 | Of course, there may be more than one answer--if the history branched | |
802 | after commit e05db0fd, then there could be multiple "earliest" tagged | |
803 | releases. | |
804 | ||
805 | You could just visually inspect the commits since e05db0fd: | |
806 | ||
807 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
808 | $ gitk e05db0fd.. | |
809 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
810 | ||
5162e697 | 811 | Or you can use linkgit:git-name-rev[1], which will give the commit a |
b181d57f BF |
812 | name based on any tag it finds pointing to one of the commit's |
813 | descendants: | |
814 | ||
815 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
04483524 | 816 | $ git name-rev --tags e05db0fd |
b181d57f BF |
817 | e05db0fd tags/v1.5.0-rc1^0~23 |
818 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
819 | ||
5162e697 | 820 | The linkgit:git-describe[1] command does the opposite, naming the |
b181d57f BF |
821 | revision using a tag on which the given commit is based: |
822 | ||
823 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
824 | $ git describe e05db0fd | |
04483524 | 825 | v1.5.0-rc0-260-ge05db0f |
b181d57f BF |
826 | ------------------------------------------------- |
827 | ||
828 | but that may sometimes help you guess which tags might come after the | |
829 | given commit. | |
830 | ||
831 | If you just want to verify whether a given tagged version contains a | |
5162e697 | 832 | given commit, you could use linkgit:git-merge-base[1]: |
b181d57f BF |
833 | |
834 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
835 | $ git merge-base e05db0fd v1.5.0-rc1 | |
836 | e05db0fd4f31dde7005f075a84f96b360d05984b | |
837 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
838 | ||
839 | The merge-base command finds a common ancestor of the given commits, | |
840 | and always returns one or the other in the case where one is a | |
841 | descendant of the other; so the above output shows that e05db0fd | |
842 | actually is an ancestor of v1.5.0-rc1. | |
843 | ||
844 | Alternatively, note that | |
845 | ||
846 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
4a7979ca | 847 | $ git log v1.5.0-rc1..e05db0fd |
b181d57f BF |
848 | ------------------------------------------------- |
849 | ||
4a7979ca | 850 | will produce empty output if and only if v1.5.0-rc1 includes e05db0fd, |
b181d57f | 851 | because it outputs only commits that are not reachable from v1.5.0-rc1. |
aec053bb | 852 | |
5162e697 | 853 | As yet another alternative, the linkgit:git-show-branch[1] command lists |
4a7979ca BF |
854 | the commits reachable from its arguments with a display on the left-hand |
855 | side that indicates which arguments that commit is reachable from. So, | |
856 | you can run something like | |
857 | ||
858 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
859 | $ git show-branch e05db0fd v1.5.0-rc0 v1.5.0-rc1 v1.5.0-rc2 | |
860 | ! [e05db0fd] Fix warnings in sha1_file.c - use C99 printf format if | |
861 | available | |
862 | ! [v1.5.0-rc0] GIT v1.5.0 preview | |
863 | ! [v1.5.0-rc1] GIT v1.5.0-rc1 | |
864 | ! [v1.5.0-rc2] GIT v1.5.0-rc2 | |
865 | ... | |
866 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
867 | ||
868 | then search for a line that looks like | |
869 | ||
870 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
871 | + ++ [e05db0fd] Fix warnings in sha1_file.c - use C99 printf format if | |
872 | available | |
873 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
874 | ||
875 | Which shows that e05db0fd is reachable from itself, from v1.5.0-rc1, and | |
876 | from v1.5.0-rc2, but not from v1.5.0-rc0. | |
877 | ||
629d9f78 BF |
878 | [[showing-commits-unique-to-a-branch]] |
879 | Showing commits unique to a given branch | |
880 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
4a7979ca | 881 | |
629d9f78 | 882 | Suppose you would like to see all the commits reachable from the branch |
1249d8ad | 883 | head named `master` but not from any other head in your repository. |
d19fbc3c | 884 | |
629d9f78 | 885 | We can list all the heads in this repository with |
5162e697 | 886 | linkgit:git-show-ref[1]: |
d19fbc3c | 887 | |
629d9f78 BF |
888 | ------------------------------------------------- |
889 | $ git show-ref --heads | |
890 | bf62196b5e363d73353a9dcf094c59595f3153b7 refs/heads/core-tutorial | |
891 | db768d5504c1bb46f63ee9d6e1772bd047e05bf9 refs/heads/maint | |
892 | a07157ac624b2524a059a3414e99f6f44bebc1e7 refs/heads/master | |
893 | 24dbc180ea14dc1aebe09f14c8ecf32010690627 refs/heads/tutorial-2 | |
894 | 1e87486ae06626c2f31eaa63d26fc0fd646c8af2 refs/heads/tutorial-fixes | |
895 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
d19fbc3c | 896 | |
1249d8ad | 897 | We can get just the branch-head names, and remove `master`, with |
629d9f78 BF |
898 | the help of the standard utilities cut and grep: |
899 | ||
900 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
901 | $ git show-ref --heads | cut -d' ' -f2 | grep -v '^refs/heads/master' | |
902 | refs/heads/core-tutorial | |
903 | refs/heads/maint | |
904 | refs/heads/tutorial-2 | |
905 | refs/heads/tutorial-fixes | |
906 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
907 | ||
908 | And then we can ask to see all the commits reachable from master | |
909 | but not from these other heads: | |
910 | ||
911 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
912 | $ gitk master --not $( git show-ref --heads | cut -d' ' -f2 | | |
913 | grep -v '^refs/heads/master' ) | |
914 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
915 | ||
916 | Obviously, endless variations are possible; for example, to see all | |
917 | commits reachable from some head but not from any tag in the repository: | |
918 | ||
919 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
c78974f7 | 920 | $ gitk $( git show-ref --heads ) --not $( git show-ref --tags ) |
629d9f78 BF |
921 | ------------------------------------------------- |
922 | ||
9d83e382 | 923 | (See linkgit:gitrevisions[7] for explanations of commit-selecting |
629d9f78 BF |
924 | syntax such as `--not`.) |
925 | ||
82c8bf28 BF |
926 | [[making-a-release]] |
927 | Creating a changelog and tarball for a software release | |
928 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
929 | ||
5162e697 | 930 | The linkgit:git-archive[1] command can create a tar or zip archive from |
82c8bf28 BF |
931 | any version of a project; for example: |
932 | ||
933 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
7ed1690c | 934 | $ git archive -o latest.tar.gz --prefix=project/ HEAD |
82c8bf28 BF |
935 | ------------------------------------------------- |
936 | ||
7ed1690c TK |
937 | will use HEAD to produce a gzipped tar archive in which each filename |
938 | is preceded by `project/`. The output file format is inferred from | |
939 | the output file extension if possible, see linkgit:git-archive[1] for | |
940 | details. | |
941 | ||
1249d8ad | 942 | Versions of Git older than 1.7.7 don't know about the `tar.gz` format, |
7ed1690c TK |
943 | you'll need to use gzip explicitly: |
944 | ||
945 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
946 | $ git archive --format=tar --prefix=project/ HEAD | gzip >latest.tar.gz | |
947 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
82c8bf28 BF |
948 | |
949 | If you're releasing a new version of a software project, you may want | |
950 | to simultaneously make a changelog to include in the release | |
951 | announcement. | |
952 | ||
953 | Linus Torvalds, for example, makes new kernel releases by tagging them, | |
954 | then running: | |
955 | ||
956 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
957 | $ release-script 2.6.12 2.6.13-rc6 2.6.13-rc7 | |
958 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
959 | ||
960 | where release-script is a shell script that looks like: | |
961 | ||
962 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
963 | #!/bin/sh | |
964 | stable="$1" | |
965 | last="$2" | |
966 | new="$3" | |
967 | echo "# git tag v$new" | |
968 | echo "git archive --prefix=linux-$new/ v$new | gzip -9 > ../linux-$new.tar.gz" | |
969 | echo "git diff v$stable v$new | gzip -9 > ../patch-$new.gz" | |
970 | echo "git log --no-merges v$new ^v$last > ../ChangeLog-$new" | |
971 | echo "git shortlog --no-merges v$new ^v$last > ../ShortLog" | |
972 | echo "git diff --stat --summary -M v$last v$new > ../diffstat-$new" | |
973 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
974 | ||
975 | and then he just cut-and-pastes the output commands after verifying that | |
976 | they look OK. | |
4a7979ca | 977 | |
e1ba4c32 | 978 | [[Finding-commits-With-given-Content]] |
187b0d80 | 979 | Finding commits referencing a file with given content |
d5821de2 | 980 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
187b0d80 BF |
981 | |
982 | Somebody hands you a copy of a file, and asks which commits modified a | |
983 | file such that it contained the given content either before or after the | |
984 | commit. You can find out with this: | |
985 | ||
986 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
477ff5b7 | 987 | $ git log --raw --abbrev=40 --pretty=oneline | |
187b0d80 BF |
988 | grep -B 1 `git hash-object filename` |
989 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
990 | ||
991 | Figuring out why this works is left as an exercise to the (advanced) | |
5162e697 DM |
992 | student. The linkgit:git-log[1], linkgit:git-diff-tree[1], and |
993 | linkgit:git-hash-object[1] man pages may prove helpful. | |
187b0d80 | 994 | |
aa971cb9 | 995 | [[Developing-With-git]] |
2de9b711 | 996 | Developing with Git |
d19fbc3c BF |
997 | =================== |
998 | ||
e34caace | 999 | [[telling-git-your-name]] |
2de9b711 | 1000 | Telling Git your name |
d19fbc3c BF |
1001 | --------------------- |
1002 | ||
632cc3e6 TK |
1003 | Before creating any commits, you should introduce yourself to Git. |
1004 | The easiest way to do so is to use linkgit:git-config[1]: | |
1005 | ||
1006 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1007 | $ git config --global user.name 'Your Name Comes Here' | |
1008 | $ git config --global user.email 'you@yourdomain.example.com' | |
1009 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1010 | ||
1011 | Which will add the following to a file named `.gitconfig` in your | |
1012 | home directory: | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1013 | |
1014 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1015 | [user] |
1016 | name = Your Name Comes Here | |
1017 | email = you@yourdomain.example.com | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1018 | ------------------------------------------------ |
1019 | ||
632cc3e6 TK |
1020 | See the "CONFIGURATION FILE" section of linkgit:git-config[1] for |
1021 | details on the configuration file. The file is plain text, so you can | |
1022 | also edit it with your favorite editor. | |
fc90c536 | 1023 | |
d19fbc3c | 1024 | |
e34caace | 1025 | [[creating-a-new-repository]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
1026 | Creating a new repository |
1027 | ------------------------- | |
1028 | ||
1029 | Creating a new repository from scratch is very easy: | |
1030 | ||
1031 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1032 | $ mkdir project | |
1033 | $ cd project | |
f1d2b477 | 1034 | $ git init |
d19fbc3c BF |
1035 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1036 | ||
1037 | If you have some initial content (say, a tarball): | |
1038 | ||
1039 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
0ddd93b2 | 1040 | $ tar xzvf project.tar.gz |
d19fbc3c | 1041 | $ cd project |
f1d2b477 | 1042 | $ git init |
d19fbc3c BF |
1043 | $ git add . # include everything below ./ in the first commit: |
1044 | $ git commit | |
1045 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1046 | ||
1047 | [[how-to-make-a-commit]] | |
ae25c67a | 1048 | How to make a commit |
d19fbc3c BF |
1049 | -------------------- |
1050 | ||
1051 | Creating a new commit takes three steps: | |
1052 | ||
1053 | 1. Making some changes to the working directory using your | |
1054 | favorite editor. | |
2de9b711 TA |
1055 | 2. Telling Git about your changes. |
1056 | 3. Creating the commit using the content you told Git about | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1057 | in step 2. |
1058 | ||
1059 | In practice, you can interleave and repeat steps 1 and 2 as many | |
1060 | times as you want: in order to keep track of what you want committed | |
2de9b711 | 1061 | at step 3, Git maintains a snapshot of the tree's contents in a |
d19fbc3c BF |
1062 | special staging area called "the index." |
1063 | ||
01997b4a | 1064 | At the beginning, the content of the index will be identical to |
1249d8ad | 1065 | that of the HEAD. The command `git diff --cached`, which shows |
01997b4a BF |
1066 | the difference between the HEAD and the index, should therefore |
1067 | produce no output at that point. | |
eb6ae7f4 | 1068 | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1069 | Modifying the index is easy: |
1070 | ||
1071 | To update the index with the new contents of a modified file, use | |
1072 | ||
1073 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1074 | $ git add path/to/file | |
1075 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1076 | ||
1077 | To add the contents of a new file to the index, use | |
1078 | ||
1079 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1080 | $ git add path/to/file | |
1081 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1082 | ||
eb6ae7f4 | 1083 | To remove a file from the index and from the working tree, |
d19fbc3c BF |
1084 | |
1085 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1086 | $ git rm path/to/file | |
1087 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1088 | ||
1089 | After each step you can verify that | |
1090 | ||
1091 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1092 | $ git diff --cached | |
1093 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1094 | ||
1095 | always shows the difference between the HEAD and the index file--this | |
1096 | is what you'd commit if you created the commit now--and that | |
1097 | ||
1098 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1099 | $ git diff | |
1100 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1101 | ||
1102 | shows the difference between the working tree and the index file. | |
1103 | ||
1249d8ad | 1104 | Note that `git add` always adds just the current contents of a file |
d19fbc3c | 1105 | to the index; further changes to the same file will be ignored unless |
6127c086 | 1106 | you run `git add` on the file again. |
d19fbc3c BF |
1107 | |
1108 | When you're ready, just run | |
1109 | ||
1110 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1111 | $ git commit | |
1112 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1113 | ||
2de9b711 | 1114 | and Git will prompt you for a commit message and then create the new |
3dff5379 | 1115 | commit. Check to make sure it looks like what you expected with |
d19fbc3c BF |
1116 | |
1117 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1118 | $ git show | |
1119 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1120 | ||
1121 | As a special shortcut, | |
a6080a0a | 1122 | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1123 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1124 | $ git commit -a | |
1125 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1126 | ||
1127 | will update the index with any files that you've modified or removed | |
1128 | and create a commit, all in one step. | |
1129 | ||
1130 | A number of commands are useful for keeping track of what you're | |
1131 | about to commit: | |
1132 | ||
1133 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1134 | $ git diff --cached # difference between HEAD and the index; what | |
1130845b | 1135 | # would be committed if you ran "commit" now. |
d19fbc3c BF |
1136 | $ git diff # difference between the index file and your |
1137 | # working directory; changes that would not | |
1138 | # be included if you ran "commit" now. | |
c64415e2 BF |
1139 | $ git diff HEAD # difference between HEAD and working tree; what |
1140 | # would be committed if you ran "commit -a" now. | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1141 | $ git status # a brief per-file summary of the above. |
1142 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1143 | ||
5162e697 | 1144 | You can also use linkgit:git-gui[1] to create commits, view changes in |
407c0c87 BF |
1145 | the index and the working tree files, and individually select diff hunks |
1146 | for inclusion in the index (by right-clicking on the diff hunk and | |
1147 | choosing "Stage Hunk For Commit"). | |
1148 | ||
e34caace | 1149 | [[creating-good-commit-messages]] |
ae25c67a | 1150 | Creating good commit messages |
d19fbc3c BF |
1151 | ----------------------------- |
1152 | ||
1153 | Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message | |
1154 | with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the | |
1155 | change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough | |
52ffe995 JW |
1156 | description. The text up to the first blank line in a commit |
1157 | message is treated as the commit title, and that title is used | |
2de9b711 | 1158 | throughout Git. For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a |
52ffe995 JW |
1159 | commit into email, and it uses the title on the Subject line and the |
1160 | rest of the commit in the body. | |
1161 | ||
d19fbc3c | 1162 | |
2dc53617 JH |
1163 | [[ignoring-files]] |
1164 | Ignoring files | |
1165 | -------------- | |
1166 | ||
2de9b711 | 1167 | A project will often generate files that you do 'not' want to track with Git. |
2dc53617 | 1168 | This typically includes files generated by a build process or temporary |
2de9b711 | 1169 | backup files made by your editor. Of course, 'not' tracking files with Git |
6127c086 | 1170 | is just a matter of 'not' calling `git add` on them. But it quickly becomes |
2dc53617 | 1171 | annoying to have these untracked files lying around; e.g. they make |
dcb11263 CJ |
1172 | `git add .` practically useless, and they keep showing up in the output of |
1173 | `git status`. | |
2dc53617 | 1174 | |
1249d8ad TK |
1175 | You can tell Git to ignore certain files by creating a file called |
1176 | `.gitignore` in the top level of your working directory, with contents | |
1177 | such as: | |
2dc53617 JH |
1178 | |
1179 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1180 | # Lines starting with '#' are considered comments. | |
464a8a7a | 1181 | # Ignore any file named foo.txt. |
2dc53617 JH |
1182 | foo.txt |
1183 | # Ignore (generated) html files, | |
1184 | *.html | |
1185 | # except foo.html which is maintained by hand. | |
1186 | !foo.html | |
1187 | # Ignore objects and archives. | |
1188 | *.[oa] | |
1189 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1190 | ||
5162e697 | 1191 | See linkgit:gitignore[5] for a detailed explanation of the syntax. You can |
464a8a7a BF |
1192 | also place .gitignore files in other directories in your working tree, and they |
1193 | will apply to those directories and their subdirectories. The `.gitignore` | |
1194 | files can be added to your repository like any other files (just run `git add | |
1195 | .gitignore` and `git commit`, as usual), which is convenient when the exclude | |
1196 | patterns (such as patterns matching build output files) would also make sense | |
1197 | for other users who clone your repository. | |
1198 | ||
1199 | If you wish the exclude patterns to affect only certain repositories | |
1200 | (instead of every repository for a given project), you may instead put | |
1249d8ad TK |
1201 | them in a file in your repository named `.git/info/exclude`, or in any |
1202 | file specified by the `core.excludesfile` configuration variable. | |
1203 | Some Git commands can also take exclude patterns directly on the | |
1204 | command line. See linkgit:gitignore[5] for the details. | |
2dc53617 | 1205 | |
e34caace | 1206 | [[how-to-merge]] |
ae25c67a | 1207 | How to merge |
d19fbc3c BF |
1208 | ------------ |
1209 | ||
1210 | You can rejoin two diverging branches of development using | |
5162e697 | 1211 | linkgit:git-merge[1]: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1212 | |
1213 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1214 | $ git merge branchname | |
1215 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1216 | ||
1249d8ad | 1217 | merges the development in the branch `branchname` into the current |
e63ec003 MM |
1218 | branch. |
1219 | ||
1249d8ad | 1220 | A merge is made by combining the changes made in `branchname` and the |
e63ec003 MM |
1221 | changes made up to the latest commit in your current branch since |
1222 | their histories forked. The work tree is overwritten by the result of | |
1223 | the merge when this combining is done cleanly, or overwritten by a | |
1224 | half-merged results when this combining results in conflicts. | |
1225 | Therefore, if you have uncommitted changes touching the same files as | |
1226 | the ones impacted by the merge, Git will refuse to proceed. Most of | |
1227 | the time, you will want to commit your changes before you can merge, | |
1228 | and if you don't, then linkgit:git-stash[1] can take these changes | |
1229 | away while you're doing the merge, and reapply them afterwards. | |
1230 | ||
6a5d0b0a | 1231 | If the changes are independent enough, Git will automatically complete |
e63ec003 MM |
1232 | the merge and commit the result (or reuse an existing commit in case |
1233 | of <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>, see below). On the other hand, | |
1234 | if there are conflicts--for example, if the same file is | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1235 | modified in two different ways in the remote branch and the local |
1236 | branch--then you are warned; the output may look something like this: | |
1237 | ||
1238 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
fabbd8f6 BF |
1239 | $ git merge next |
1240 | 100% (4/4) done | |
1241 | Auto-merged file.txt | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1242 | CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in file.txt |
1243 | Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result. | |
1244 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1245 | ||
1246 | Conflict markers are left in the problematic files, and after | |
1247 | you resolve the conflicts manually, you can update the index | |
2de9b711 | 1248 | with the contents and run Git commit, as you normally would when |
d19fbc3c BF |
1249 | creating a new file. |
1250 | ||
1251 | If you examine the resulting commit using gitk, you will see that it | |
1252 | has two parents, one pointing to the top of the current branch, and | |
1253 | one to the top of the other branch. | |
1254 | ||
d19fbc3c BF |
1255 | [[resolving-a-merge]] |
1256 | Resolving a merge | |
1257 | ----------------- | |
1258 | ||
2de9b711 | 1259 | When a merge isn't resolved automatically, Git leaves the index and |
d19fbc3c BF |
1260 | the working tree in a special state that gives you all the |
1261 | information you need to help resolve the merge. | |
1262 | ||
1263 | Files with conflicts are marked specially in the index, so until you | |
5162e697 | 1264 | resolve the problem and update the index, linkgit:git-commit[1] will |
ef561ac7 | 1265 | fail: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1266 | |
1267 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1268 | $ git commit | |
1269 | file.txt: needs merge | |
1270 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1271 | ||
5162e697 | 1272 | Also, linkgit:git-status[1] will list those files as "unmerged", and the |
ef561ac7 BF |
1273 | files with conflicts will have conflict markers added, like this: |
1274 | ||
1275 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1276 | <<<<<<< HEAD:file.txt | |
1277 | Hello world | |
1278 | ======= | |
1279 | Goodbye | |
1280 | >>>>>>> 77976da35a11db4580b80ae27e8d65caf5208086:file.txt | |
1281 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1282 | ||
1283 | All you need to do is edit the files to resolve the conflicts, and then | |
1284 | ||
1285 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1286 | $ git add file.txt | |
1287 | $ git commit | |
1288 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1289 | ||
1290 | Note that the commit message will already be filled in for you with | |
1291 | some information about the merge. Normally you can just use this | |
1292 | default message unchanged, but you may add additional commentary of | |
1293 | your own if desired. | |
1294 | ||
2de9b711 | 1295 | The above is all you need to know to resolve a simple merge. But Git |
ef561ac7 BF |
1296 | also provides more information to help resolve conflicts: |
1297 | ||
e34caace | 1298 | [[conflict-resolution]] |
ef561ac7 BF |
1299 | Getting conflict-resolution help during a merge |
1300 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
d19fbc3c | 1301 | |
2de9b711 | 1302 | All of the changes that Git was able to merge automatically are |
5162e697 | 1303 | already added to the index file, so linkgit:git-diff[1] shows only |
ef561ac7 | 1304 | the conflicts. It uses an unusual syntax: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1305 | |
1306 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1307 | $ git diff | |
1308 | diff --cc file.txt | |
1309 | index 802992c,2b60207..0000000 | |
1310 | --- a/file.txt | |
1311 | +++ b/file.txt | |
1312 | @@@ -1,1 -1,1 +1,5 @@@ | |
1313 | ++<<<<<<< HEAD:file.txt | |
1314 | +Hello world | |
1315 | ++======= | |
1316 | + Goodbye | |
1317 | ++>>>>>>> 77976da35a11db4580b80ae27e8d65caf5208086:file.txt | |
1318 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1319 | ||
1130845b | 1320 | Recall that the commit which will be committed after we resolve this |
d19fbc3c BF |
1321 | conflict will have two parents instead of the usual one: one parent |
1322 | will be HEAD, the tip of the current branch; the other will be the | |
1323 | tip of the other branch, which is stored temporarily in MERGE_HEAD. | |
1324 | ||
ef561ac7 BF |
1325 | During the merge, the index holds three versions of each file. Each of |
1326 | these three "file stages" represents a different version of the file: | |
1327 | ||
1328 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1329 | $ git show :1:file.txt # the file in a common ancestor of both branches | |
4209752d JH |
1330 | $ git show :2:file.txt # the version from HEAD. |
1331 | $ git show :3:file.txt # the version from MERGE_HEAD. | |
ef561ac7 BF |
1332 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1333 | ||
4209752d JH |
1334 | When you ask linkgit:git-diff[1] to show the conflicts, it runs a |
1335 | three-way diff between the conflicted merge results in the work tree with | |
1336 | stages 2 and 3 to show only hunks whose contents come from both sides, | |
1337 | mixed (in other words, when a hunk's merge results come only from stage 2, | |
1338 | that part is not conflicting and is not shown. Same for stage 3). | |
ef561ac7 BF |
1339 | |
1340 | The diff above shows the differences between the working-tree version of | |
1341 | file.txt and the stage 2 and stage 3 versions. So instead of preceding | |
1249d8ad | 1342 | each line by a single `+` or `-`, it now uses two columns: the first |
ef561ac7 BF |
1343 | column is used for differences between the first parent and the working |
1344 | directory copy, and the second for differences between the second parent | |
1345 | and the working directory copy. (See the "COMBINED DIFF FORMAT" section | |
5162e697 | 1346 | of linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for a details of the format.) |
ef561ac7 BF |
1347 | |
1348 | After resolving the conflict in the obvious way (but before updating the | |
1349 | index), the diff will look like: | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1350 | |
1351 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1352 | $ git diff | |
1353 | diff --cc file.txt | |
1354 | index 802992c,2b60207..0000000 | |
1355 | --- a/file.txt | |
1356 | +++ b/file.txt | |
1357 | @@@ -1,1 -1,1 +1,1 @@@ | |
1358 | - Hello world | |
1359 | -Goodbye | |
1360 | ++Goodbye world | |
1361 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1362 | ||
1363 | This shows that our resolved version deleted "Hello world" from the | |
1364 | first parent, deleted "Goodbye" from the second parent, and added | |
1365 | "Goodbye world", which was previously absent from both. | |
1366 | ||
ef561ac7 BF |
1367 | Some special diff options allow diffing the working directory against |
1368 | any of these stages: | |
1369 | ||
1370 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1371 | $ git diff -1 file.txt # diff against stage 1 | |
1372 | $ git diff --base file.txt # same as the above | |
1373 | $ git diff -2 file.txt # diff against stage 2 | |
1374 | $ git diff --ours file.txt # same as the above | |
1375 | $ git diff -3 file.txt # diff against stage 3 | |
1376 | $ git diff --theirs file.txt # same as the above. | |
1377 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1378 | ||
0cafe944 | 1379 | The linkgit:git-log[1] and linkgit:gitk[1] commands also provide special help |
ef561ac7 | 1380 | for merges: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1381 | |
1382 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1383 | $ git log --merge | |
ef561ac7 | 1384 | $ gitk --merge |
d19fbc3c BF |
1385 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1386 | ||
ef561ac7 BF |
1387 | These will display all commits which exist only on HEAD or on |
1388 | MERGE_HEAD, and which touch an unmerged file. | |
d19fbc3c | 1389 | |
5162e697 | 1390 | You may also use linkgit:git-mergetool[1], which lets you merge the |
c7719fbe | 1391 | unmerged files using external tools such as Emacs or kdiff3. |
c64415e2 | 1392 | |
ef561ac7 | 1393 | Each time you resolve the conflicts in a file and update the index: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1394 | |
1395 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1396 | $ git add file.txt | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1397 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1398 | ||
ef561ac7 | 1399 | the different stages of that file will be "collapsed", after which |
6127c086 | 1400 | `git diff` will (by default) no longer show diffs for that file. |
d19fbc3c BF |
1401 | |
1402 | [[undoing-a-merge]] | |
ae25c67a | 1403 | Undoing a merge |
d19fbc3c BF |
1404 | --------------- |
1405 | ||
1406 | If you get stuck and decide to just give up and throw the whole mess | |
1407 | away, you can always return to the pre-merge state with | |
1408 | ||
1409 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1410 | $ git reset --hard HEAD | |
1411 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1412 | ||
1130845b | 1413 | Or, if you've already committed the merge that you want to throw away, |
d19fbc3c BF |
1414 | |
1415 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1c73bb0e | 1416 | $ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD |
d19fbc3c BF |
1417 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1418 | ||
1419 | However, this last command can be dangerous in some cases--never | |
1420 | throw away a commit you have already committed if that commit may | |
1421 | itself have been merged into another branch, as doing so may confuse | |
1422 | further merges. | |
1423 | ||
e34caace | 1424 | [[fast-forwards]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
1425 | Fast-forward merges |
1426 | ------------------- | |
1427 | ||
1428 | There is one special case not mentioned above, which is treated | |
1429 | differently. Normally, a merge results in a merge commit, with two | |
1430 | parents, one pointing at each of the two lines of development that | |
1431 | were merged. | |
1432 | ||
59723040 | 1433 | However, if the current branch is a descendant of the other--so every |
2de9b711 | 1434 | commit present in the one is already contained in the other--then Git |
a75d7b54 | 1435 | just performs a "fast-forward"; the head of the current branch is moved |
59723040 BF |
1436 | forward to point at the head of the merged-in branch, without any new |
1437 | commits being created. | |
d19fbc3c | 1438 | |
e34caace | 1439 | [[fixing-mistakes]] |
b684f830 BF |
1440 | Fixing mistakes |
1441 | --------------- | |
1442 | ||
1443 | If you've messed up the working tree, but haven't yet committed your | |
1444 | mistake, you can return the entire working tree to the last committed | |
1445 | state with | |
1446 | ||
1447 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1448 | $ git reset --hard HEAD | |
1449 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1450 | ||
1451 | If you make a commit that you later wish you hadn't, there are two | |
1452 | fundamentally different ways to fix the problem: | |
1453 | ||
1454 | 1. You can create a new commit that undoes whatever was done | |
93cbbd71 | 1455 | by the old commit. This is the correct thing if your |
b684f830 BF |
1456 | mistake has already been made public. |
1457 | ||
1458 | 2. You can go back and modify the old commit. You should | |
1459 | never do this if you have already made the history public; | |
2de9b711 | 1460 | Git does not normally expect the "history" of a project to |
b684f830 BF |
1461 | change, and cannot correctly perform repeated merges from |
1462 | a branch that has had its history changed. | |
1463 | ||
e34caace | 1464 | [[reverting-a-commit]] |
b684f830 BF |
1465 | Fixing a mistake with a new commit |
1466 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1467 | ||
1468 | Creating a new commit that reverts an earlier change is very easy; | |
5162e697 | 1469 | just pass the linkgit:git-revert[1] command a reference to the bad |
b684f830 BF |
1470 | commit; for example, to revert the most recent commit: |
1471 | ||
1472 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1473 | $ git revert HEAD | |
1474 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1475 | ||
1476 | This will create a new commit which undoes the change in HEAD. You | |
1477 | will be given a chance to edit the commit message for the new commit. | |
1478 | ||
1479 | You can also revert an earlier change, for example, the next-to-last: | |
1480 | ||
1481 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1482 | $ git revert HEAD^ | |
1483 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1484 | ||
2de9b711 | 1485 | In this case Git will attempt to undo the old change while leaving |
b684f830 BF |
1486 | intact any changes made since then. If more recent changes overlap |
1487 | with the changes to be reverted, then you will be asked to fix | |
1488 | conflicts manually, just as in the case of <<resolving-a-merge, | |
1489 | resolving a merge>>. | |
1490 | ||
7cb192ea BF |
1491 | [[fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history]] |
1492 | Fixing a mistake by rewriting history | |
b684f830 BF |
1493 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
1494 | ||
1495 | If the problematic commit is the most recent commit, and you have not | |
1496 | yet made that commit public, then you may just | |
6127c086 | 1497 | <<undoing-a-merge,destroy it using `git reset`>>. |
b684f830 BF |
1498 | |
1499 | Alternatively, you | |
1500 | can edit the working directory and update the index to fix your | |
1501 | mistake, just as if you were going to <<how-to-make-a-commit,create a | |
1502 | new commit>>, then run | |
1503 | ||
1504 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1505 | $ git commit --amend | |
1506 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1507 | ||
1508 | which will replace the old commit by a new commit incorporating your | |
1509 | changes, giving you a chance to edit the old commit message first. | |
1510 | ||
1511 | Again, you should never do this to a commit that may already have | |
5162e697 | 1512 | been merged into another branch; use linkgit:git-revert[1] instead in |
b684f830 BF |
1513 | that case. |
1514 | ||
7cb192ea | 1515 | It is also possible to replace commits further back in the history, but |
b684f830 BF |
1516 | this is an advanced topic to be left for |
1517 | <<cleaning-up-history,another chapter>>. | |
1518 | ||
e34caace | 1519 | [[checkout-of-path]] |
b684f830 BF |
1520 | Checking out an old version of a file |
1521 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1522 | ||
1523 | In the process of undoing a previous bad change, you may find it | |
1524 | useful to check out an older version of a particular file using | |
6127c086 | 1525 | linkgit:git-checkout[1]. We've used `git checkout` before to switch |
b684f830 BF |
1526 | branches, but it has quite different behavior if it is given a path |
1527 | name: the command | |
1528 | ||
1529 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1530 | $ git checkout HEAD^ path/to/file | |
1531 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1532 | ||
1533 | replaces path/to/file by the contents it had in the commit HEAD^, and | |
1534 | also updates the index to match. It does not change branches. | |
1535 | ||
1536 | If you just want to look at an old version of the file, without | |
1537 | modifying the working directory, you can do that with | |
5162e697 | 1538 | linkgit:git-show[1]: |
b684f830 BF |
1539 | |
1540 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
ed4eb0d8 | 1541 | $ git show HEAD^:path/to/file |
b684f830 BF |
1542 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1543 | ||
1544 | which will display the given version of the file. | |
1545 | ||
7a7cc594 JH |
1546 | [[interrupted-work]] |
1547 | Temporarily setting aside work in progress | |
1548 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1549 | ||
1550 | While you are in the middle of working on something complicated, you | |
1551 | find an unrelated but obvious and trivial bug. You would like to fix it | |
5162e697 | 1552 | before continuing. You can use linkgit:git-stash[1] to save the current |
7a7cc594 JH |
1553 | state of your work, and after fixing the bug (or, optionally after doing |
1554 | so on a different branch and then coming back), unstash the | |
1555 | work-in-progress changes. | |
1556 | ||
1557 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
7a85f6ae | 1558 | $ git stash save "work in progress for foo feature" |
7a7cc594 JH |
1559 | ------------------------------------------------ |
1560 | ||
1561 | This command will save your changes away to the `stash`, and | |
1562 | reset your working tree and the index to match the tip of your | |
1563 | current branch. Then you can make your fix as usual. | |
1564 | ||
1565 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1566 | ... edit and test ... | |
1567 | $ git commit -a -m "blorpl: typofix" | |
1568 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1569 | ||
1570 | After that, you can go back to what you were working on with | |
7b8988e1 | 1571 | `git stash pop`: |
7a7cc594 JH |
1572 | |
1573 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
7b8988e1 | 1574 | $ git stash pop |
7a7cc594 JH |
1575 | ------------------------------------------------ |
1576 | ||
1577 | ||
e34caace | 1578 | [[ensuring-good-performance]] |
d19fbc3c BF |
1579 | Ensuring good performance |
1580 | ------------------------- | |
1581 | ||
2de9b711 | 1582 | On large repositories, Git depends on compression to keep the history |
901fd180 | 1583 | information from taking up too much space on disk or in memory. Some |
e1ebf212 | 1584 | Git commands may automatically run linkgit:git-gc[1], so you don't |
901fd180 TK |
1585 | have to worry about running it manually. However, compressing a large |
1586 | repository may take a while, so you may want to call `gc` explicitly | |
1587 | to avoid automatic compression kicking in when it is not convenient. | |
d19fbc3c | 1588 | |
e34caace BF |
1589 | |
1590 | [[ensuring-reliability]] | |
11e016a3 BF |
1591 | Ensuring reliability |
1592 | -------------------- | |
1593 | ||
e34caace | 1594 | [[checking-for-corruption]] |
11e016a3 BF |
1595 | Checking the repository for corruption |
1596 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1597 | ||
5162e697 | 1598 | The linkgit:git-fsck[1] command runs a number of self-consistency checks |
1191ee18 | 1599 | on the repository, and reports on any problems. This may take some |
c6a13b2c | 1600 | time. |
21dcb3b7 BF |
1601 | |
1602 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
04e50e94 | 1603 | $ git fsck |
21dcb3b7 BF |
1604 | dangling commit 7281251ddd2a61e38657c827739c57015671a6b3 |
1605 | dangling commit 2706a059f258c6b245f298dc4ff2ccd30ec21a63 | |
1606 | dangling commit 13472b7c4b80851a1bc551779171dcb03655e9b5 | |
1607 | dangling blob 218761f9d90712d37a9c5e36f406f92202db07eb | |
1608 | dangling commit bf093535a34a4d35731aa2bd90fe6b176302f14f | |
1609 | dangling commit 8e4bec7f2ddaa268bef999853c25755452100f8e | |
1610 | dangling tree d50bb86186bf27b681d25af89d3b5b68382e4085 | |
1611 | dangling tree b24c2473f1fd3d91352a624795be026d64c8841f | |
1612 | ... | |
1613 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1614 | ||
c6a13b2c JH |
1615 | You will see informational messages on dangling objects. They are objects |
1616 | that still exist in the repository but are no longer referenced by any of | |
1249d8ad | 1617 | your branches, and can (and will) be removed after a while with `gc`. |
b4ab1980 | 1618 | You can run `git fsck --no-dangling` to suppress these messages, and still |
c6a13b2c | 1619 | view real errors. |
1cdade2c | 1620 | |
e34caace | 1621 | [[recovering-lost-changes]] |
11e016a3 BF |
1622 | Recovering lost changes |
1623 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1624 | ||
e34caace | 1625 | [[reflogs]] |
559e4d7a BF |
1626 | Reflogs |
1627 | ^^^^^^^ | |
1628 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
1629 | Say you modify a branch with <<fixing-mistakes,`git reset --hard`>>, |
1630 | and then realize that the branch was the only reference you had to | |
1631 | that point in history. | |
559e4d7a | 1632 | |
2de9b711 | 1633 | Fortunately, Git also keeps a log, called a "reflog", of all the |
559e4d7a | 1634 | previous values of each branch. So in this case you can still find the |
a6080a0a | 1635 | old history using, for example, |
559e4d7a BF |
1636 | |
1637 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1638 | $ git log master@{1} | |
1639 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1640 | ||
e502c2c3 | 1641 | This lists the commits reachable from the previous version of the |
1249d8ad TK |
1642 | `master` branch head. This syntax can be used with any Git command |
1643 | that accepts a commit, not just with `git log`. Some other examples: | |
559e4d7a BF |
1644 | |
1645 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1646 | $ git show master@{2} # See where the branch pointed 2, | |
1647 | $ git show master@{3} # 3, ... changes ago. | |
1648 | $ gitk master@{yesterday} # See where it pointed yesterday, | |
1649 | $ gitk master@{"1 week ago"} # ... or last week | |
953f3d6f BF |
1650 | $ git log --walk-reflogs master # show reflog entries for master |
1651 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1652 | ||
1653 | A separate reflog is kept for the HEAD, so | |
1654 | ||
1655 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1656 | $ git show HEAD@{"1 week ago"} | |
559e4d7a BF |
1657 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1658 | ||
953f3d6f BF |
1659 | will show what HEAD pointed to one week ago, not what the current branch |
1660 | pointed to one week ago. This allows you to see the history of what | |
1661 | you've checked out. | |
1662 | ||
559e4d7a | 1663 | The reflogs are kept by default for 30 days, after which they may be |
5162e697 | 1664 | pruned. See linkgit:git-reflog[1] and linkgit:git-gc[1] to learn |
559e4d7a | 1665 | how to control this pruning, and see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" |
9d83e382 | 1666 | section of linkgit:gitrevisions[7] for details. |
559e4d7a | 1667 | |
2de9b711 | 1668 | Note that the reflog history is very different from normal Git history. |
559e4d7a BF |
1669 | While normal history is shared by every repository that works on the |
1670 | same project, the reflog history is not shared: it tells you only about | |
1671 | how the branches in your local repository have changed over time. | |
1672 | ||
59723040 | 1673 | [[dangling-object-recovery]] |
559e4d7a BF |
1674 | Examining dangling objects |
1675 | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | |
1676 | ||
59723040 BF |
1677 | In some situations the reflog may not be able to save you. For example, |
1678 | suppose you delete a branch, then realize you need the history it | |
1679 | contained. The reflog is also deleted; however, if you have not yet | |
1680 | pruned the repository, then you may still be able to find the lost | |
6127c086 | 1681 | commits in the dangling objects that `git fsck` reports. See |
59723040 | 1682 | <<dangling-objects>> for the details. |
559e4d7a BF |
1683 | |
1684 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1685 | $ git fsck | |
1686 | dangling commit 7281251ddd2a61e38657c827739c57015671a6b3 | |
1687 | dangling commit 2706a059f258c6b245f298dc4ff2ccd30ec21a63 | |
1688 | dangling commit 13472b7c4b80851a1bc551779171dcb03655e9b5 | |
1689 | ... | |
1690 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1691 | ||
aacd404e | 1692 | You can examine |
559e4d7a BF |
1693 | one of those dangling commits with, for example, |
1694 | ||
1695 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1696 | $ gitk 7281251ddd --not --all | |
1697 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
1698 | ||
1699 | which does what it sounds like: it says that you want to see the commit | |
1700 | history that is described by the dangling commit(s), but not the | |
1701 | history that is described by all your existing branches and tags. Thus | |
1702 | you get exactly the history reachable from that commit that is lost. | |
1703 | (And notice that it might not be just one commit: we only report the | |
1704 | "tip of the line" as being dangling, but there might be a whole deep | |
79c96c57 | 1705 | and complex commit history that was dropped.) |
559e4d7a BF |
1706 | |
1707 | If you decide you want the history back, you can always create a new | |
1708 | reference pointing to it, for example, a new branch: | |
1709 | ||
1710 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
a6080a0a | 1711 | $ git branch recovered-branch 7281251ddd |
559e4d7a BF |
1712 | ------------------------------------------------ |
1713 | ||
59723040 BF |
1714 | Other types of dangling objects (blobs and trees) are also possible, and |
1715 | dangling objects can arise in other situations. | |
1716 | ||
11e016a3 | 1717 | |
e34caace | 1718 | [[sharing-development]] |
d19fbc3c | 1719 | Sharing development with others |
b684f830 | 1720 | =============================== |
d19fbc3c | 1721 | |
aa971cb9 | 1722 | [[getting-updates-With-git-pull]] |
6127c086 | 1723 | Getting updates with git pull |
b684f830 | 1724 | ----------------------------- |
d19fbc3c | 1725 | |
e63ec003 | 1726 | After you clone a repository and commit a few changes of your own, you |
d19fbc3c BF |
1727 | may wish to check the original repository for updates and merge them |
1728 | into your own work. | |
1729 | ||
aa971cb9 | 1730 | We have already seen <<Updating-a-repository-With-git-fetch,how to |
0e615b25 | 1731 | keep remote-tracking branches up to date>> with linkgit:git-fetch[1], |
d19fbc3c BF |
1732 | and how to merge two branches. So you can merge in changes from the |
1733 | original repository's master branch with: | |
1734 | ||
1735 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1736 | $ git fetch | |
1737 | $ git merge origin/master | |
1738 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1739 | ||
5162e697 | 1740 | However, the linkgit:git-pull[1] command provides a way to do this in |
d19fbc3c BF |
1741 | one step: |
1742 | ||
1743 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1744 | $ git pull origin master | |
1745 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1746 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
1747 | In fact, if you have `master` checked out, then this branch has been |
1748 | configured by `git clone` to get changes from the HEAD branch of the | |
66a062a1 | 1749 | origin repository. So often you can |
0eb4f7cd | 1750 | accomplish the above with just a simple |
d19fbc3c BF |
1751 | |
1752 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1753 | $ git pull | |
1754 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1755 | ||
66a062a1 MM |
1756 | This command will fetch changes from the remote branches to your |
1757 | remote-tracking branches `origin/*`, and merge the default branch into | |
1758 | the current branch. | |
1759 | ||
29b9a66f MM |
1760 | More generally, a branch that is created from a remote-tracking branch |
1761 | will pull | |
0eb4f7cd | 1762 | by default from that branch. See the descriptions of the |
1249d8ad | 1763 | `branch.<name>.remote` and `branch.<name>.merge` options in |
5162e697 DM |
1764 | linkgit:git-config[1], and the discussion of the `--track` option in |
1765 | linkgit:git-checkout[1], to learn how to control these defaults. | |
d19fbc3c | 1766 | |
1249d8ad | 1767 | In addition to saving you keystrokes, `git pull` also helps you by |
d19fbc3c BF |
1768 | producing a default commit message documenting the branch and |
1769 | repository that you pulled from. | |
1770 | ||
1771 | (But note that no such commit will be created in the case of a | |
a75d7b54 | 1772 | <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>; instead, your branch will just be |
79c96c57 | 1773 | updated to point to the latest commit from the upstream branch.) |
d19fbc3c | 1774 | |
1249d8ad | 1775 | The `git pull` command can also be given `.` as the "remote" repository, |
1191ee18 | 1776 | in which case it just merges in a branch from the current repository; so |
4c63ff45 BF |
1777 | the commands |
1778 | ||
1779 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1780 | $ git pull . branch | |
1781 | $ git merge branch | |
1782 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1783 | ||
1784 | are roughly equivalent. The former is actually very commonly used. | |
1785 | ||
e34caace | 1786 | [[submitting-patches]] |
d19fbc3c | 1787 | Submitting patches to a project |
b684f830 | 1788 | ------------------------------- |
d19fbc3c BF |
1789 | |
1790 | If you just have a few changes, the simplest way to submit them may | |
1791 | just be to send them as patches in email: | |
1792 | ||
5162e697 | 1793 | First, use linkgit:git-format-patch[1]; for example: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1794 | |
1795 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
eb6ae7f4 | 1796 | $ git format-patch origin |
d19fbc3c BF |
1797 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1798 | ||
1799 | will produce a numbered series of files in the current directory, one | |
1249d8ad | 1800 | for each patch in the current branch but not in `origin/HEAD`. |
d19fbc3c | 1801 | |
d84cef18 PO |
1802 | `git format-patch` can include an initial "cover letter". You can insert |
1803 | commentary on individual patches after the three dash line which | |
1804 | `format-patch` places after the commit message but before the patch | |
1805 | itself. If you use `git notes` to track your cover letter material, | |
1806 | `git format-patch --notes` will include the commit's notes in a similar | |
1807 | manner. | |
1808 | ||
d19fbc3c BF |
1809 | You can then import these into your mail client and send them by |
1810 | hand. However, if you have a lot to send at once, you may prefer to | |
5162e697 | 1811 | use the linkgit:git-send-email[1] script to automate the process. |
d19fbc3c BF |
1812 | Consult the mailing list for your project first to determine how they |
1813 | prefer such patches be handled. | |
1814 | ||
e34caace | 1815 | [[importing-patches]] |
d19fbc3c | 1816 | Importing patches to a project |
b684f830 | 1817 | ------------------------------ |
d19fbc3c | 1818 | |
5162e697 | 1819 | Git also provides a tool called linkgit:git-am[1] (am stands for |
d19fbc3c BF |
1820 | "apply mailbox"), for importing such an emailed series of patches. |
1821 | Just save all of the patch-containing messages, in order, into a | |
1249d8ad | 1822 | single mailbox file, say `patches.mbox`, then run |
d19fbc3c BF |
1823 | |
1824 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
eb6ae7f4 | 1825 | $ git am -3 patches.mbox |
d19fbc3c BF |
1826 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1827 | ||
1828 | Git will apply each patch in order; if any conflicts are found, it | |
1829 | will stop, and you can fix the conflicts as described in | |
1249d8ad | 1830 | "<<resolving-a-merge,Resolving a merge>>". (The `-3` option tells |
2de9b711 | 1831 | Git to perform a merge; if you would prefer it just to abort and |
01997b4a BF |
1832 | leave your tree and index untouched, you may omit that option.) |
1833 | ||
1834 | Once the index is updated with the results of the conflict | |
1835 | resolution, instead of creating a new commit, just run | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1836 | |
1837 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1838 | $ git am --resolved | |
1839 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1840 | ||
2de9b711 | 1841 | and Git will create the commit for you and continue applying the |
d19fbc3c BF |
1842 | remaining patches from the mailbox. |
1843 | ||
1844 | The final result will be a series of commits, one for each patch in | |
1845 | the original mailbox, with authorship and commit log message each | |
1846 | taken from the message containing each patch. | |
1847 | ||
eda69449 | 1848 | [[public-repositories]] |
2de9b711 | 1849 | Public Git repositories |
eda69449 | 1850 | ----------------------- |
d19fbc3c | 1851 | |
6e30fb0c DK |
1852 | Another way to submit changes to a project is to tell the maintainer |
1853 | of that project to pull the changes from your repository using | |
aa971cb9 | 1854 | linkgit:git-pull[1]. In the section "<<getting-updates-With-git-pull, |
6127c086 | 1855 | Getting updates with `git pull`>>" we described this as a way to get |
6e30fb0c DK |
1856 | updates from the "main" repository, but it works just as well in the |
1857 | other direction. | |
d19fbc3c | 1858 | |
eda69449 BF |
1859 | If you and the maintainer both have accounts on the same machine, then |
1860 | you can just pull changes from each other's repositories directly; | |
11d51533 | 1861 | commands that accept repository URLs as arguments will also accept a |
eda69449 | 1862 | local directory name: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1863 | |
1864 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1865 | $ git clone /path/to/repository | |
1866 | $ git pull /path/to/other/repository | |
1867 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1868 | ||
c9016158 | 1869 | or an ssh URL: |
11d51533 BF |
1870 | |
1871 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1872 | $ git clone ssh://yourhost/~you/repository | |
1873 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1874 | ||
1875 | For projects with few developers, or for synchronizing a few private | |
1876 | repositories, this may be all you need. | |
1877 | ||
eda69449 BF |
1878 | However, the more common way to do this is to maintain a separate public |
1879 | repository (usually on a different host) for others to pull changes | |
1880 | from. This is usually more convenient, and allows you to cleanly | |
1881 | separate private work in progress from publicly visible work. | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1882 | |
1883 | You will continue to do your day-to-day work in your personal | |
1884 | repository, but periodically "push" changes from your personal | |
1885 | repository into your public repository, allowing other developers to | |
1886 | pull from that repository. So the flow of changes, in a situation | |
1887 | where there is one other developer with a public repository, looks | |
1888 | like this: | |
1889 | ||
1890 | you push | |
1891 | your personal repo ------------------> your public repo | |
a6080a0a | 1892 | ^ | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1893 | | | |
1894 | | you pull | they pull | |
1895 | | | | |
1896 | | | | |
1897 | | they push V | |
1898 | their public repo <------------------- their repo | |
1899 | ||
11d51533 BF |
1900 | We explain how to do this in the following sections. |
1901 | ||
eda69449 BF |
1902 | [[setting-up-a-public-repository]] |
1903 | Setting up a public repository | |
1904 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
1905 | ||
1249d8ad | 1906 | Assume your personal repository is in the directory `~/proj`. We |
6127c086 | 1907 | first create a new clone of the repository and tell `git daemon` that it |
eda69449 | 1908 | is meant to be public: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1909 | |
1910 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
52c80037 | 1911 | $ git clone --bare ~/proj proj.git |
eda69449 | 1912 | $ touch proj.git/git-daemon-export-ok |
d19fbc3c BF |
1913 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1914 | ||
52c80037 | 1915 | The resulting directory proj.git contains a "bare" git repository--it is |
1249d8ad | 1916 | just the contents of the `.git` directory, without any files checked out |
eda69449 | 1917 | around it. |
d19fbc3c | 1918 | |
1249d8ad | 1919 | Next, copy `proj.git` to the server where you plan to host the |
d19fbc3c BF |
1920 | public repository. You can use scp, rsync, or whatever is most |
1921 | convenient. | |
1922 | ||
eda69449 | 1923 | [[exporting-via-git]] |
2de9b711 | 1924 | Exporting a Git repository via the Git protocol |
eda69449 BF |
1925 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
1926 | ||
1927 | This is the preferred method. | |
1928 | ||
1929 | If someone else administers the server, they should tell you what | |
1249d8ad TK |
1930 | directory to put the repository in, and what `git://` URL it will |
1931 | appear at. You can then skip to the section | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1932 | "<<pushing-changes-to-a-public-repository,Pushing changes to a public |
1933 | repository>>", below. | |
1934 | ||
5162e697 | 1935 | Otherwise, all you need to do is start linkgit:git-daemon[1]; it will |
eda69449 | 1936 | listen on port 9418. By default, it will allow access to any directory |
2de9b711 | 1937 | that looks like a Git directory and contains the magic file |
6127c086 | 1938 | git-daemon-export-ok. Passing some directory paths as `git daemon` |
eda69449 BF |
1939 | arguments will further restrict the exports to those paths. |
1940 | ||
6127c086 | 1941 | You can also run `git daemon` as an inetd service; see the |
5162e697 | 1942 | linkgit:git-daemon[1] man page for details. (See especially the |
eda69449 | 1943 | examples section.) |
d19fbc3c BF |
1944 | |
1945 | [[exporting-via-http]] | |
de3f2c7b | 1946 | Exporting a git repository via HTTP |
eda69449 | 1947 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
d19fbc3c | 1948 | |
2de9b711 | 1949 | The Git protocol gives better performance and reliability, but on a |
de3f2c7b | 1950 | host with a web server set up, HTTP exports may be simpler to set up. |
d19fbc3c | 1951 | |
2de9b711 | 1952 | All you need to do is place the newly created bare Git repository in |
d19fbc3c BF |
1953 | a directory that is exported by the web server, and make some |
1954 | adjustments to give web clients some extra information they need: | |
1955 | ||
1956 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1957 | $ mv proj.git /home/you/public_html/proj.git | |
1958 | $ cd proj.git | |
c64415e2 | 1959 | $ git --bare update-server-info |
7dce9918 | 1960 | $ mv hooks/post-update.sample hooks/post-update |
d19fbc3c BF |
1961 | ------------------------------------------------- |
1962 | ||
1963 | (For an explanation of the last two lines, see | |
6998e4db | 1964 | linkgit:git-update-server-info[1] and linkgit:githooks[5].) |
d19fbc3c | 1965 | |
1249d8ad | 1966 | Advertise the URL of `proj.git`. Anybody else should then be able to |
c9016158 | 1967 | clone or pull from that URL, for example with a command line like: |
d19fbc3c BF |
1968 | |
1969 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1970 | $ git clone http://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git | |
1971 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1972 | ||
1973 | (See also | |
1974 | link:howto/setup-git-server-over-http.txt[setup-git-server-over-http] | |
1975 | for a slightly more sophisticated setup using WebDAV which also | |
de3f2c7b | 1976 | allows pushing over HTTP.) |
d19fbc3c | 1977 | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1978 | [[pushing-changes-to-a-public-repository]] |
1979 | Pushing changes to a public repository | |
eda69449 | 1980 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
d19fbc3c | 1981 | |
eda69449 | 1982 | Note that the two techniques outlined above (exporting via |
d19fbc3c BF |
1983 | <<exporting-via-http,http>> or <<exporting-via-git,git>>) allow other |
1984 | maintainers to fetch your latest changes, but they do not allow write | |
1985 | access, which you will need to update the public repository with the | |
1986 | latest changes created in your private repository. | |
1987 | ||
5162e697 | 1988 | The simplest way to do this is using linkgit:git-push[1] and ssh; to |
1249d8ad TK |
1989 | update the remote branch named `master` with the latest state of your |
1990 | branch named `master`, run | |
d19fbc3c BF |
1991 | |
1992 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1993 | $ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git master:master | |
1994 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1995 | ||
1996 | or just | |
1997 | ||
1998 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1999 | $ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git master | |
2000 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2001 | ||
6127c086 | 2002 | As with `git fetch`, `git push` will complain if this does not result in a |
a75d7b54 | 2003 | <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>; see the following section for details on |
81eb417a | 2004 | handling this case. |
d19fbc3c | 2005 | |
1249d8ad | 2006 | Note that the target of a `push` is normally a |
11d51533 | 2007 | <<def_bare_repository,bare>> repository. You can also push to a |
d9be2485 TK |
2008 | repository that has a checked-out working tree, but a push to update the |
2009 | currently checked-out branch is denied by default to prevent confusion. | |
50995edd | 2010 | See the description of the receive.denyCurrentBranch option |
d9be2485 | 2011 | in linkgit:git-config[1] for details. |
11d51533 | 2012 | |
6127c086 | 2013 | As with `git fetch`, you may also set up configuration options to |
e9b49083 TK |
2014 | save typing; so, for example: |
2015 | ||
2016 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2017 | $ git remote add public-repo ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git | |
2018 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2019 | ||
2020 | adds the following to `.git/config`: | |
d19fbc3c BF |
2021 | |
2022 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
d19fbc3c | 2023 | [remote "public-repo"] |
e9b49083 TK |
2024 | url = yourserver.com:proj.git |
2025 | fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/example/* | |
d19fbc3c BF |
2026 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2027 | ||
e9b49083 | 2028 | which lets you do the same push with just |
d19fbc3c BF |
2029 | |
2030 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2031 | $ git push public-repo master | |
2032 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2033 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
2034 | See the explanations of the `remote.<name>.url`, |
2035 | `branch.<name>.remote`, and `remote.<name>.push` options in | |
2036 | linkgit:git-config[1] for details. | |
d19fbc3c | 2037 | |
81eb417a BF |
2038 | [[forcing-push]] |
2039 | What to do when a push fails | |
2040 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
2041 | ||
a75d7b54 | 2042 | If a push would not result in a <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>> of the |
81eb417a BF |
2043 | remote branch, then it will fail with an error like: |
2044 | ||
2045 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2046 | error: remote 'refs/heads/master' is not an ancestor of | |
2047 | local 'refs/heads/master'. | |
2048 | Maybe you are not up-to-date and need to pull first? | |
2049 | error: failed to push to 'ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git' | |
2050 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2051 | ||
2052 | This can happen, for example, if you: | |
2053 | ||
6127c086 FC |
2054 | - use `git reset --hard` to remove already-published commits, or |
2055 | - use `git commit --amend` to replace already-published commits | |
7cb192ea | 2056 | (as in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history>>), or |
6127c086 | 2057 | - use `git rebase` to rebase any already-published commits (as |
81eb417a BF |
2058 | in <<using-git-rebase>>). |
2059 | ||
6127c086 | 2060 | You may force `git push` to perform the update anyway by preceding the |
81eb417a BF |
2061 | branch name with a plus sign: |
2062 | ||
2063 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2064 | $ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git +master | |
2065 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2066 | ||
d1471e06 TK |
2067 | Note the addition of the `+` sign. Alternatively, you can use the |
2068 | `-f` flag to force the remote update, as in: | |
2069 | ||
2070 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2071 | $ git push -f ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git master | |
2072 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2073 | ||
81eb417a | 2074 | Normally whenever a branch head in a public repository is modified, it |
9e5d87d4 | 2075 | is modified to point to a descendant of the commit that it pointed to |
81eb417a | 2076 | before. By forcing a push in this situation, you break that convention. |
aa971cb9 | 2077 | (See <<problems-With-rewriting-history>>.) |
81eb417a BF |
2078 | |
2079 | Nevertheless, this is a common practice for people that need a simple | |
2080 | way to publish a work-in-progress patch series, and it is an acceptable | |
2081 | compromise as long as you warn other developers that this is how you | |
2082 | intend to manage the branch. | |
2083 | ||
2084 | It's also possible for a push to fail in this way when other people have | |
2085 | the right to push to the same repository. In that case, the correct | |
843c81dc EH |
2086 | solution is to retry the push after first updating your work: either by a |
2087 | pull, or by a fetch followed by a rebase; see the | |
81eb417a | 2088 | <<setting-up-a-shared-repository,next section>> and |
6998e4db | 2089 | linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7] for more. |
81eb417a | 2090 | |
e34caace | 2091 | [[setting-up-a-shared-repository]] |
d19fbc3c | 2092 | Setting up a shared repository |
eda69449 | 2093 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
d19fbc3c BF |
2094 | |
2095 | Another way to collaborate is by using a model similar to that | |
2096 | commonly used in CVS, where several developers with special rights | |
2097 | all push to and pull from a single shared repository. See | |
6998e4db | 2098 | linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7] for instructions on how to |
d19fbc3c BF |
2099 | set this up. |
2100 | ||
2de9b711 | 2101 | However, while there is nothing wrong with Git's support for shared |
8fae2225 | 2102 | repositories, this mode of operation is not generally recommended, |
2de9b711 | 2103 | simply because the mode of collaboration that Git supports--by |
8fae2225 BF |
2104 | exchanging patches and pulling from public repositories--has so many |
2105 | advantages over the central shared repository: | |
2106 | ||
2107 | - Git's ability to quickly import and merge patches allows a | |
2108 | single maintainer to process incoming changes even at very | |
6127c086 | 2109 | high rates. And when that becomes too much, `git pull` provides |
8fae2225 BF |
2110 | an easy way for that maintainer to delegate this job to other |
2111 | maintainers while still allowing optional review of incoming | |
2112 | changes. | |
2113 | - Since every developer's repository has the same complete copy | |
2114 | of the project history, no repository is special, and it is | |
2115 | trivial for another developer to take over maintenance of a | |
2116 | project, either by mutual agreement, or because a maintainer | |
2117 | becomes unresponsive or difficult to work with. | |
2118 | - The lack of a central group of "committers" means there is | |
2119 | less need for formal decisions about who is "in" and who is | |
2120 | "out". | |
2121 | ||
e34caace | 2122 | [[setting-up-gitweb]] |
eda69449 BF |
2123 | Allowing web browsing of a repository |
2124 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
d19fbc3c | 2125 | |
a8cd1402 | 2126 | The gitweb cgi script provides users an easy way to browse your |
2de9b711 TA |
2127 | project's files and history without having to install Git; see the file |
2128 | gitweb/INSTALL in the Git source tree for instructions on setting it up. | |
d19fbc3c | 2129 | |
e34caace | 2130 | [[sharing-development-examples]] |
b684f830 BF |
2131 | Examples |
2132 | -------- | |
d19fbc3c | 2133 | |
9e2163ea BF |
2134 | [[maintaining-topic-branches]] |
2135 | Maintaining topic branches for a Linux subsystem maintainer | |
2136 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
2137 | ||
2de9b711 | 2138 | This describes how Tony Luck uses Git in his role as maintainer of the |
9e2163ea BF |
2139 | IA64 architecture for the Linux kernel. |
2140 | ||
2141 | He uses two public branches: | |
2142 | ||
2143 | - A "test" tree into which patches are initially placed so that they | |
2144 | can get some exposure when integrated with other ongoing development. | |
2145 | This tree is available to Andrew for pulling into -mm whenever he | |
2146 | wants. | |
2147 | ||
2148 | - A "release" tree into which tested patches are moved for final sanity | |
2149 | checking, and as a vehicle to send them upstream to Linus (by sending | |
2150 | him a "please pull" request.) | |
2151 | ||
2152 | He also uses a set of temporary branches ("topic branches"), each | |
2153 | containing a logical grouping of patches. | |
2154 | ||
2155 | To set this up, first create your work tree by cloning Linus's public | |
2156 | tree: | |
2157 | ||
2158 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2159 | $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git work | |
2160 | $ cd work | |
2161 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2162 | ||
29b9a66f | 2163 | Linus's tree will be stored in the remote-tracking branch named origin/master, |
5162e697 DM |
2164 | and can be updated using linkgit:git-fetch[1]; you can track other |
2165 | public trees using linkgit:git-remote[1] to set up a "remote" and | |
2166 | linkgit:git-fetch[1] to keep them up-to-date; see | |
6e30fb0c | 2167 | <<repositories-and-branches>>. |
9e2163ea BF |
2168 | |
2169 | Now create the branches in which you are going to work; these start out | |
2170 | at the current tip of origin/master branch, and should be set up (using | |
1249d8ad | 2171 | the `--track` option to linkgit:git-branch[1]) to merge changes in from |
9e2163ea BF |
2172 | Linus by default. |
2173 | ||
2174 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2175 | $ git branch --track test origin/master | |
2176 | $ git branch --track release origin/master | |
2177 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2178 | ||
5162e697 | 2179 | These can be easily kept up to date using linkgit:git-pull[1]. |
9e2163ea BF |
2180 | |
2181 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2182 | $ git checkout test && git pull | |
2183 | $ git checkout release && git pull | |
2184 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2185 | ||
2186 | Important note! If you have any local changes in these branches, then | |
2187 | this merge will create a commit object in the history (with no local | |
2de9b711 | 2188 | changes Git will simply do a "fast-forward" merge). Many people dislike |
9e2163ea | 2189 | the "noise" that this creates in the Linux history, so you should avoid |
1249d8ad | 2190 | doing this capriciously in the `release` branch, as these noisy commits |
9e2163ea BF |
2191 | will become part of the permanent history when you ask Linus to pull |
2192 | from the release branch. | |
2193 | ||
5162e697 | 2194 | A few configuration variables (see linkgit:git-config[1]) can |
9e2163ea BF |
2195 | make it easy to push both branches to your public tree. (See |
2196 | <<setting-up-a-public-repository>>.) | |
2197 | ||
2198 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2199 | $ cat >> .git/config <<EOF | |
2200 | [remote "mytree"] | |
2201 | url = master.kernel.org:/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/aegl/linux-2.6.git | |
2202 | push = release | |
2203 | push = test | |
2204 | EOF | |
2205 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2206 | ||
2207 | Then you can push both the test and release trees using | |
5162e697 | 2208 | linkgit:git-push[1]: |
9e2163ea BF |
2209 | |
2210 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2211 | $ git push mytree | |
2212 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2213 | ||
2214 | or push just one of the test and release branches using: | |
2215 | ||
2216 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2217 | $ git push mytree test | |
2218 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2219 | ||
2220 | or | |
2221 | ||
2222 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2223 | $ git push mytree release | |
2224 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2225 | ||
2226 | Now to apply some patches from the community. Think of a short | |
2227 | snappy name for a branch to hold this patch (or related group of | |
352953a5 TL |
2228 | patches), and create a new branch from a recent stable tag of |
2229 | Linus's branch. Picking a stable base for your branch will: | |
2230 | 1) help you: by avoiding inclusion of unrelated and perhaps lightly | |
2231 | tested changes | |
1249d8ad | 2232 | 2) help future bug hunters that use `git bisect` to find problems |
9e2163ea BF |
2233 | |
2234 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
352953a5 | 2235 | $ git checkout -b speed-up-spinlocks v2.6.35 |
9e2163ea BF |
2236 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2237 | ||
2238 | Now you apply the patch(es), run some tests, and commit the change(s). If | |
2239 | the patch is a multi-part series, then you should apply each as a separate | |
2240 | commit to this branch. | |
2241 | ||
2242 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2243 | $ ... patch ... test ... commit [ ... patch ... test ... commit ]* | |
2244 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2245 | ||
2246 | When you are happy with the state of this change, you can pull it into the | |
2247 | "test" branch in preparation to make it public: | |
2248 | ||
2249 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2250 | $ git checkout test && git pull . speed-up-spinlocks | |
2251 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2252 | ||
2253 | It is unlikely that you would have any conflicts here ... but you might if you | |
2254 | spent a while on this step and had also pulled new versions from upstream. | |
2255 | ||
2256 | Some time later when enough time has passed and testing done, you can pull the | |
1249d8ad | 2257 | same branch into the `release` tree ready to go upstream. This is where you |
9e2163ea | 2258 | see the value of keeping each patch (or patch series) in its own branch. It |
1249d8ad | 2259 | means that the patches can be moved into the `release` tree in any order. |
9e2163ea BF |
2260 | |
2261 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2262 | $ git checkout release && git pull . speed-up-spinlocks | |
2263 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2264 | ||
2265 | After a while, you will have a number of branches, and despite the | |
2266 | well chosen names you picked for each of them, you may forget what | |
2267 | they are for, or what status they are in. To get a reminder of what | |
2268 | changes are in a specific branch, use: | |
2269 | ||
2270 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
467c0197 | 2271 | $ git log linux..branchname | git shortlog |
9e2163ea BF |
2272 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2273 | ||
06ada152 | 2274 | To see whether it has already been merged into the test or release branches, |
9e2163ea BF |
2275 | use: |
2276 | ||
2277 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2278 | $ git log test..branchname | |
2279 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2280 | ||
2281 | or | |
2282 | ||
2283 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2284 | $ git log release..branchname | |
2285 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2286 | ||
06ada152 | 2287 | (If this branch has not yet been merged, you will see some log entries. |
9e2163ea BF |
2288 | If it has been merged, then there will be no output.) |
2289 | ||
2290 | Once a patch completes the great cycle (moving from test to release, | |
2291 | then pulled by Linus, and finally coming back into your local | |
1249d8ad | 2292 | `origin/master` branch), the branch for this change is no longer needed. |
9e2163ea BF |
2293 | You detect this when the output from: |
2294 | ||
2295 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2296 | $ git log origin..branchname | |
2297 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2298 | ||
2299 | is empty. At this point the branch can be deleted: | |
2300 | ||
2301 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2302 | $ git branch -d branchname | |
2303 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2304 | ||
2305 | Some changes are so trivial that it is not necessary to create a separate | |
2306 | branch and then merge into each of the test and release branches. For | |
1249d8ad TK |
2307 | these changes, just apply directly to the `release` branch, and then |
2308 | merge that into the `test` branch. | |
9e2163ea | 2309 | |
ae6ef554 TK |
2310 | After pushing your work to `mytree`, you can use |
2311 | linkgit:git-request-pull[1] to prepare a "please pull" request message | |
2312 | to send to Linus: | |
9e2163ea BF |
2313 | |
2314 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
ae6ef554 TK |
2315 | $ git push mytree |
2316 | $ git request-pull origin mytree release | |
9e2163ea BF |
2317 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2318 | ||
2319 | Here are some of the scripts that simplify all this even further. | |
2320 | ||
2321 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2322 | ==== update script ==== | |
48a8c26c | 2323 | # Update a branch in my Git tree. If the branch to be updated |
9e2163ea BF |
2324 | # is origin, then pull from kernel.org. Otherwise merge |
2325 | # origin/master branch into test|release branch | |
2326 | ||
2327 | case "$1" in | |
2328 | test|release) | |
2329 | git checkout $1 && git pull . origin | |
2330 | ;; | |
2331 | origin) | |
fc74ecc1 | 2332 | before=$(git rev-parse refs/remotes/origin/master) |
9e2163ea | 2333 | git fetch origin |
fc74ecc1 | 2334 | after=$(git rev-parse refs/remotes/origin/master) |
9e2163ea BF |
2335 | if [ $before != $after ] |
2336 | then | |
2337 | git log $before..$after | git shortlog | |
2338 | fi | |
2339 | ;; | |
2340 | *) | |
1a2ba8b9 | 2341 | echo "usage: $0 origin|test|release" 1>&2 |
9e2163ea BF |
2342 | exit 1 |
2343 | ;; | |
2344 | esac | |
2345 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2346 | ||
2347 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2348 | ==== merge script ==== | |
2349 | # Merge a branch into either the test or release branch | |
2350 | ||
2351 | pname=$0 | |
2352 | ||
2353 | usage() | |
2354 | { | |
1a2ba8b9 | 2355 | echo "usage: $pname branch test|release" 1>&2 |
9e2163ea BF |
2356 | exit 1 |
2357 | } | |
2358 | ||
fc74ecc1 | 2359 | git show-ref -q --verify -- refs/heads/"$1" || { |
9e2163ea BF |
2360 | echo "Can't see branch <$1>" 1>&2 |
2361 | usage | |
fc74ecc1 | 2362 | } |
9e2163ea BF |
2363 | |
2364 | case "$2" in | |
2365 | test|release) | |
2366 | if [ $(git log $2..$1 | wc -c) -eq 0 ] | |
2367 | then | |
2368 | echo $1 already merged into $2 1>&2 | |
2369 | exit 1 | |
2370 | fi | |
2371 | git checkout $2 && git pull . $1 | |
2372 | ;; | |
2373 | *) | |
2374 | usage | |
2375 | ;; | |
2376 | esac | |
2377 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2378 | ||
2379 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2380 | ==== status script ==== | |
48a8c26c | 2381 | # report on status of my ia64 Git tree |
9e2163ea BF |
2382 | |
2383 | gb=$(tput setab 2) | |
2384 | rb=$(tput setab 1) | |
2385 | restore=$(tput setab 9) | |
2386 | ||
2387 | if [ `git rev-list test..release | wc -c` -gt 0 ] | |
2388 | then | |
2389 | echo $rb Warning: commits in release that are not in test $restore | |
2390 | git log test..release | |
2391 | fi | |
2392 | ||
fc74ecc1 | 2393 | for branch in `git show-ref --heads | sed 's|^.*/||'` |
9e2163ea BF |
2394 | do |
2395 | if [ $branch = test -o $branch = release ] | |
2396 | then | |
2397 | continue | |
2398 | fi | |
2399 | ||
2400 | echo -n $gb ======= $branch ====== $restore " " | |
2401 | status= | |
2402 | for ref in test release origin/master | |
2403 | do | |
2404 | if [ `git rev-list $ref..$branch | wc -c` -gt 0 ] | |
2405 | then | |
2406 | status=$status${ref:0:1} | |
2407 | fi | |
2408 | done | |
2409 | case $status in | |
2410 | trl) | |
2411 | echo $rb Need to pull into test $restore | |
2412 | ;; | |
2413 | rl) | |
2414 | echo "In test" | |
2415 | ;; | |
2416 | l) | |
2417 | echo "Waiting for linus" | |
2418 | ;; | |
2419 | "") | |
2420 | echo $rb All done $restore | |
2421 | ;; | |
2422 | *) | |
2423 | echo $rb "<$status>" $restore | |
2424 | ;; | |
2425 | esac | |
2426 | git log origin/master..$branch | git shortlog | |
2427 | done | |
2428 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
d19fbc3c | 2429 | |
d19fbc3c | 2430 | |
d19fbc3c | 2431 | [[cleaning-up-history]] |
4c63ff45 BF |
2432 | Rewriting history and maintaining patch series |
2433 | ============================================== | |
2434 | ||
2435 | Normally commits are only added to a project, never taken away or | |
2436 | replaced. Git is designed with this assumption, and violating it will | |
2de9b711 | 2437 | cause Git's merge machinery (for example) to do the wrong thing. |
4c63ff45 BF |
2438 | |
2439 | However, there is a situation in which it can be useful to violate this | |
2440 | assumption. | |
2441 | ||
e34caace | 2442 | [[patch-series]] |
4c63ff45 BF |
2443 | Creating the perfect patch series |
2444 | --------------------------------- | |
2445 | ||
2446 | Suppose you are a contributor to a large project, and you want to add a | |
2447 | complicated feature, and to present it to the other developers in a way | |
2448 | that makes it easy for them to read your changes, verify that they are | |
2449 | correct, and understand why you made each change. | |
2450 | ||
b181d57f | 2451 | If you present all of your changes as a single patch (or commit), they |
79c96c57 | 2452 | may find that it is too much to digest all at once. |
4c63ff45 BF |
2453 | |
2454 | If you present them with the entire history of your work, complete with | |
2455 | mistakes, corrections, and dead ends, they may be overwhelmed. | |
2456 | ||
2457 | So the ideal is usually to produce a series of patches such that: | |
2458 | ||
2459 | 1. Each patch can be applied in order. | |
2460 | ||
2461 | 2. Each patch includes a single logical change, together with a | |
2462 | message explaining the change. | |
2463 | ||
2464 | 3. No patch introduces a regression: after applying any initial | |
2465 | part of the series, the resulting project still compiles and | |
2466 | works, and has no bugs that it didn't have before. | |
2467 | ||
2468 | 4. The complete series produces the same end result as your own | |
2469 | (probably much messier!) development process did. | |
2470 | ||
b181d57f BF |
2471 | We will introduce some tools that can help you do this, explain how to |
2472 | use them, and then explain some of the problems that can arise because | |
2473 | you are rewriting history. | |
4c63ff45 | 2474 | |
e34caace | 2475 | [[using-git-rebase]] |
6127c086 | 2476 | Keeping a patch series up to date using git rebase |
4c63ff45 BF |
2477 | -------------------------------------------------- |
2478 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
2479 | Suppose that you create a branch `mywork` on a remote-tracking branch |
2480 | `origin`, and create some commits on top of it: | |
4c63ff45 BF |
2481 | |
2482 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2483 | $ git checkout -b mywork origin | |
2484 | $ vi file.txt | |
2485 | $ git commit | |
2486 | $ vi otherfile.txt | |
2487 | $ git commit | |
2488 | ... | |
2489 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2490 | ||
2491 | You have performed no merges into mywork, so it is just a simple linear | |
1249d8ad | 2492 | sequence of patches on top of `origin`: |
4c63ff45 | 2493 | |
1dc71a91 | 2494 | ................................................ |
fa8347b8 | 2495 | o--o--O <-- origin |
4c63ff45 | 2496 | \ |
fa8347b8 | 2497 | a--b--c <-- mywork |
1dc71a91 | 2498 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 BF |
2499 | |
2500 | Some more interesting work has been done in the upstream project, and | |
1249d8ad | 2501 | `origin` has advanced: |
4c63ff45 | 2502 | |
1dc71a91 | 2503 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 BF |
2504 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- origin |
2505 | \ | |
2506 | a--b--c <-- mywork | |
1dc71a91 | 2507 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 | 2508 | |
1249d8ad | 2509 | At this point, you could use `pull` to merge your changes back in; |
4c63ff45 BF |
2510 | the result would create a new merge commit, like this: |
2511 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2512 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 BF |
2513 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- origin |
2514 | \ \ | |
2515 | a--b--c--m <-- mywork | |
1dc71a91 | 2516 | ................................................ |
a6080a0a | 2517 | |
4c63ff45 BF |
2518 | However, if you prefer to keep the history in mywork a simple series of |
2519 | commits without any merges, you may instead choose to use | |
5162e697 | 2520 | linkgit:git-rebase[1]: |
4c63ff45 BF |
2521 | |
2522 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2523 | $ git checkout mywork | |
2524 | $ git rebase origin | |
2525 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2526 | ||
b181d57f | 2527 | This will remove each of your commits from mywork, temporarily saving |
1249d8ad | 2528 | them as patches (in a directory named `.git/rebase-apply`), update mywork to |
b181d57f BF |
2529 | point at the latest version of origin, then apply each of the saved |
2530 | patches to the new mywork. The result will look like: | |
4c63ff45 BF |
2531 | |
2532 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2533 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 BF |
2534 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- origin |
2535 | \ | |
2536 | a'--b'--c' <-- mywork | |
1dc71a91 | 2537 | ................................................ |
4c63ff45 | 2538 | |
b181d57f | 2539 | In the process, it may discover conflicts. In that case it will stop |
6127c086 | 2540 | and allow you to fix the conflicts; after fixing conflicts, use `git add` |
7a7d4ef6 | 2541 | to update the index with those contents, and then, instead of |
6127c086 | 2542 | running `git commit`, just run |
4c63ff45 BF |
2543 | |
2544 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2545 | $ git rebase --continue | |
2546 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2547 | ||
2de9b711 | 2548 | and Git will continue applying the rest of the patches. |
4c63ff45 | 2549 | |
b6cbca38 | 2550 | At any point you may use the `--abort` option to abort this process and |
4c63ff45 BF |
2551 | return mywork to the state it had before you started the rebase: |
2552 | ||
2553 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2554 | $ git rebase --abort | |
2555 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2556 | ||
6c26bf4d TK |
2557 | If you need to reorder or edit a number of commits in a branch, it may |
2558 | be easier to use `git rebase -i`, which allows you to reorder and | |
2559 | squash commits, as well as marking them for individual editing during | |
2560 | the rebase. See <<interactive-rebase>> for details, and | |
2561 | <<reordering-patch-series>> for alternatives. | |
2562 | ||
7cb192ea BF |
2563 | [[rewriting-one-commit]] |
2564 | Rewriting a single commit | |
365aa199 BF |
2565 | ------------------------- |
2566 | ||
7cb192ea | 2567 | We saw in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history>> that you can replace the |
365aa199 BF |
2568 | most recent commit using |
2569 | ||
2570 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2571 | $ git commit --amend | |
2572 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2573 | ||
2574 | which will replace the old commit by a new commit incorporating your | |
2575 | changes, giving you a chance to edit the old commit message first. | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2576 | This is useful for fixing typos in your last commit, or for adjusting |
2577 | the patch contents of a poorly staged commit. | |
365aa199 | 2578 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2579 | If you need to amend commits from deeper in your history, you can |
2580 | use <<interactive-rebase,interactive rebase's `edit` instruction>>. | |
365aa199 | 2581 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2582 | [[reordering-patch-series]] |
2583 | Reordering or selecting from a patch series | |
2584 | ------------------------------------------- | |
365aa199 | 2585 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2586 | Sometimes you want to edit a commit deeper in your history. One |
2587 | approach is to use `git format-patch` to create a series of patches | |
2588 | and then reset the state to before the patches: | |
365aa199 BF |
2589 | |
2590 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2591 | $ git format-patch origin |
2592 | $ git reset --hard origin | |
365aa199 BF |
2593 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2594 | ||
6c26bf4d TK |
2595 | Then modify, reorder, or eliminate patches as needed before applying |
2596 | them again with linkgit:git-am[1]: | |
365aa199 BF |
2597 | |
2598 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
6c26bf4d | 2599 | $ git am *.patch |
365aa199 BF |
2600 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2601 | ||
6c26bf4d TK |
2602 | [[interactive-rebase]] |
2603 | Using interactive rebases | |
2604 | ------------------------- | |
365aa199 | 2605 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2606 | You can also edit a patch series with an interactive rebase. This is |
2607 | the same as <<reordering-patch-series,reordering a patch series using | |
2608 | `format-patch`>>, so use whichever interface you like best. | |
4c63ff45 | 2609 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2610 | Rebase your current HEAD on the last commit you want to retain as-is. |
2611 | For example, if you want to reorder the last 5 commits, use: | |
b181d57f BF |
2612 | |
2613 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
6c26bf4d | 2614 | $ git rebase -i HEAD~5 |
b181d57f BF |
2615 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2616 | ||
6c26bf4d TK |
2617 | This will open your editor with a list of steps to be taken to perform |
2618 | your rebase. | |
4c63ff45 | 2619 | |
b181d57f | 2620 | ------------------------------------------------- |
6c26bf4d TK |
2621 | pick deadbee The oneline of this commit |
2622 | pick fa1afe1 The oneline of the next commit | |
2623 | ... | |
4c63ff45 | 2624 | |
6c26bf4d TK |
2625 | # Rebase c0ffeee..deadbee onto c0ffeee |
2626 | # | |
2627 | # Commands: | |
2628 | # p, pick = use commit | |
2629 | # r, reword = use commit, but edit the commit message | |
2630 | # e, edit = use commit, but stop for amending | |
2631 | # s, squash = use commit, but meld into previous commit | |
2632 | # f, fixup = like "squash", but discard this commit's log message | |
2633 | # x, exec = run command (the rest of the line) using shell | |
2634 | # | |
2635 | # These lines can be re-ordered; they are executed from top to bottom. | |
2636 | # | |
2637 | # If you remove a line here THAT COMMIT WILL BE LOST. | |
2638 | # | |
2639 | # However, if you remove everything, the rebase will be aborted. | |
2640 | # | |
2641 | # Note that empty commits are commented out | |
2642 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2643 | ||
2644 | As explained in the comments, you can reorder commits, squash them | |
2645 | together, edit commit messages, etc. by editing the list. Once you | |
2646 | are satisfied, save the list and close your editor, and the rebase | |
2647 | will begin. | |
2648 | ||
2649 | The rebase will stop where `pick` has been replaced with `edit` or | |
2650 | when a step in the list fails to mechanically resolve conflicts and | |
2651 | needs your help. When you are done editing and/or resolving conflicts | |
2652 | you can continue with `git rebase --continue`. If you decide that | |
2653 | things are getting too hairy, you can always bail out with `git rebase | |
2654 | --abort`. Even after the rebase is complete, you can still recover | |
2655 | the original branch by using the <<reflogs,reflog>>. | |
2656 | ||
2657 | For a more detailed discussion of the procedure and additional tips, | |
2658 | see the "INTERACTIVE MODE" section of linkgit:git-rebase[1]. | |
4c63ff45 | 2659 | |
e34caace | 2660 | [[patch-series-tools]] |
4c63ff45 BF |
2661 | Other tools |
2662 | ----------- | |
2663 | ||
73a1d050 | 2664 | There are numerous other tools, such as StGit, which exist for the |
79c96c57 | 2665 | purpose of maintaining a patch series. These are outside of the scope of |
b181d57f | 2666 | this manual. |
4c63ff45 | 2667 | |
aa971cb9 | 2668 | [[problems-With-rewriting-history]] |
4c63ff45 BF |
2669 | Problems with rewriting history |
2670 | ------------------------------- | |
2671 | ||
b181d57f BF |
2672 | The primary problem with rewriting the history of a branch has to do |
2673 | with merging. Suppose somebody fetches your branch and merges it into | |
2674 | their branch, with a result something like this: | |
2675 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2676 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2677 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- origin |
2678 | \ \ | |
2679 | t--t--t--m <-- their branch: | |
1dc71a91 | 2680 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2681 | |
2682 | Then suppose you modify the last three commits: | |
2683 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2684 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2685 | o--o--o <-- new head of origin |
2686 | / | |
2687 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- old head of origin | |
1dc71a91 | 2688 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2689 | |
2690 | If we examined all this history together in one repository, it will | |
2691 | look like: | |
2692 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2693 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2694 | o--o--o <-- new head of origin |
2695 | / | |
2696 | o--o--O--o--o--o <-- old head of origin | |
2697 | \ \ | |
2698 | t--t--t--m <-- their branch: | |
1dc71a91 | 2699 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2700 | |
2701 | Git has no way of knowing that the new head is an updated version of | |
2702 | the old head; it treats this situation exactly the same as it would if | |
2703 | two developers had independently done the work on the old and new heads | |
2704 | in parallel. At this point, if someone attempts to merge the new head | |
2de9b711 | 2705 | in to their branch, Git will attempt to merge together the two (old and |
b181d57f BF |
2706 | new) lines of development, instead of trying to replace the old by the |
2707 | new. The results are likely to be unexpected. | |
2708 | ||
2709 | You may still choose to publish branches whose history is rewritten, | |
2710 | and it may be useful for others to be able to fetch those branches in | |
2711 | order to examine or test them, but they should not attempt to pull such | |
2712 | branches into their own work. | |
2713 | ||
2714 | For true distributed development that supports proper merging, | |
2715 | published branches should never be rewritten. | |
2716 | ||
3fb00282 SP |
2717 | [[bisect-merges]] |
2718 | Why bisecting merge commits can be harder than bisecting linear history | |
2719 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
2720 | ||
5162e697 | 2721 | The linkgit:git-bisect[1] command correctly handles history that |
3fb00282 SP |
2722 | includes merge commits. However, when the commit that it finds is a |
2723 | merge commit, the user may need to work harder than usual to figure out | |
2724 | why that commit introduced a problem. | |
2725 | ||
2726 | Imagine this history: | |
2727 | ||
2728 | ................................................ | |
2729 | ---Z---o---X---...---o---A---C---D | |
2730 | \ / | |
2731 | o---o---Y---...---o---B | |
2732 | ................................................ | |
2733 | ||
2734 | Suppose that on the upper line of development, the meaning of one | |
2735 | of the functions that exists at Z is changed at commit X. The | |
2736 | commits from Z leading to A change both the function's | |
2737 | implementation and all calling sites that exist at Z, as well | |
2738 | as new calling sites they add, to be consistent. There is no | |
2739 | bug at A. | |
2740 | ||
2741 | Suppose that in the meantime on the lower line of development somebody | |
2742 | adds a new calling site for that function at commit Y. The | |
2743 | commits from Z leading to B all assume the old semantics of that | |
2744 | function and the callers and the callee are consistent with each | |
2745 | other. There is no bug at B, either. | |
2746 | ||
2747 | Suppose further that the two development lines merge cleanly at C, | |
2748 | so no conflict resolution is required. | |
2749 | ||
2750 | Nevertheless, the code at C is broken, because the callers added | |
2751 | on the lower line of development have not been converted to the new | |
2752 | semantics introduced on the upper line of development. So if all | |
2753 | you know is that D is bad, that Z is good, and that | |
5162e697 | 2754 | linkgit:git-bisect[1] identifies C as the culprit, how will you |
3fb00282 SP |
2755 | figure out that the problem is due to this change in semantics? |
2756 | ||
6127c086 | 2757 | When the result of a `git bisect` is a non-merge commit, you should |
3fb00282 SP |
2758 | normally be able to discover the problem by examining just that commit. |
2759 | Developers can make this easy by breaking their changes into small | |
2760 | self-contained commits. That won't help in the case above, however, | |
2761 | because the problem isn't obvious from examination of any single | |
2762 | commit; instead, a global view of the development is required. To | |
2763 | make matters worse, the change in semantics in the problematic | |
2764 | function may be just one small part of the changes in the upper | |
2765 | line of development. | |
2766 | ||
2767 | On the other hand, if instead of merging at C you had rebased the | |
2768 | history between Z to B on top of A, you would have gotten this | |
2769 | linear history: | |
2770 | ||
2771 | ................................................................ | |
2772 | ---Z---o---X--...---o---A---o---o---Y*--...---o---B*--D* | |
2773 | ................................................................ | |
2774 | ||
2775 | Bisecting between Z and D* would hit a single culprit commit Y*, | |
2776 | and understanding why Y* was broken would probably be easier. | |
2777 | ||
2de9b711 | 2778 | Partly for this reason, many experienced Git users, even when |
3fb00282 SP |
2779 | working on an otherwise merge-heavy project, keep the history |
2780 | linear by rebasing against the latest upstream version before | |
2781 | publishing. | |
2782 | ||
e34caace | 2783 | [[advanced-branch-management]] |
b181d57f BF |
2784 | Advanced branch management |
2785 | ========================== | |
4c63ff45 | 2786 | |
e34caace | 2787 | [[fetching-individual-branches]] |
b181d57f BF |
2788 | Fetching individual branches |
2789 | ---------------------------- | |
2790 | ||
5162e697 | 2791 | Instead of using linkgit:git-remote[1], you can also choose just |
b181d57f BF |
2792 | to update one branch at a time, and to store it locally under an |
2793 | arbitrary name: | |
2794 | ||
2795 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2796 | $ git fetch origin todo:my-todo-work | |
2797 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2798 | ||
1249d8ad | 2799 | The first argument, `origin`, just tells Git to fetch from the |
2de9b711 | 2800 | repository you originally cloned from. The second argument tells Git |
1249d8ad TK |
2801 | to fetch the branch named `todo` from the remote repository, and to |
2802 | store it locally under the name `refs/heads/my-todo-work`. | |
b181d57f BF |
2803 | |
2804 | You can also fetch branches from other repositories; so | |
2805 | ||
2806 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2807 | $ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git master:example-master | |
2808 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2809 | ||
1249d8ad TK |
2810 | will create a new branch named `example-master` and store in it the |
2811 | branch named `master` from the repository at the given URL. If you | |
b181d57f | 2812 | already have a branch named example-master, it will attempt to |
59723040 BF |
2813 | <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>> to the commit given by example.com's |
2814 | master branch. In more detail: | |
b181d57f | 2815 | |
59723040 BF |
2816 | [[fetch-fast-forwards]] |
2817 | git fetch and fast-forwards | |
2818 | --------------------------- | |
b181d57f | 2819 | |
1249d8ad | 2820 | In the previous example, when updating an existing branch, `git fetch` |
7a7d4ef6 | 2821 | checks to make sure that the most recent commit on the remote |
b181d57f BF |
2822 | branch is a descendant of the most recent commit on your copy of the |
2823 | branch before updating your copy of the branch to point at the new | |
a75d7b54 | 2824 | commit. Git calls this process a <<fast-forwards,fast-forward>>. |
b181d57f | 2825 | |
a75d7b54 | 2826 | A fast-forward looks something like this: |
b181d57f | 2827 | |
1dc71a91 | 2828 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2829 | o--o--o--o <-- old head of the branch |
2830 | \ | |
2831 | o--o--o <-- new head of the branch | |
1dc71a91 | 2832 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2833 | |
2834 | ||
2835 | In some cases it is possible that the new head will *not* actually be | |
2836 | a descendant of the old head. For example, the developer may have | |
2837 | realized she made a serious mistake, and decided to backtrack, | |
2838 | resulting in a situation like: | |
2839 | ||
1dc71a91 | 2840 | ................................................ |
b181d57f BF |
2841 | o--o--o--o--a--b <-- old head of the branch |
2842 | \ | |
2843 | o--o--o <-- new head of the branch | |
1dc71a91 | 2844 | ................................................ |
b181d57f | 2845 | |
1249d8ad | 2846 | In this case, `git fetch` will fail, and print out a warning. |
b181d57f | 2847 | |
2de9b711 | 2848 | In that case, you can still force Git to update to the new head, as |
b181d57f | 2849 | described in the following section. However, note that in the |
1249d8ad | 2850 | situation above this may mean losing the commits labeled `a` and `b`, |
b181d57f BF |
2851 | unless you've already created a reference of your own pointing to |
2852 | them. | |
2853 | ||
e34caace | 2854 | [[forcing-fetch]] |
6127c086 | 2855 | Forcing git fetch to do non-fast-forward updates |
b181d57f BF |
2856 | ------------------------------------------------ |
2857 | ||
2858 | If git fetch fails because the new head of a branch is not a | |
2859 | descendant of the old head, you may force the update with: | |
2860 | ||
2861 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2862 | $ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git +master:refs/remotes/example/master | |
2863 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2864 | ||
1249d8ad | 2865 | Note the addition of the `+` sign. Alternatively, you can use the `-f` |
c64415e2 BF |
2866 | flag to force updates of all the fetched branches, as in: |
2867 | ||
2868 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2869 | $ git fetch -f origin | |
2870 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2871 | ||
2872 | Be aware that commits that the old version of example/master pointed at | |
2873 | may be lost, as we saw in the previous section. | |
b181d57f | 2874 | |
e34caace | 2875 | [[remote-branch-configuration]] |
29b9a66f MM |
2876 | Configuring remote-tracking branches |
2877 | ------------------------------------ | |
b181d57f | 2878 | |
1249d8ad | 2879 | We saw above that `origin` is just a shortcut to refer to the |
79c96c57 | 2880 | repository that you originally cloned from. This information is |
2de9b711 | 2881 | stored in Git configuration variables, which you can see using |
5162e697 | 2882 | linkgit:git-config[1]: |
b181d57f BF |
2883 | |
2884 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
9d13bda3 | 2885 | $ git config -l |
b181d57f BF |
2886 | core.repositoryformatversion=0 |
2887 | core.filemode=true | |
2888 | core.logallrefupdates=true | |
2889 | remote.origin.url=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git | |
2890 | remote.origin.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* | |
2891 | branch.master.remote=origin | |
2892 | branch.master.merge=refs/heads/master | |
2893 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2894 | ||
2895 | If there are other repositories that you also use frequently, you can | |
2896 | create similar configuration options to save typing; for example, | |
b181d57f BF |
2897 | |
2898 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
47adb8ac | 2899 | $ git remote add example git://example.com/proj.git |
b181d57f BF |
2900 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2901 | ||
47adb8ac | 2902 | adds the following to `.git/config`: |
b181d57f BF |
2903 | |
2904 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
47adb8ac TK |
2905 | [remote "example"] |
2906 | url = git://example.com/proj.git | |
2907 | fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/example/* | |
b181d57f BF |
2908 | ------------------------------------------------- |
2909 | ||
47adb8ac TK |
2910 | Also note that the above configuration can be performed by directly |
2911 | editing the file `.git/config` instead of using linkgit:git-remote[1]. | |
b181d57f | 2912 | |
47adb8ac TK |
2913 | After configuring the remote, the following three commands will do the |
2914 | same thing: | |
b181d57f BF |
2915 | |
2916 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
47adb8ac TK |
2917 | $ git fetch git://example.com/proj.git +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/example/* |
2918 | $ git fetch example +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/example/* | |
b181d57f BF |
2919 | $ git fetch example |
2920 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
2921 | ||
5162e697 | 2922 | See linkgit:git-config[1] for more details on the configuration |
47adb8ac TK |
2923 | options mentioned above and linkgit:git-fetch[1] for more details on |
2924 | the refspec syntax. | |
d19fbc3c | 2925 | |
d19fbc3c | 2926 | |
036f8199 BF |
2927 | [[git-concepts]] |
2928 | Git concepts | |
2929 | ============ | |
d19fbc3c | 2930 | |
036f8199 BF |
2931 | Git is built on a small number of simple but powerful ideas. While it |
2932 | is possible to get things done without understanding them, you will find | |
2de9b711 | 2933 | Git much more intuitive if you do. |
036f8199 BF |
2934 | |
2935 | We start with the most important, the <<def_object_database,object | |
2936 | database>> and the <<def_index,index>>. | |
b181d57f | 2937 | |
e34caace | 2938 | [[the-object-database]] |
b181d57f BF |
2939 | The Object Database |
2940 | ------------------- | |
2941 | ||
1bbf1c79 BF |
2942 | |
2943 | We already saw in <<understanding-commits>> that all commits are stored | |
2944 | under a 40-digit "object name". In fact, all the information needed to | |
2945 | represent the history of a project is stored in objects with such names. | |
a6e5ef7d FC |
2946 | In each case the name is calculated by taking the SHA-1 hash of the |
2947 | contents of the object. The SHA-1 hash is a cryptographic hash function. | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2948 | What that means to us is that it is impossible to find two different |
2949 | objects with the same name. This has a number of advantages; among | |
2950 | others: | |
2951 | ||
2952 | - Git can quickly determine whether two objects are identical or not, | |
2953 | just by comparing names. | |
06ada152 | 2954 | - Since object names are computed the same way in every repository, the |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2955 | same content stored in two repositories will always be stored under |
2956 | the same name. | |
2957 | - Git can detect errors when it reads an object, by checking that the | |
a6e5ef7d | 2958 | object's name is still the SHA-1 hash of its contents. |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2959 | |
2960 | (See <<object-details>> for the details of the object formatting and | |
a6e5ef7d | 2961 | SHA-1 calculation.) |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2962 | |
2963 | There are four different types of objects: "blob", "tree", "commit", and | |
2964 | "tag". | |
2965 | ||
2966 | - A <<def_blob_object,"blob" object>> is used to store file data. | |
843c81dc | 2967 | - A <<def_tree_object,"tree" object>> ties one or more |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2968 | "blob" objects into a directory structure. In addition, a tree object |
2969 | can refer to other tree objects, thus creating a directory hierarchy. | |
2970 | - A <<def_commit_object,"commit" object>> ties such directory hierarchies | |
2ef8ac1b | 2971 | together into a <<def_DAG,directed acyclic graph>> of revisions--each |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2972 | commit contains the object name of exactly one tree designating the |
2973 | directory hierarchy at the time of the commit. In addition, a commit | |
2974 | refers to "parent" commit objects that describe the history of how we | |
2975 | arrived at that directory hierarchy. | |
2976 | - A <<def_tag_object,"tag" object>> symbolically identifies and can be | |
2977 | used to sign other objects. It contains the object name and type of | |
2978 | another object, a symbolic name (of course!) and, optionally, a | |
2979 | signature. | |
b181d57f | 2980 | |
b181d57f BF |
2981 | The object types in some more detail: |
2982 | ||
513d419c BF |
2983 | [[commit-object]] |
2984 | Commit Object | |
2985 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
b181d57f | 2986 | |
1bbf1c79 | 2987 | The "commit" object links a physical state of a tree with a description |
1249d8ad | 2988 | of how we got there and why. Use the `--pretty=raw` option to |
5162e697 | 2989 | linkgit:git-show[1] or linkgit:git-log[1] to examine your favorite |
1bbf1c79 BF |
2990 | commit: |
2991 | ||
2992 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
2993 | $ git show -s --pretty=raw 2be7fcb476 | |
2994 | commit 2be7fcb4764f2dbcee52635b91fedb1b3dcf7ab4 | |
2995 | tree fb3a8bdd0ceddd019615af4d57a53f43d8cee2bf | |
2996 | parent 257a84d9d02e90447b149af58b271c19405edb6a | |
2997 | author Dave Watson <dwatson@mimvista.com> 1187576872 -0400 | |
2998 | committer Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 1187591163 -0700 | |
2999 | ||
3000 | Fix misspelling of 'suppress' in docs | |
3001 | ||
3002 | Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> | |
3003 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3004 | ||
3005 | As you can see, a commit is defined by: | |
3006 | ||
a6e5ef7d | 3007 | - a tree: The SHA-1 name of a tree object (as defined below), representing |
1bbf1c79 | 3008 | the contents of a directory at a certain point in time. |
edfbbf7e | 3009 | - parent(s): The SHA-1 name(s) of some number of commits which represent the |
9e5d87d4 | 3010 | immediately previous step(s) in the history of the project. The |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3011 | example above has one parent; merge commits may have more than |
3012 | one. A commit with no parents is called a "root" commit, and | |
3013 | represents the initial revision of a project. Each project must have | |
3014 | at least one root. A project can also have multiple roots, though | |
3015 | that isn't common (or necessarily a good idea). | |
3016 | - an author: The name of the person responsible for this change, together | |
3017 | with its date. | |
3018 | - a committer: The name of the person who actually created the commit, | |
3019 | with the date it was done. This may be different from the author, for | |
3020 | example, if the author was someone who wrote a patch and emailed it | |
3021 | to the person who used it to create the commit. | |
3022 | - a comment describing this commit. | |
3023 | ||
3024 | Note that a commit does not itself contain any information about what | |
3025 | actually changed; all changes are calculated by comparing the contents | |
3026 | of the tree referred to by this commit with the trees associated with | |
2de9b711 | 3027 | its parents. In particular, Git does not attempt to record file renames |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3028 | explicitly, though it can identify cases where the existence of the same |
3029 | file data at changing paths suggests a rename. (See, for example, the | |
1249d8ad | 3030 | `-M` option to linkgit:git-diff[1]). |
1bbf1c79 | 3031 | |
5162e697 | 3032 | A commit is usually created by linkgit:git-commit[1], which creates a |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3033 | commit whose parent is normally the current HEAD, and whose tree is |
3034 | taken from the content currently stored in the index. | |
b181d57f | 3035 | |
e34caace | 3036 | [[tree-object]] |
b181d57f | 3037 | Tree Object |
971aa71f | 3038 | ~~~~~~~~~~~ |
b181d57f | 3039 | |
5162e697 DM |
3040 | The ever-versatile linkgit:git-show[1] command can also be used to |
3041 | examine tree objects, but linkgit:git-ls-tree[1] will give you more | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3042 | details: |
3043 | ||
3044 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3045 | $ git ls-tree fb3a8bdd0ce | |
3046 | 100644 blob 63c918c667fa005ff12ad89437f2fdc80926e21c .gitignore | |
3047 | 100644 blob 5529b198e8d14decbe4ad99db3f7fb632de0439d .mailmap | |
3048 | 100644 blob 6ff87c4664981e4397625791c8ea3bbb5f2279a3 COPYING | |
3049 | 040000 tree 2fb783e477100ce076f6bf57e4a6f026013dc745 Documentation | |
3050 | 100755 blob 3c0032cec592a765692234f1cba47dfdcc3a9200 GIT-VERSION-GEN | |
3051 | 100644 blob 289b046a443c0647624607d471289b2c7dcd470b INSTALL | |
3052 | 100644 blob 4eb463797adc693dc168b926b6932ff53f17d0b1 Makefile | |
3053 | 100644 blob 548142c327a6790ff8821d67c2ee1eff7a656b52 README | |
3054 | ... | |
3055 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3056 | ||
3057 | As you can see, a tree object contains a list of entries, each with a | |
a6e5ef7d | 3058 | mode, object type, SHA-1 name, and name, sorted by name. It represents |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3059 | the contents of a single directory tree. |
3060 | ||
3061 | The object type may be a blob, representing the contents of a file, or | |
3062 | another tree, representing the contents of a subdirectory. Since trees | |
a6e5ef7d FC |
3063 | and blobs, like all other objects, are named by the SHA-1 hash of their |
3064 | contents, two trees have the same SHA-1 name if and only if their | |
1bbf1c79 | 3065 | contents (including, recursively, the contents of all subdirectories) |
2de9b711 | 3066 | are identical. This allows Git to quickly determine the differences |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3067 | between two related tree objects, since it can ignore any entries with |
3068 | identical object names. | |
3069 | ||
3070 | (Note: in the presence of submodules, trees may also have commits as | |
6dd14366 | 3071 | entries. See <<submodules>> for documentation.) |
1bbf1c79 | 3072 | |
2de9b711 | 3073 | Note that the files all have mode 644 or 755: Git actually only pays |
1bbf1c79 | 3074 | attention to the executable bit. |
b181d57f | 3075 | |
513d419c BF |
3076 | [[blob-object]] |
3077 | Blob Object | |
3078 | ~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
b181d57f | 3079 | |
5162e697 | 3080 | You can use linkgit:git-show[1] to examine the contents of a blob; take, |
1249d8ad | 3081 | for example, the blob in the entry for `COPYING` from the tree above: |
b181d57f | 3082 | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3083 | ------------------------------------------------ |
3084 | $ git show 6ff87c4664 | |
3085 | ||
3086 | Note that the only valid version of the GPL as far as this project | |
3087 | is concerned is _this_ particular version of the license (ie v2, not | |
3088 | v2.2 or v3.x or whatever), unless explicitly otherwise stated. | |
3089 | ... | |
3090 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
b181d57f | 3091 | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3092 | A "blob" object is nothing but a binary blob of data. It doesn't refer |
3093 | to anything else or have attributes of any kind. | |
3094 | ||
3095 | Since the blob is entirely defined by its data, if two files in a | |
3096 | directory tree (or in multiple different versions of the repository) | |
3097 | have the same contents, they will share the same blob object. The object | |
3098 | is totally independent of its location in the directory tree, and | |
3099 | renaming a file does not change the object that file is associated with. | |
3100 | ||
3101 | Note that any tree or blob object can be examined using | |
5162e697 | 3102 | linkgit:git-show[1] with the <revision>:<path> syntax. This can |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3103 | sometimes be useful for browsing the contents of a tree that is not |
3104 | currently checked out. | |
b181d57f | 3105 | |
e34caace | 3106 | [[trust]] |
b181d57f | 3107 | Trust |
971aa71f | 3108 | ~~~~~ |
b181d57f | 3109 | |
a6e5ef7d | 3110 | If you receive the SHA-1 name of a blob from one source, and its contents |
1bbf1c79 | 3111 | from another (possibly untrusted) source, you can still trust that those |
a6e5ef7d FC |
3112 | contents are correct as long as the SHA-1 name agrees. This is because |
3113 | the SHA-1 is designed so that it is infeasible to find different contents | |
1bbf1c79 | 3114 | that produce the same hash. |
b181d57f | 3115 | |
a6e5ef7d | 3116 | Similarly, you need only trust the SHA-1 name of a top-level tree object |
1bbf1c79 | 3117 | to trust the contents of the entire directory that it refers to, and if |
a6e5ef7d | 3118 | you receive the SHA-1 name of a commit from a trusted source, then you |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3119 | can easily verify the entire history of commits reachable through |
3120 | parents of that commit, and all of those contents of the trees referred | |
3121 | to by those commits. | |
b181d57f BF |
3122 | |
3123 | So to introduce some real trust in the system, the only thing you need | |
3124 | to do is to digitally sign just 'one' special note, which includes the | |
3125 | name of a top-level commit. Your digital signature shows others | |
3126 | that you trust that commit, and the immutability of the history of | |
3127 | commits tells others that they can trust the whole history. | |
3128 | ||
3129 | In other words, you can easily validate a whole archive by just | |
a6e5ef7d | 3130 | sending out a single email that tells the people the name (SHA-1 hash) |
b181d57f BF |
3131 | of the top commit, and digitally sign that email using something |
3132 | like GPG/PGP. | |
3133 | ||
2de9b711 | 3134 | To assist in this, Git also provides the tag object... |
b181d57f | 3135 | |
e34caace | 3136 | [[tag-object]] |
b181d57f | 3137 | Tag Object |
971aa71f | 3138 | ~~~~~~~~~~ |
b181d57f | 3139 | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3140 | A tag object contains an object, object type, tag name, the name of the |
3141 | person ("tagger") who created the tag, and a message, which may contain | |
843c81dc | 3142 | a signature, as can be seen using linkgit:git-cat-file[1]: |
b181d57f | 3143 | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3144 | ------------------------------------------------ |
3145 | $ git cat-file tag v1.5.0 | |
3146 | object 437b1b20df4b356c9342dac8d38849f24ef44f27 | |
3147 | type commit | |
3148 | tag v1.5.0 | |
3149 | tagger Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> 1171411200 +0000 | |
3150 | ||
3151 | GIT 1.5.0 | |
3152 | -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- | |
3153 | Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) | |
3154 | ||
3155 | iD8DBQBF0lGqwMbZpPMRm5oRAuRiAJ9ohBLd7s2kqjkKlq1qqC57SbnmzQCdG4ui | |
3156 | nLE/L9aUXdWeTFPron96DLA= | |
3157 | =2E+0 | |
3158 | -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- | |
3159 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
b181d57f | 3160 | |
5162e697 DM |
3161 | See the linkgit:git-tag[1] command to learn how to create and verify tag |
3162 | objects. (Note that linkgit:git-tag[1] can also be used to create | |
1bbf1c79 | 3163 | "lightweight tags", which are not tag objects at all, but just simple |
1249d8ad | 3164 | references whose names begin with `refs/tags/`). |
b181d57f | 3165 | |
09eff7b0 | 3166 | [[pack-files]] |
2de9b711 | 3167 | How Git stores objects efficiently: pack files |
09eff7b0 BF |
3168 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
3169 | ||
9644ffdd | 3170 | Newly created objects are initially created in a file named after the |
1249d8ad | 3171 | object's SHA-1 hash (stored in `.git/objects`). |
09eff7b0 BF |
3172 | |
3173 | Unfortunately this system becomes inefficient once a project has a | |
3174 | lot of objects. Try this on an old project: | |
3175 | ||
3176 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3177 | $ git count-objects | |
3178 | 6930 objects, 47620 kilobytes | |
3179 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3180 | ||
3181 | The first number is the number of objects which are kept in | |
3182 | individual files. The second is the amount of space taken up by | |
3183 | those "loose" objects. | |
3184 | ||
2de9b711 | 3185 | You can save space and make Git faster by moving these loose objects in |
09eff7b0 BF |
3186 | to a "pack file", which stores a group of objects in an efficient |
3187 | compressed format; the details of how pack files are formatted can be | |
3188 | found in link:technical/pack-format.txt[technical/pack-format.txt]. | |
3189 | ||
3190 | To put the loose objects into a pack, just run git repack: | |
3191 | ||
3192 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3193 | $ git repack | |
3194 | Generating pack... | |
3195 | Done counting 6020 objects. | |
3196 | Deltifying 6020 objects. | |
3197 | 100% (6020/6020) done | |
3198 | Writing 6020 objects. | |
3199 | 100% (6020/6020) done | |
3200 | Total 6020, written 6020 (delta 4070), reused 0 (delta 0) | |
3201 | Pack pack-3e54ad29d5b2e05838c75df582c65257b8d08e1c created. | |
3202 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3203 | ||
3204 | You can then run | |
3205 | ||
3206 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3207 | $ git prune | |
3208 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3209 | ||
3210 | to remove any of the "loose" objects that are now contained in the | |
3211 | pack. This will also remove any unreferenced objects (which may be | |
1249d8ad | 3212 | created when, for example, you use `git reset` to remove a commit). |
09eff7b0 | 3213 | You can verify that the loose objects are gone by looking at the |
1249d8ad | 3214 | `.git/objects` directory or by running |
09eff7b0 BF |
3215 | |
3216 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3217 | $ git count-objects | |
3218 | 0 objects, 0 kilobytes | |
3219 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3220 | ||
3221 | Although the object files are gone, any commands that refer to those | |
3222 | objects will work exactly as they did before. | |
3223 | ||
5162e697 | 3224 | The linkgit:git-gc[1] command performs packing, pruning, and more for |
09eff7b0 BF |
3225 | you, so is normally the only high-level command you need. |
3226 | ||
3227 | [[dangling-objects]] | |
3228 | Dangling objects | |
3229 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3230 | ||
5162e697 | 3231 | The linkgit:git-fsck[1] command will sometimes complain about dangling |
09eff7b0 BF |
3232 | objects. They are not a problem. |
3233 | ||
3234 | The most common cause of dangling objects is that you've rebased a | |
3235 | branch, or you have pulled from somebody else who rebased a branch--see | |
3236 | <<cleaning-up-history>>. In that case, the old head of the original | |
3237 | branch still exists, as does everything it pointed to. The branch | |
3238 | pointer itself just doesn't, since you replaced it with another one. | |
3239 | ||
3240 | There are also other situations that cause dangling objects. For | |
1249d8ad | 3241 | example, a "dangling blob" may arise because you did a `git add` of a |
09eff7b0 BF |
3242 | file, but then, before you actually committed it and made it part of the |
3243 | bigger picture, you changed something else in that file and committed | |
2ef8ac1b | 3244 | that *updated* thing--the old state that you added originally ends up |
09eff7b0 BF |
3245 | not being pointed to by any commit or tree, so it's now a dangling blob |
3246 | object. | |
3247 | ||
3248 | Similarly, when the "recursive" merge strategy runs, and finds that | |
3249 | there are criss-cross merges and thus more than one merge base (which is | |
3250 | fairly unusual, but it does happen), it will generate one temporary | |
3251 | midway tree (or possibly even more, if you had lots of criss-crossing | |
3252 | merges and more than two merge bases) as a temporary internal merge | |
3253 | base, and again, those are real objects, but the end result will not end | |
3254 | up pointing to them, so they end up "dangling" in your repository. | |
3255 | ||
3256 | Generally, dangling objects aren't anything to worry about. They can | |
3257 | even be very useful: if you screw something up, the dangling objects can | |
3258 | be how you recover your old tree (say, you did a rebase, and realized | |
2ef8ac1b | 3259 | that you really didn't want to--you can look at what dangling objects |
09eff7b0 BF |
3260 | you have, and decide to reset your head to some old dangling state). |
3261 | ||
3262 | For commits, you can just use: | |
3263 | ||
3264 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3265 | $ gitk <dangling-commit-sha-goes-here> --not --all | |
3266 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3267 | ||
3268 | This asks for all the history reachable from the given commit but not | |
3269 | from any branch, tag, or other reference. If you decide it's something | |
3270 | you want, you can always create a new reference to it, e.g., | |
3271 | ||
3272 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3273 | $ git branch recovered-branch <dangling-commit-sha-goes-here> | |
3274 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3275 | ||
3276 | For blobs and trees, you can't do the same, but you can still examine | |
3277 | them. You can just do | |
3278 | ||
3279 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3280 | $ git show <dangling-blob/tree-sha-goes-here> | |
3281 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3282 | ||
3283 | to show what the contents of the blob were (or, for a tree, basically | |
1249d8ad | 3284 | what the `ls` for that directory was), and that may give you some idea |
09eff7b0 BF |
3285 | of what the operation was that left that dangling object. |
3286 | ||
3287 | Usually, dangling blobs and trees aren't very interesting. They're | |
3288 | almost always the result of either being a half-way mergebase (the blob | |
3289 | will often even have the conflict markers from a merge in it, if you | |
3290 | have had conflicting merges that you fixed up by hand), or simply | |
1249d8ad | 3291 | because you interrupted a `git fetch` with ^C or something like that, |
09eff7b0 BF |
3292 | leaving _some_ of the new objects in the object database, but just |
3293 | dangling and useless. | |
3294 | ||
3295 | Anyway, once you are sure that you're not interested in any dangling | |
3296 | state, you can just prune all unreachable objects: | |
3297 | ||
3298 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3299 | $ git prune | |
3300 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3301 | ||
1249d8ad | 3302 | and they'll be gone. But you should only run `git prune` on a quiescent |
2ef8ac1b | 3303 | repository--it's kind of like doing a filesystem fsck recovery: you |
09eff7b0 BF |
3304 | don't want to do that while the filesystem is mounted. |
3305 | ||
1249d8ad | 3306 | (The same is true of `git fsck` itself, btw, but since |
6127c086 FC |
3307 | `git fsck` never actually *changes* the repository, it just reports |
3308 | on what it found, `git fsck` itself is never 'dangerous' to run. | |
09eff7b0 BF |
3309 | Running it while somebody is actually changing the repository can cause |
3310 | confusing and scary messages, but it won't actually do anything bad. In | |
1249d8ad | 3311 | contrast, running `git prune` while somebody is actively changing the |
09eff7b0 | 3312 | repository is a *BAD* idea). |
b181d57f | 3313 | |
1cdade2c BF |
3314 | [[recovering-from-repository-corruption]] |
3315 | Recovering from repository corruption | |
3316 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3317 | ||
2de9b711 TA |
3318 | By design, Git treats data trusted to it with caution. However, even in |
3319 | the absence of bugs in Git itself, it is still possible that hardware or | |
1cdade2c BF |
3320 | operating system errors could corrupt data. |
3321 | ||
3322 | The first defense against such problems is backups. You can back up a | |
2de9b711 | 3323 | Git directory using clone, or just using cp, tar, or any other backup |
1cdade2c BF |
3324 | mechanism. |
3325 | ||
3326 | As a last resort, you can search for the corrupted objects and attempt | |
3327 | to replace them by hand. Back up your repository before attempting this | |
3328 | in case you corrupt things even more in the process. | |
3329 | ||
3330 | We'll assume that the problem is a single missing or corrupted blob, | |
9e5d87d4 | 3331 | which is sometimes a solvable problem. (Recovering missing trees and |
1cdade2c BF |
3332 | especially commits is *much* harder). |
3333 | ||
3334 | Before starting, verify that there is corruption, and figure out where | |
5162e697 | 3335 | it is with linkgit:git-fsck[1]; this may be time-consuming. |
1cdade2c BF |
3336 | |
3337 | Assume the output looks like this: | |
3338 | ||
3339 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
c6a13b2c | 3340 | $ git fsck --full --no-dangling |
1cdade2c BF |
3341 | broken link from tree 2d9263c6d23595e7cb2a21e5ebbb53655278dff8 |
3342 | to blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 | |
3343 | missing blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 | |
3344 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3345 | ||
1cdade2c BF |
3346 | Now you know that blob 4b9458b3 is missing, and that the tree 2d9263c6 |
3347 | points to it. If you could find just one copy of that missing blob | |
3348 | object, possibly in some other repository, you could move it into | |
1249d8ad | 3349 | `.git/objects/4b/9458b3...` and be done. Suppose you can't. You can |
5162e697 | 3350 | still examine the tree that pointed to it with linkgit:git-ls-tree[1], |
1cdade2c BF |
3351 | which might output something like: |
3352 | ||
3353 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3354 | $ git ls-tree 2d9263c6d23595e7cb2a21e5ebbb53655278dff8 | |
3355 | 100644 blob 8d14531846b95bfa3564b58ccfb7913a034323b8 .gitignore | |
3356 | 100644 blob ebf9bf84da0aab5ed944264a5db2a65fe3a3e883 .mailmap | |
3357 | 100644 blob ca442d313d86dc67e0a2e5d584b465bd382cbf5c COPYING | |
3358 | ... | |
3359 | 100644 blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 myfile | |
3360 | ... | |
3361 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3362 | ||
3363 | So now you know that the missing blob was the data for a file named | |
1249d8ad TK |
3364 | `myfile`. And chances are you can also identify the directory--let's |
3365 | say it's in `somedirectory`. If you're lucky the missing copy might be | |
1cdade2c | 3366 | the same as the copy you have checked out in your working tree at |
1249d8ad | 3367 | `somedirectory/myfile`; you can test whether that's right with |
5162e697 | 3368 | linkgit:git-hash-object[1]: |
1cdade2c BF |
3369 | |
3370 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3371 | $ git hash-object -w somedirectory/myfile | |
3372 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3373 | ||
3374 | which will create and store a blob object with the contents of | |
a6e5ef7d | 3375 | somedirectory/myfile, and output the SHA-1 of that object. if you're |
1cdade2c BF |
3376 | extremely lucky it might be 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200, in |
3377 | which case you've guessed right, and the corruption is fixed! | |
3378 | ||
3379 | Otherwise, you need more information. How do you tell which version of | |
3380 | the file has been lost? | |
3381 | ||
3382 | The easiest way to do this is with: | |
3383 | ||
3384 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3385 | $ git log --raw --all --full-history -- somedirectory/myfile | |
3386 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3387 | ||
3388 | Because you're asking for raw output, you'll now get something like | |
3389 | ||
3390 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3391 | commit abc | |
3392 | Author: | |
3393 | Date: | |
3394 | ... | |
3395 | :100644 100644 4b9458b... newsha... M somedirectory/myfile | |
3396 | ||
3397 | ||
3398 | commit xyz | |
3399 | Author: | |
3400 | Date: | |
3401 | ||
3402 | ... | |
3403 | :100644 100644 oldsha... 4b9458b... M somedirectory/myfile | |
3404 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3405 | ||
edfbbf7e Å N |
3406 | This tells you that the immediately following version of the file was |
3407 | "newsha", and that the immediately preceding version was "oldsha". | |
1cdade2c BF |
3408 | You also know the commit messages that went with the change from oldsha |
3409 | to 4b9458b and with the change from 4b9458b to newsha. | |
3410 | ||
3411 | If you've been committing small enough changes, you may now have a good | |
3412 | shot at reconstructing the contents of the in-between state 4b9458b. | |
3413 | ||
3414 | If you can do that, you can now recreate the missing object with | |
3415 | ||
3416 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3417 | $ git hash-object -w <recreated-file> | |
3418 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3419 | ||
3420 | and your repository is good again! | |
3421 | ||
1249d8ad | 3422 | (Btw, you could have ignored the `fsck`, and started with doing a |
1cdade2c BF |
3423 | |
3424 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3425 | $ git log --raw --all | |
3426 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
3427 | ||
1ab58e8d | 3428 | and just looked for the sha of the missing object (4b9458b..) in that |
da2c7b3d | 3429 | whole thing. It's up to you--Git does *have* a lot of information, it is |
1cdade2c BF |
3430 | just missing one particular blob version. |
3431 | ||
e34caace | 3432 | [[the-index]] |
1c097891 BF |
3433 | The index |
3434 | ----------- | |
3435 | ||
1249d8ad | 3436 | The index is a binary file (generally kept in `.git/index`) containing a |
a6e5ef7d | 3437 | sorted list of path names, each with permissions and the SHA-1 of a blob |
5162e697 | 3438 | object; linkgit:git-ls-files[1] can show you the contents of the index: |
b181d57f | 3439 | |
1c097891 BF |
3440 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3441 | $ git ls-files --stage | |
3442 | 100644 63c918c667fa005ff12ad89437f2fdc80926e21c 0 .gitignore | |
3443 | 100644 5529b198e8d14decbe4ad99db3f7fb632de0439d 0 .mailmap | |
3444 | 100644 6ff87c4664981e4397625791c8ea3bbb5f2279a3 0 COPYING | |
3445 | 100644 a37b2152bd26be2c2289e1f57a292534a51a93c7 0 Documentation/.gitignore | |
3446 | 100644 fbefe9a45b00a54b58d94d06eca48b03d40a50e0 0 Documentation/Makefile | |
3447 | ... | |
3448 | 100644 2511aef8d89ab52be5ec6a5e46236b4b6bcd07ea 0 xdiff/xtypes.h | |
3449 | 100644 2ade97b2574a9f77e7ae4002a4e07a6a38e46d07 0 xdiff/xutils.c | |
3450 | 100644 d5de8292e05e7c36c4b68857c1cf9855e3d2f70a 0 xdiff/xutils.h | |
3451 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3452 | ||
3453 | Note that in older documentation you may see the index called the | |
3454 | "current directory cache" or just the "cache". It has three important | |
3455 | properties: | |
3456 | ||
3457 | 1. The index contains all the information necessary to generate a single | |
3458 | (uniquely determined) tree object. | |
3459 | + | |
5162e697 | 3460 | For example, running linkgit:git-commit[1] generates this tree object |
1c097891 BF |
3461 | from the index, stores it in the object database, and uses it as the |
3462 | tree object associated with the new commit. | |
3463 | ||
3464 | 2. The index enables fast comparisons between the tree object it defines | |
3465 | and the working tree. | |
3466 | + | |
3467 | It does this by storing some additional data for each entry (such as | |
3468 | the last modified time). This data is not displayed above, and is not | |
3469 | stored in the created tree object, but it can be used to determine | |
3470 | quickly which files in the working directory differ from what was | |
2de9b711 | 3471 | stored in the index, and thus save Git from having to read all of the |
1c097891 BF |
3472 | data from such files to look for changes. |
3473 | ||
3474 | 3. It can efficiently represent information about merge conflicts | |
3475 | between different tree objects, allowing each pathname to be | |
b181d57f | 3476 | associated with sufficient information about the trees involved that |
1c097891 BF |
3477 | you can create a three-way merge between them. |
3478 | + | |
3479 | We saw in <<conflict-resolution>> that during a merge the index can | |
3480 | store multiple versions of a single file (called "stages"). The third | |
5162e697 | 3481 | column in the linkgit:git-ls-files[1] output above is the stage |
1c097891 BF |
3482 | number, and will take on values other than 0 for files with merge |
3483 | conflicts. | |
3484 | ||
3485 | The index is thus a sort of temporary staging area, which is filled with | |
3486 | a tree which you are in the process of working on. | |
3487 | ||
3488 | If you blow the index away entirely, you generally haven't lost any | |
3489 | information as long as you have the name of the tree that it described. | |
b181d57f | 3490 | |
38a457ba MV |
3491 | [[submodules]] |
3492 | Submodules | |
3493 | ========== | |
3494 | ||
6dd14366 MS |
3495 | Large projects are often composed of smaller, self-contained modules. For |
3496 | example, an embedded Linux distribution's source tree would include every | |
3497 | piece of software in the distribution with some local modifications; a movie | |
3498 | player might need to build against a specific, known-working version of a | |
3499 | decompression library; several independent programs might all share the same | |
3500 | build scripts. | |
3501 | ||
3502 | With centralized revision control systems this is often accomplished by | |
3503 | including every module in one single repository. Developers can check out | |
3504 | all modules or only the modules they need to work with. They can even modify | |
3505 | files across several modules in a single commit while moving things around | |
3506 | or updating APIs and translations. | |
3507 | ||
3508 | Git does not allow partial checkouts, so duplicating this approach in Git | |
3509 | would force developers to keep a local copy of modules they are not | |
3510 | interested in touching. Commits in an enormous checkout would be slower | |
3511 | than you'd expect as Git would have to scan every directory for changes. | |
3512 | If modules have a lot of local history, clones would take forever. | |
3513 | ||
3514 | On the plus side, distributed revision control systems can much better | |
3515 | integrate with external sources. In a centralized model, a single arbitrary | |
3516 | snapshot of the external project is exported from its own revision control | |
3517 | and then imported into the local revision control on a vendor branch. All | |
3518 | the history is hidden. With distributed revision control you can clone the | |
3519 | entire external history and much more easily follow development and re-merge | |
3520 | local changes. | |
3521 | ||
3522 | Git's submodule support allows a repository to contain, as a subdirectory, a | |
3523 | checkout of an external project. Submodules maintain their own identity; | |
3524 | the submodule support just stores the submodule repository location and | |
3525 | commit ID, so other developers who clone the containing project | |
3526 | ("superproject") can easily clone all the submodules at the same revision. | |
3527 | Partial checkouts of the superproject are possible: you can tell Git to | |
3528 | clone none, some or all of the submodules. | |
3529 | ||
5162e697 | 3530 | The linkgit:git-submodule[1] command is available since Git 1.5.3. Users |
6dd14366 MS |
3531 | with Git 1.5.2 can look up the submodule commits in the repository and |
3532 | manually check them out; earlier versions won't recognize the submodules at | |
3533 | all. | |
38a457ba MV |
3534 | |
3535 | To see how submodule support works, create (for example) four example | |
3536 | repositories that can be used later as a submodule: | |
3537 | ||
3538 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3539 | $ mkdir ~/git | |
3540 | $ cd ~/git | |
3541 | $ for i in a b c d | |
3542 | do | |
3543 | mkdir $i | |
3544 | cd $i | |
3545 | git init | |
3546 | echo "module $i" > $i.txt | |
3547 | git add $i.txt | |
3548 | git commit -m "Initial commit, submodule $i" | |
3549 | cd .. | |
3550 | done | |
3551 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3552 | ||
3553 | Now create the superproject and add all the submodules: | |
3554 | ||
3555 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3556 | $ mkdir super | |
3557 | $ cd super | |
3558 | $ git init | |
3559 | $ for i in a b c d | |
3560 | do | |
a56bf585 | 3561 | git submodule add ~/git/$i $i |
38a457ba MV |
3562 | done |
3563 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3564 | ||
3565 | NOTE: Do not use local URLs here if you plan to publish your superproject! | |
3566 | ||
6127c086 | 3567 | See what files `git submodule` created: |
38a457ba MV |
3568 | |
3569 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3570 | $ ls -a | |
3571 | . .. .git .gitmodules a b c d | |
3572 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3573 | ||
6127c086 | 3574 | The `git submodule add <repo> <path>` command does a couple of things: |
38a457ba | 3575 | |
1249d8ad | 3576 | - It clones the submodule from `<repo>` to the given `<path>` under the |
a56bf585 | 3577 | current directory and by default checks out the master branch. |
5162e697 | 3578 | - It adds the submodule's clone path to the linkgit:gitmodules[5] file and |
6dd14366 | 3579 | adds this file to the index, ready to be committed. |
38a457ba MV |
3580 | - It adds the submodule's current commit ID to the index, ready to be |
3581 | committed. | |
3582 | ||
3583 | Commit the superproject: | |
3584 | ||
3585 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3586 | $ git commit -m "Add submodules a, b, c and d." | |
3587 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3588 | ||
3589 | Now clone the superproject: | |
3590 | ||
3591 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3592 | $ cd .. | |
3593 | $ git clone super cloned | |
3594 | $ cd cloned | |
3595 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3596 | ||
3597 | The submodule directories are there, but they're empty: | |
3598 | ||
3599 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3600 | $ ls -a a | |
3601 | . .. | |
3602 | $ git submodule status | |
3603 | -d266b9873ad50488163457f025db7cdd9683d88b a | |
3604 | -e81d457da15309b4fef4249aba9b50187999670d b | |
3605 | -c1536a972b9affea0f16e0680ba87332dc059146 c | |
3606 | -d96249ff5d57de5de093e6baff9e0aafa5276a74 d | |
3607 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3608 | ||
3609 | NOTE: The commit object names shown above would be different for you, but they | |
3610 | should match the HEAD commit object names of your repositories. You can check | |
3611 | it by running `git ls-remote ../a`. | |
3612 | ||
3613 | Pulling down the submodules is a two-step process. First run `git submodule | |
3614 | init` to add the submodule repository URLs to `.git/config`: | |
3615 | ||
3616 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3617 | $ git submodule init | |
3618 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3619 | ||
6127c086 | 3620 | Now use `git submodule update` to clone the repositories and check out the |
38a457ba MV |
3621 | commits specified in the superproject: |
3622 | ||
3623 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3624 | $ git submodule update | |
3625 | $ cd a | |
3626 | $ ls -a | |
3627 | . .. .git a.txt | |
3628 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3629 | ||
6127c086 FC |
3630 | One major difference between `git submodule update` and `git submodule add` is |
3631 | that `git submodule update` checks out a specific commit, rather than the tip | |
38a457ba MV |
3632 | of a branch. It's like checking out a tag: the head is detached, so you're not |
3633 | working on a branch. | |
3634 | ||
3635 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3636 | $ git branch | |
3637 | * (no branch) | |
3638 | master | |
3639 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3640 | ||
3641 | If you want to make a change within a submodule and you have a detached head, | |
3642 | then you should create or checkout a branch, make your changes, publish the | |
3643 | change within the submodule, and then update the superproject to reference the | |
3644 | new commit: | |
3645 | ||
3646 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3647 | $ git checkout master | |
3648 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3649 | ||
3650 | or | |
3651 | ||
3652 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3653 | $ git checkout -b fix-up | |
3654 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3655 | ||
3656 | then | |
3657 | ||
3658 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3659 | $ echo "adding a line again" >> a.txt | |
3660 | $ git commit -a -m "Updated the submodule from within the superproject." | |
3661 | $ git push | |
3662 | $ cd .. | |
3663 | $ git diff | |
3664 | diff --git a/a b/a | |
3665 | index d266b98..261dfac 160000 | |
3666 | --- a/a | |
3667 | +++ b/a | |
3668 | @@ -1 +1 @@ | |
3669 | -Subproject commit d266b9873ad50488163457f025db7cdd9683d88b | |
3670 | +Subproject commit 261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24 | |
3671 | $ git add a | |
3672 | $ git commit -m "Updated submodule a." | |
3673 | $ git push | |
3674 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3675 | ||
3676 | You have to run `git submodule update` after `git pull` if you want to update | |
3677 | submodules, too. | |
3678 | ||
3679 | Pitfalls with submodules | |
3680 | ------------------------ | |
3681 | ||
3682 | Always publish the submodule change before publishing the change to the | |
3683 | superproject that references it. If you forget to publish the submodule change, | |
3684 | others won't be able to clone the repository: | |
3685 | ||
3686 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3687 | $ cd ~/git/super/a | |
3688 | $ echo i added another line to this file >> a.txt | |
3689 | $ git commit -a -m "doing it wrong this time" | |
3690 | $ cd .. | |
3691 | $ git add a | |
3692 | $ git commit -m "Updated submodule a again." | |
3693 | $ git push | |
3694 | $ cd ~/git/cloned | |
3695 | $ git pull | |
3696 | $ git submodule update | |
3697 | error: pathspec '261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24' did not match any file(s) known to git. | |
3698 | Did you forget to 'git add'? | |
3699 | Unable to checkout '261dfac35cb99d380eb966e102c1197139f7fa24' in submodule path 'a' | |
3700 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3701 | ||
2de9b711 | 3702 | In older Git versions it could be easily forgotten to commit new or modified |
8d9e7d52 | 3703 | files in a submodule, which silently leads to similar problems as not pushing |
1249d8ad | 3704 | the submodule changes. Starting with Git 1.7.0 both `git status` and `git diff` |
8d9e7d52 | 3705 | in the superproject show submodules as modified when they contain new or |
1249d8ad TK |
3706 | modified files to protect against accidentally committing such a state. `git |
3707 | diff` will also add a `-dirty` to the work tree side when generating patch | |
3708 | output or used with the `--submodule` option: | |
8d9e7d52 JL |
3709 | |
3710 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3711 | $ git diff | |
3712 | diff --git a/sub b/sub | |
3713 | --- a/sub | |
3714 | +++ b/sub | |
3715 | @@ -1 +1 @@ | |
3716 | -Subproject commit 3f356705649b5d566d97ff843cf193359229a453 | |
3717 | +Subproject commit 3f356705649b5d566d97ff843cf193359229a453-dirty | |
3718 | $ git diff --submodule | |
3719 | Submodule sub 3f35670..3f35670-dirty: | |
3720 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3721 | ||
38a457ba MV |
3722 | You also should not rewind branches in a submodule beyond commits that were |
3723 | ever recorded in any superproject. | |
3724 | ||
3725 | It's not safe to run `git submodule update` if you've made and committed | |
3726 | changes within a submodule without checking out a branch first. They will be | |
3727 | silently overwritten: | |
3728 | ||
3729 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3730 | $ cat a.txt | |
3731 | module a | |
3732 | $ echo line added from private2 >> a.txt | |
3733 | $ git commit -a -m "line added inside private2" | |
3734 | $ cd .. | |
3735 | $ git submodule update | |
3736 | Submodule path 'a': checked out 'd266b9873ad50488163457f025db7cdd9683d88b' | |
3737 | $ cd a | |
3738 | $ cat a.txt | |
3739 | module a | |
3740 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
3741 | ||
3742 | NOTE: The changes are still visible in the submodule's reflog. | |
3743 | ||
91486733 TK |
3744 | If you have uncommitted changes in your submodule working tree, `git |
3745 | submodule update` will not overwrite them. Instead, you get the usual | |
3746 | warning about not being able switch from a dirty branch. | |
38a457ba | 3747 | |
1c6045ff | 3748 | [[low-level-operations]] |
2de9b711 | 3749 | Low-level Git operations |
1c6045ff | 3750 | ======================== |
b181d57f | 3751 | |
1c6045ff | 3752 | Many of the higher-level commands were originally implemented as shell |
2de9b711 TA |
3753 | scripts using a smaller core of low-level Git commands. These can still |
3754 | be useful when doing unusual things with Git, or just as a way to | |
1c6045ff | 3755 | understand its inner workings. |
b181d57f | 3756 | |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3757 | [[object-manipulation]] |
3758 | Object access and manipulation | |
3759 | ------------------------------ | |
3760 | ||
5162e697 DM |
3761 | The linkgit:git-cat-file[1] command can show the contents of any object, |
3762 | though the higher-level linkgit:git-show[1] is usually more useful. | |
1bbf1c79 | 3763 | |
5162e697 | 3764 | The linkgit:git-commit-tree[1] command allows constructing commits with |
1bbf1c79 BF |
3765 | arbitrary parents and trees. |
3766 | ||
5162e697 DM |
3767 | A tree can be created with linkgit:git-write-tree[1] and its data can be |
3768 | accessed by linkgit:git-ls-tree[1]. Two trees can be compared with | |
3769 | linkgit:git-diff-tree[1]. | |
1bbf1c79 | 3770 | |
5162e697 DM |
3771 | A tag is created with linkgit:git-mktag[1], and the signature can be |
3772 | verified by linkgit:git-verify-tag[1], though it is normally simpler to | |
3773 | use linkgit:git-tag[1] for both. | |
1bbf1c79 | 3774 | |
e34caace | 3775 | [[the-workflow]] |
b181d57f BF |
3776 | The Workflow |
3777 | ------------ | |
3778 | ||
5162e697 DM |
3779 | High-level operations such as linkgit:git-commit[1], |
3780 | linkgit:git-checkout[1] and linkgit:git-reset[1] work by moving data | |
06ada152 RW |
3781 | between the working tree, the index, and the object database. Git |
3782 | provides low-level operations which perform each of these steps | |
3783 | individually. | |
1c6045ff | 3784 | |
2de9b711 | 3785 | Generally, all Git operations work on the index file. Some operations |
b181d57f | 3786 | work *purely* on the index file (showing the current state of the |
1c6045ff BF |
3787 | index), but most operations move data between the index file and either |
3788 | the database or the working directory. Thus there are four main | |
3789 | combinations: | |
b181d57f | 3790 | |
e34caace | 3791 | [[working-directory-to-index]] |
b181d57f BF |
3792 | working directory -> index |
3793 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3794 | ||
5162e697 | 3795 | The linkgit:git-update-index[1] command updates the index with |
1c6045ff BF |
3796 | information from the working directory. You generally update the |
3797 | index information by just specifying the filename you want to update, | |
3798 | like so: | |
b181d57f BF |
3799 | |
3800 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1c6045ff | 3801 | $ git update-index filename |
b181d57f BF |
3802 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3803 | ||
3804 | but to avoid common mistakes with filename globbing etc, the command | |
3805 | will not normally add totally new entries or remove old entries, | |
3806 | i.e. it will normally just update existing cache entries. | |
3807 | ||
2de9b711 | 3808 | To tell Git that yes, you really do realize that certain files no |
b181d57f BF |
3809 | longer exist, or that new files should be added, you |
3810 | should use the `--remove` and `--add` flags respectively. | |
3811 | ||
3812 | NOTE! A `--remove` flag does 'not' mean that subsequent filenames will | |
3813 | necessarily be removed: if the files still exist in your directory | |
3814 | structure, the index will be updated with their new status, not | |
10455d2a | 3815 | removed. The only thing `--remove` means is that update-index will be |
b181d57f BF |
3816 | considering a removed file to be a valid thing, and if the file really |
3817 | does not exist any more, it will update the index accordingly. | |
3818 | ||
467c0197 | 3819 | As a special case, you can also do `git update-index --refresh`, which |
b181d57f BF |
3820 | will refresh the "stat" information of each index to match the current |
3821 | stat information. It will 'not' update the object status itself, and | |
3822 | it will only update the fields that are used to quickly test whether | |
3823 | an object still matches its old backing store object. | |
3824 | ||
5162e697 DM |
3825 | The previously introduced linkgit:git-add[1] is just a wrapper for |
3826 | linkgit:git-update-index[1]. | |
1c6045ff | 3827 | |
e34caace | 3828 | [[index-to-object-database]] |
b181d57f BF |
3829 | index -> object database |
3830 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3831 | ||
3832 | You write your current index file to a "tree" object with the program | |
3833 | ||
3834 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
1c6045ff | 3835 | $ git write-tree |
b181d57f BF |
3836 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3837 | ||
2ef8ac1b | 3838 | that doesn't come with any options--it will just write out the |
b181d57f BF |
3839 | current index into the set of tree objects that describe that state, |
3840 | and it will return the name of the resulting top-level tree. You can | |
3841 | use that tree to re-generate the index at any time by going in the | |
3842 | other direction: | |
3843 | ||
e34caace | 3844 | [[object-database-to-index]] |
b181d57f BF |
3845 | object database -> index |
3846 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3847 | ||
3848 | You read a "tree" file from the object database, and use that to | |
2ef8ac1b | 3849 | populate (and overwrite--don't do this if your index contains any |
b181d57f BF |
3850 | unsaved state that you might want to restore later!) your current |
3851 | index. Normal operation is just | |
3852 | ||
3853 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
a6e5ef7d | 3854 | $ git read-tree <SHA-1 of tree> |
b181d57f BF |
3855 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3856 | ||
3857 | and your index file will now be equivalent to the tree that you saved | |
3858 | earlier. However, that is only your 'index' file: your working | |
3859 | directory contents have not been modified. | |
3860 | ||
e34caace | 3861 | [[index-to-working-directory]] |
b181d57f BF |
3862 | index -> working directory |
3863 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3864 | ||
3865 | You update your working directory from the index by "checking out" | |
3866 | files. This is not a very common operation, since normally you'd just | |
3867 | keep your files updated, and rather than write to your working | |
3868 | directory, you'd tell the index files about the changes in your | |
6127c086 | 3869 | working directory (i.e. `git update-index`). |
b181d57f BF |
3870 | |
3871 | However, if you decide to jump to a new version, or check out somebody | |
3872 | else's version, or just restore a previous tree, you'd populate your | |
3873 | index file with read-tree, and then you need to check out the result | |
3874 | with | |
3875 | ||
3876 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 3877 | $ git checkout-index filename |
b181d57f BF |
3878 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3879 | ||
3880 | or, if you want to check out all of the index, use `-a`. | |
3881 | ||
6127c086 | 3882 | NOTE! `git checkout-index` normally refuses to overwrite old files, so |
b181d57f | 3883 | if you have an old version of the tree already checked out, you will |
1249d8ad | 3884 | need to use the `-f` flag ('before' the `-a` flag or the filename) to |
b181d57f BF |
3885 | 'force' the checkout. |
3886 | ||
3887 | ||
3888 | Finally, there are a few odds and ends which are not purely moving | |
3889 | from one representation to the other: | |
3890 | ||
e34caace | 3891 | [[tying-it-all-together]] |
b181d57f BF |
3892 | Tying it all together |
3893 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
3894 | ||
1249d8ad | 3895 | To commit a tree you have instantiated with `git write-tree`, you'd |
b181d57f | 3896 | create a "commit" object that refers to that tree and the history |
2ef8ac1b | 3897 | behind it--most notably the "parent" commits that preceded it in |
b181d57f BF |
3898 | history. |
3899 | ||
3900 | Normally a "commit" has one parent: the previous state of the tree | |
3901 | before a certain change was made. However, sometimes it can have two | |
3902 | or more parent commits, in which case we call it a "merge", due to the | |
3903 | fact that such a commit brings together ("merges") two or more | |
3904 | previous states represented by other commits. | |
3905 | ||
3906 | In other words, while a "tree" represents a particular directory state | |
3907 | of a working directory, a "commit" represents that state in "time", | |
3908 | and explains how we got there. | |
3909 | ||
3910 | You create a commit object by giving it the tree that describes the | |
3911 | state at the time of the commit, and a list of parents: | |
3912 | ||
3913 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
0adda936 | 3914 | $ git commit-tree <tree> -p <parent> [(-p <parent2>)...] |
b181d57f BF |
3915 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3916 | ||
3917 | and then giving the reason for the commit on stdin (either through | |
3918 | redirection from a pipe or file, or by just typing it at the tty). | |
3919 | ||
6127c086 | 3920 | `git commit-tree` will return the name of the object that represents |
b181d57f | 3921 | that commit, and you should save it away for later use. Normally, |
2de9b711 | 3922 | you'd commit a new `HEAD` state, and while Git doesn't care where you |
b181d57f BF |
3923 | save the note about that state, in practice we tend to just write the |
3924 | result to the file pointed at by `.git/HEAD`, so that we can always see | |
3925 | what the last committed state was. | |
3926 | ||
3927 | Here is an ASCII art by Jon Loeliger that illustrates how | |
3928 | various pieces fit together. | |
3929 | ||
3930 | ------------ | |
3931 | ||
3932 | commit-tree | |
3933 | commit obj | |
3934 | +----+ | |
3935 | | | | |
3936 | | | | |
3937 | V V | |
3938 | +-----------+ | |
3939 | | Object DB | | |
3940 | | Backing | | |
3941 | | Store | | |
3942 | +-----------+ | |
3943 | ^ | |
3944 | write-tree | | | |
3945 | tree obj | | | |
3946 | | | read-tree | |
3947 | | | tree obj | |
3948 | V | |
3949 | +-----------+ | |
3950 | | Index | | |
3951 | | "cache" | | |
3952 | +-----------+ | |
3953 | update-index ^ | |
3954 | blob obj | | | |
3955 | | | | |
3956 | checkout-index -u | | checkout-index | |
3957 | stat | | blob obj | |
3958 | V | |
3959 | +-----------+ | |
3960 | | Working | | |
3961 | | Directory | | |
3962 | +-----------+ | |
3963 | ||
3964 | ------------ | |
3965 | ||
3966 | ||
e34caace | 3967 | [[examining-the-data]] |
b181d57f BF |
3968 | Examining the data |
3969 | ------------------ | |
3970 | ||
3971 | You can examine the data represented in the object database and the | |
3972 | index with various helper tools. For every object, you can use | |
5162e697 | 3973 | linkgit:git-cat-file[1] to examine details about the |
b181d57f BF |
3974 | object: |
3975 | ||
3976 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 3977 | $ git cat-file -t <objectname> |
b181d57f BF |
3978 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3979 | ||
3980 | shows the type of the object, and once you have the type (which is | |
3981 | usually implicit in where you find the object), you can use | |
3982 | ||
3983 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 3984 | $ git cat-file blob|tree|commit|tag <objectname> |
b181d57f BF |
3985 | ------------------------------------------------- |
3986 | ||
3987 | to show its contents. NOTE! Trees have binary content, and as a result | |
3988 | there is a special helper for showing that content, called | |
6127c086 | 3989 | `git ls-tree`, which turns the binary content into a more easily |
b181d57f BF |
3990 | readable form. |
3991 | ||
3992 | It's especially instructive to look at "commit" objects, since those | |
3993 | tend to be small and fairly self-explanatory. In particular, if you | |
3994 | follow the convention of having the top commit name in `.git/HEAD`, | |
3995 | you can do | |
3996 | ||
3997 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 3998 | $ git cat-file commit HEAD |
b181d57f BF |
3999 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4000 | ||
4001 | to see what the top commit was. | |
4002 | ||
e34caace | 4003 | [[merging-multiple-trees]] |
b181d57f | 4004 | Merging multiple trees |
d19fbc3c BF |
4005 | ---------------------- |
4006 | ||
b181d57f BF |
4007 | Git helps you do a three-way merge, which you can expand to n-way by |
4008 | repeating the merge procedure arbitrary times until you finally | |
4009 | "commit" the state. The normal situation is that you'd only do one | |
4010 | three-way merge (two parents), and commit it, but if you like to, you | |
4011 | can do multiple parents in one go. | |
4012 | ||
4013 | To do a three-way merge, you need the two sets of "commit" objects | |
4014 | that you want to merge, use those to find the closest common parent (a | |
4015 | third "commit" object), and then use those commit objects to find the | |
4016 | state of the directory ("tree" object) at these points. | |
4017 | ||
4018 | To get the "base" for the merge, you first look up the common parent | |
4019 | of two commits with | |
4020 | ||
4021 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 4022 | $ git merge-base <commit1> <commit2> |
b181d57f BF |
4023 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4024 | ||
4025 | which will return you the commit they are both based on. You should | |
4026 | now look up the "tree" objects of those commits, which you can easily | |
4027 | do with (for example) | |
4028 | ||
4029 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 4030 | $ git cat-file commit <commitname> | head -1 |
b181d57f BF |
4031 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4032 | ||
4033 | since the tree object information is always the first line in a commit | |
4034 | object. | |
4035 | ||
1191ee18 | 4036 | Once you know the three trees you are going to merge (the one "original" |
c64415e2 | 4037 | tree, aka the common tree, and the two "result" trees, aka the branches |
1191ee18 BF |
4038 | you want to merge), you do a "merge" read into the index. This will |
4039 | complain if it has to throw away your old index contents, so you should | |
2ef8ac1b | 4040 | make sure that you've committed those--in fact you would normally |
1191ee18 BF |
4041 | always do a merge against your last commit (which should thus match what |
4042 | you have in your current index anyway). | |
b181d57f BF |
4043 | |
4044 | To do the merge, do | |
4045 | ||
4046 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 4047 | $ git read-tree -m -u <origtree> <yourtree> <targettree> |
b181d57f BF |
4048 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4049 | ||
4050 | which will do all trivial merge operations for you directly in the | |
4051 | index file, and you can just write the result out with | |
467c0197 | 4052 | `git write-tree`. |
b181d57f BF |
4053 | |
4054 | ||
e34caace | 4055 | [[merging-multiple-trees-2]] |
b181d57f BF |
4056 | Merging multiple trees, continued |
4057 | --------------------------------- | |
4058 | ||
4059 | Sadly, many merges aren't trivial. If there are files that have | |
06ada152 | 4060 | been added, moved or removed, or if both branches have modified the |
b181d57f BF |
4061 | same file, you will be left with an index tree that contains "merge |
4062 | entries" in it. Such an index tree can 'NOT' be written out to a tree | |
4063 | object, and you will have to resolve any such merge clashes using | |
4064 | other tools before you can write out the result. | |
4065 | ||
b1889c36 | 4066 | You can examine such index state with `git ls-files --unmerged` |
b181d57f BF |
4067 | command. An example: |
4068 | ||
4069 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
b1889c36 JN |
4070 | $ git read-tree -m $orig HEAD $target |
4071 | $ git ls-files --unmerged | |
b181d57f BF |
4072 | 100644 263414f423d0e4d70dae8fe53fa34614ff3e2860 1 hello.c |
4073 | 100644 06fa6a24256dc7e560efa5687fa84b51f0263c3a 2 hello.c | |
4074 | 100644 cc44c73eb783565da5831b4d820c962954019b69 3 hello.c | |
4075 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
4076 | ||
b1889c36 | 4077 | Each line of the `git ls-files --unmerged` output begins with |
a6e5ef7d | 4078 | the blob mode bits, blob SHA-1, 'stage number', and the |
2de9b711 | 4079 | filename. The 'stage number' is Git's way to say which tree it |
edfbbf7e Å N |
4080 | came from: stage 1 corresponds to the `$orig` tree, stage 2 to |
4081 | the `HEAD` tree, and stage 3 to the `$target` tree. | |
b181d57f BF |
4082 | |
4083 | Earlier we said that trivial merges are done inside | |
6127c086 | 4084 | `git read-tree -m`. For example, if the file did not change |
b181d57f BF |
4085 | from `$orig` to `HEAD` nor `$target`, or if the file changed |
4086 | from `$orig` to `HEAD` and `$orig` to `$target` the same way, | |
4087 | obviously the final outcome is what is in `HEAD`. What the | |
4088 | above example shows is that file `hello.c` was changed from | |
4089 | `$orig` to `HEAD` and `$orig` to `$target` in a different way. | |
4090 | You could resolve this by running your favorite 3-way merge | |
2de9b711 | 4091 | program, e.g. `diff3`, `merge`, or Git's own merge-file, on |
c64415e2 | 4092 | the blob objects from these three stages yourself, like this: |
b181d57f BF |
4093 | |
4094 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
b1889c36 JN |
4095 | $ git cat-file blob 263414f... >hello.c~1 |
4096 | $ git cat-file blob 06fa6a2... >hello.c~2 | |
4097 | $ git cat-file blob cc44c73... >hello.c~3 | |
c64415e2 | 4098 | $ git merge-file hello.c~2 hello.c~1 hello.c~3 |
b181d57f BF |
4099 | ------------------------------------------------ |
4100 | ||
4101 | This would leave the merge result in `hello.c~2` file, along | |
4102 | with conflict markers if there are conflicts. After verifying | |
2de9b711 | 4103 | the merge result makes sense, you can tell Git what the final |
b181d57f BF |
4104 | merge result for this file is by: |
4105 | ||
4106 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
4107 | $ mv -f hello.c~2 hello.c | |
b1889c36 | 4108 | $ git update-index hello.c |
b181d57f BF |
4109 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4110 | ||
6127c086 | 4111 | When a path is in the "unmerged" state, running `git update-index` for |
2de9b711 | 4112 | that path tells Git to mark the path resolved. |
b181d57f | 4113 | |
2de9b711 | 4114 | The above is the description of a Git merge at the lowest level, |
b181d57f | 4115 | to help you understand what conceptually happens under the hood. |
2de9b711 | 4116 | In practice, nobody, not even Git itself, runs `git cat-file` three times |
6127c086 | 4117 | for this. There is a `git merge-index` program that extracts the |
b181d57f BF |
4118 | stages to temporary files and calls a "merge" script on it: |
4119 | ||
4120 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
b1889c36 | 4121 | $ git merge-index git-merge-one-file hello.c |
b181d57f BF |
4122 | ------------------------------------------------- |
4123 | ||
6127c086 | 4124 | and that is what higher level `git merge -s resolve` is implemented with. |
b181d57f | 4125 | |
971aa71f | 4126 | [[hacking-git]] |
2de9b711 | 4127 | Hacking Git |
971aa71f BF |
4128 | =========== |
4129 | ||
2de9b711 TA |
4130 | This chapter covers internal details of the Git implementation which |
4131 | probably only Git developers need to understand. | |
971aa71f | 4132 | |
f2327c6c BF |
4133 | [[object-details]] |
4134 | Object storage format | |
4135 | --------------------- | |
4136 | ||
4137 | All objects have a statically determined "type" which identifies the | |
4138 | format of the object (i.e. how it is used, and how it can refer to other | |
4139 | objects). There are currently four different object types: "blob", | |
4140 | "tree", "commit", and "tag". | |
4141 | ||
4142 | Regardless of object type, all objects share the following | |
4143 | characteristics: they are all deflated with zlib, and have a header | |
4144 | that not only specifies their type, but also provides size information | |
a6e5ef7d | 4145 | about the data in the object. It's worth noting that the SHA-1 hash |
f2327c6c BF |
4146 | that is used to name the object is the hash of the original data |
4147 | plus this header, so `sha1sum` 'file' does not match the object name | |
4148 | for 'file'. | |
2de9b711 | 4149 | (Historical note: in the dawn of the age of Git the hash |
a6e5ef7d | 4150 | was the SHA-1 of the 'compressed' object.) |
f2327c6c BF |
4151 | |
4152 | As a result, the general consistency of an object can always be tested | |
4153 | independently of the contents or the type of the object: all objects can | |
4154 | be validated by verifying that (a) their hashes match the content of the | |
4155 | file and (b) the object successfully inflates to a stream of bytes that | |
1249d8ad TK |
4156 | forms a sequence of |
4157 | `<ascii type without space> + <space> + <ascii decimal size> + | |
4158 | <byte\0> + <binary object data>`. | |
f2327c6c BF |
4159 | |
4160 | The structured objects can further have their structure and | |
4161 | connectivity to other objects verified. This is generally done with | |
6127c086 | 4162 | the `git fsck` program, which generates a full dependency graph |
f2327c6c BF |
4163 | of all objects, and verifies their internal consistency (in addition |
4164 | to just verifying their superficial consistency through the hash). | |
4165 | ||
126640af | 4166 | [[birdview-on-the-source-code]] |
a5fc33b4 BF |
4167 | A birds-eye view of Git's source code |
4168 | ------------------------------------- | |
126640af | 4169 | |
a5fc33b4 BF |
4170 | It is not always easy for new developers to find their way through Git's |
4171 | source code. This section gives you a little guidance to show where to | |
4172 | start. | |
126640af | 4173 | |
a5fc33b4 | 4174 | A good place to start is with the contents of the initial commit, with: |
126640af JS |
4175 | |
4176 | ---------------------------------------------------- | |
a5fc33b4 | 4177 | $ git checkout e83c5163 |
126640af JS |
4178 | ---------------------------------------------------- |
4179 | ||
2de9b711 | 4180 | The initial revision lays the foundation for almost everything Git has |
a5fc33b4 | 4181 | today, but is small enough to read in one sitting. |
126640af | 4182 | |
a5fc33b4 BF |
4183 | Note that terminology has changed since that revision. For example, the |
4184 | README in that revision uses the word "changeset" to describe what we | |
4185 | now call a <<def_commit_object,commit>>. | |
126640af | 4186 | |
843c81dc | 4187 | Also, we do not call it "cache" any more, but rather "index"; however, the |
126640af JS |
4188 | file is still called `cache.h`. Remark: Not much reason to change it now, |
4189 | especially since there is no good single name for it anyway, because it is | |
4190 | basically _the_ header file which is included by _all_ of Git's C sources. | |
4191 | ||
a5fc33b4 BF |
4192 | If you grasp the ideas in that initial commit, you should check out a |
4193 | more recent version and skim `cache.h`, `object.h` and `commit.h`. | |
126640af JS |
4194 | |
4195 | In the early days, Git (in the tradition of UNIX) was a bunch of programs | |
4196 | which were extremely simple, and which you used in scripts, piping the | |
4197 | output of one into another. This turned out to be good for initial | |
4198 | development, since it was easier to test new things. However, recently | |
4199 | many of these parts have become builtins, and some of the core has been | |
4200 | "libified", i.e. put into libgit.a for performance, portability reasons, | |
4201 | and to avoid code duplication. | |
4202 | ||
4203 | By now, you know what the index is (and find the corresponding data | |
4204 | structures in `cache.h`), and that there are just a couple of object types | |
4205 | (blobs, trees, commits and tags) which inherit their common structure from | |
4206 | `struct object`, which is their first member (and thus, you can cast e.g. | |
4207 | `(struct object *)commit` to achieve the _same_ as `&commit->object`, i.e. | |
4208 | get at the object name and flags). | |
4209 | ||
4210 | Now is a good point to take a break to let this information sink in. | |
4211 | ||
4212 | Next step: get familiar with the object naming. Read <<naming-commits>>. | |
4213 | There are quite a few ways to name an object (and not only revisions!). | |
4214 | All of these are handled in `sha1_name.c`. Just have a quick look at | |
4215 | the function `get_sha1()`. A lot of the special handling is done by | |
4216 | functions like `get_sha1_basic()` or the likes. | |
4217 | ||
4218 | This is just to get you into the groove for the most libified part of Git: | |
4219 | the revision walker. | |
4220 | ||
6127c086 | 4221 | Basically, the initial version of `git log` was a shell script: |
126640af JS |
4222 | |
4223 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
4224 | $ git-rev-list --pretty $(git-rev-parse --default HEAD "$@") | \ | |
4225 | LESS=-S ${PAGER:-less} | |
4226 | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
4227 | ||
4228 | What does this mean? | |
4229 | ||
6127c086 | 4230 | `git rev-list` is the original version of the revision walker, which |
126640af | 4231 | _always_ printed a list of revisions to stdout. It is still functional, |
57f6ec02 | 4232 | and needs to, since most new Git commands start out as scripts using |
6127c086 | 4233 | `git rev-list`. |
126640af | 4234 | |
6127c086 | 4235 | `git rev-parse` is not as important any more; it was only used to filter out |
126640af JS |
4236 | options that were relevant for the different plumbing commands that were |
4237 | called by the script. | |
4238 | ||
6127c086 | 4239 | Most of what `git rev-list` did is contained in `revision.c` and |
126640af JS |
4240 | `revision.h`. It wraps the options in a struct named `rev_info`, which |
4241 | controls how and what revisions are walked, and more. | |
4242 | ||
6127c086 | 4243 | The original job of `git rev-parse` is now taken by the function |
126640af JS |
4244 | `setup_revisions()`, which parses the revisions and the common command line |
4245 | options for the revision walker. This information is stored in the struct | |
4246 | `rev_info` for later consumption. You can do your own command line option | |
4247 | parsing after calling `setup_revisions()`. After that, you have to call | |
4248 | `prepare_revision_walk()` for initialization, and then you can get the | |
4249 | commits one by one with the function `get_revision()`. | |
4250 | ||
4251 | If you are interested in more details of the revision walking process, | |
4252 | just have a look at the first implementation of `cmd_log()`; call | |
6cf378f0 | 4253 | `git show v1.3.0~155^2~4` and scroll down to that function (note that you |
126640af JS |
4254 | no longer need to call `setup_pager()` directly). |
4255 | ||
6127c086 | 4256 | Nowadays, `git log` is a builtin, which means that it is _contained_ in the |
126640af JS |
4257 | command `git`. The source side of a builtin is |
4258 | ||
4259 | - a function called `cmd_<bla>`, typically defined in `builtin-<bla>.c`, | |
4260 | and declared in `builtin.h`, | |
4261 | ||
4262 | - an entry in the `commands[]` array in `git.c`, and | |
4263 | ||
4264 | - an entry in `BUILTIN_OBJECTS` in the `Makefile`. | |
4265 | ||
4266 | Sometimes, more than one builtin is contained in one source file. For | |
4267 | example, `cmd_whatchanged()` and `cmd_log()` both reside in `builtin-log.c`, | |
4268 | since they share quite a bit of code. In that case, the commands which are | |
4269 | _not_ named like the `.c` file in which they live have to be listed in | |
4270 | `BUILT_INS` in the `Makefile`. | |
4271 | ||
6127c086 | 4272 | `git log` looks more complicated in C than it does in the original script, |
126640af JS |
4273 | but that allows for a much greater flexibility and performance. |
4274 | ||
4275 | Here again it is a good point to take a pause. | |
4276 | ||
4277 | Lesson three is: study the code. Really, it is the best way to learn about | |
4278 | the organization of Git (after you know the basic concepts). | |
4279 | ||
4280 | So, think about something which you are interested in, say, "how can I | |
4281 | access a blob just knowing the object name of it?". The first step is to | |
4282 | find a Git command with which you can do it. In this example, it is either | |
6127c086 | 4283 | `git show` or `git cat-file`. |
126640af | 4284 | |
6127c086 | 4285 | For the sake of clarity, let's stay with `git cat-file`, because it |
126640af JS |
4286 | |
4287 | - is plumbing, and | |
4288 | ||
4289 | - was around even in the initial commit (it literally went only through | |
4290 | some 20 revisions as `cat-file.c`, was renamed to `builtin-cat-file.c` | |
4291 | when made a builtin, and then saw less than 10 versions). | |
4292 | ||
4293 | So, look into `builtin-cat-file.c`, search for `cmd_cat_file()` and look what | |
4294 | it does. | |
4295 | ||
4296 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |
4297 | git_config(git_default_config); | |
4298 | if (argc != 3) | |
6127c086 | 4299 | usage("git cat-file [-t|-s|-e|-p|<type>] <sha1>"); |
126640af JS |
4300 | if (get_sha1(argv[2], sha1)) |
4301 | die("Not a valid object name %s", argv[2]); | |
4302 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | |
4303 | ||
4304 | Let's skip over the obvious details; the only really interesting part | |
4305 | here is the call to `get_sha1()`. It tries to interpret `argv[2]` as an | |
4306 | object name, and if it refers to an object which is present in the current | |
4307 | repository, it writes the resulting SHA-1 into the variable `sha1`. | |
4308 | ||
4309 | Two things are interesting here: | |
4310 | ||
4311 | - `get_sha1()` returns 0 on _success_. This might surprise some new | |
4312 | Git hackers, but there is a long tradition in UNIX to return different | |
2ef8ac1b | 4313 | negative numbers in case of different errors--and 0 on success. |
126640af JS |
4314 | |
4315 | - the variable `sha1` in the function signature of `get_sha1()` is `unsigned | |
6cf378f0 | 4316 | char *`, but is actually expected to be a pointer to `unsigned |
126640af | 4317 | char[20]`. This variable will contain the 160-bit SHA-1 of the given |
6cf378f0 | 4318 | commit. Note that whenever a SHA-1 is passed as `unsigned char *`, it |
126640af | 4319 | is the binary representation, as opposed to the ASCII representation in |
a5fc33b4 | 4320 | hex characters, which is passed as `char *`. |
126640af JS |
4321 | |
4322 | You will see both of these things throughout the code. | |
4323 | ||
4324 | Now, for the meat: | |
4325 | ||
4326 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
4327 | case 0: | |
4328 | buf = read_object_with_reference(sha1, argv[1], &size, NULL); | |
4329 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
4330 | ||
4331 | This is how you read a blob (actually, not only a blob, but any type of | |
4332 | object). To know how the function `read_object_with_reference()` actually | |
4333 | works, find the source code for it (something like `git grep | |
2de9b711 | 4334 | read_object_with | grep ":[a-z]"` in the Git repository), and read |
126640af JS |
4335 | the source. |
4336 | ||
4337 | To find out how the result can be used, just read on in `cmd_cat_file()`: | |
4338 | ||
4339 | ----------------------------------- | |
4340 | write_or_die(1, buf, size); | |
4341 | ----------------------------------- | |
4342 | ||
4343 | Sometimes, you do not know where to look for a feature. In many such cases, | |
6127c086 | 4344 | it helps to search through the output of `git log`, and then `git show` the |
126640af JS |
4345 | corresponding commit. |
4346 | ||
6127c086 | 4347 | Example: If you know that there was some test case for `git bundle`, but |
126640af JS |
4348 | do not remember where it was (yes, you _could_ `git grep bundle t/`, but that |
4349 | does not illustrate the point!): | |
4350 | ||
4351 | ------------------------ | |
4352 | $ git log --no-merges t/ | |
4353 | ------------------------ | |
4354 | ||
4355 | In the pager (`less`), just search for "bundle", go a few lines back, | |
4356 | and see that it is in commit 18449ab0... Now just copy this object name, | |
4357 | and paste it into the command line | |
4358 | ||
4359 | ------------------- | |
4360 | $ git show 18449ab0 | |
4361 | ------------------- | |
4362 | ||
4363 | Voila. | |
4364 | ||
4365 | Another example: Find out what to do in order to make some script a | |
4366 | builtin: | |
4367 | ||
4368 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
4369 | $ git log --no-merges --diff-filter=A builtin-*.c | |
4370 | ------------------------------------------------- | |
4371 | ||
4372 | You see, Git is actually the best tool to find out about the source of Git | |
4373 | itself! | |
4374 | ||
e34caace | 4375 | [[glossary]] |
73a1d050 | 4376 | Git Glossary |
497c8331 CC |
4377 | ============ |
4378 | ||
4379 | include::glossary-content.txt[] | |
d19fbc3c | 4380 | |
2624d9a5 | 4381 | [[git-quick-start]] |
99f171bb BF |
4382 | Appendix A: Git Quick Reference |
4383 | =============================== | |
2624d9a5 | 4384 | |
99f171bb BF |
4385 | This is a quick summary of the major commands; the previous chapters |
4386 | explain how these work in more detail. | |
2624d9a5 BF |
4387 | |
4388 | [[quick-creating-a-new-repository]] | |
4389 | Creating a new repository | |
4390 | ------------------------- | |
4391 | ||
4392 | From a tarball: | |
4393 | ||
4394 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4395 | $ tar xzf project.tar.gz | |
4396 | $ cd project | |
4397 | $ git init | |
4398 | Initialized empty Git repository in .git/ | |
4399 | $ git add . | |
4400 | $ git commit | |
4401 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4402 | ||
4403 | From a remote repository: | |
4404 | ||
4405 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4406 | $ git clone git://example.com/pub/project.git | |
4407 | $ cd project | |
4408 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4409 | ||
4410 | [[managing-branches]] | |
4411 | Managing branches | |
4412 | ----------------- | |
4413 | ||
4414 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4415 | $ git branch # list all local branches in this repo | |
4416 | $ git checkout test # switch working directory to branch "test" | |
4417 | $ git branch new # create branch "new" starting at current HEAD | |
4418 | $ git branch -d new # delete branch "new" | |
4419 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4420 | ||
06ada152 | 4421 | Instead of basing a new branch on current HEAD (the default), use: |
2624d9a5 BF |
4422 | |
4423 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4424 | $ git branch new test # branch named "test" | |
4425 | $ git branch new v2.6.15 # tag named v2.6.15 | |
4426 | $ git branch new HEAD^ # commit before the most recent | |
4427 | $ git branch new HEAD^^ # commit before that | |
4428 | $ git branch new test~10 # ten commits before tip of branch "test" | |
4429 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4430 | ||
4431 | Create and switch to a new branch at the same time: | |
4432 | ||
4433 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4434 | $ git checkout -b new v2.6.15 | |
4435 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4436 | ||
4437 | Update and examine branches from the repository you cloned from: | |
4438 | ||
4439 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4440 | $ git fetch # update | |
4441 | $ git branch -r # list | |
4442 | origin/master | |
4443 | origin/next | |
4444 | ... | |
4445 | $ git checkout -b masterwork origin/master | |
4446 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4447 | ||
4448 | Fetch a branch from a different repository, and give it a new | |
4449 | name in your repository: | |
4450 | ||
4451 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4452 | $ git fetch git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch | |
4453 | $ git fetch git://example.com/project.git v2.6.15:mybranch | |
4454 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4455 | ||
4456 | Keep a list of repositories you work with regularly: | |
4457 | ||
4458 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4459 | $ git remote add example git://example.com/project.git | |
4460 | $ git remote # list remote repositories | |
4461 | example | |
4462 | origin | |
4463 | $ git remote show example # get details | |
4464 | * remote example | |
4465 | URL: git://example.com/project.git | |
4466 | Tracked remote branches | |
20244ea2 JS |
4467 | master |
4468 | next | |
4469 | ... | |
2624d9a5 BF |
4470 | $ git fetch example # update branches from example |
4471 | $ git branch -r # list all remote branches | |
4472 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4473 | ||
4474 | ||
4475 | [[exploring-history]] | |
4476 | Exploring history | |
4477 | ----------------- | |
4478 | ||
4479 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4480 | $ gitk # visualize and browse history | |
4481 | $ git log # list all commits | |
4482 | $ git log src/ # ...modifying src/ | |
4483 | $ git log v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # ...in v2.6.16, not in v2.6.15 | |
4484 | $ git log master..test # ...in branch test, not in branch master | |
4485 | $ git log test..master # ...in branch master, but not in test | |
4486 | $ git log test...master # ...in one branch, not in both | |
4487 | $ git log -S'foo()' # ...where difference contain "foo()" | |
4488 | $ git log --since="2 weeks ago" | |
4489 | $ git log -p # show patches as well | |
4490 | $ git show # most recent commit | |
4491 | $ git diff v2.6.15..v2.6.16 # diff between two tagged versions | |
4492 | $ git diff v2.6.15..HEAD # diff with current head | |
4493 | $ git grep "foo()" # search working directory for "foo()" | |
4494 | $ git grep v2.6.15 "foo()" # search old tree for "foo()" | |
4495 | $ git show v2.6.15:a.txt # look at old version of a.txt | |
4496 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4497 | ||
4498 | Search for regressions: | |
4499 | ||
4500 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4501 | $ git bisect start | |
4502 | $ git bisect bad # current version is bad | |
4503 | $ git bisect good v2.6.13-rc2 # last known good revision | |
4504 | Bisecting: 675 revisions left to test after this | |
4505 | # test here, then: | |
4506 | $ git bisect good # if this revision is good, or | |
4507 | $ git bisect bad # if this revision is bad. | |
4508 | # repeat until done. | |
4509 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4510 | ||
4511 | [[making-changes]] | |
4512 | Making changes | |
4513 | -------------- | |
4514 | ||
2de9b711 | 4515 | Make sure Git knows who to blame: |
2624d9a5 BF |
4516 | |
4517 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
4518 | $ cat >>~/.gitconfig <<\EOF | |
4519 | [user] | |
4520 | name = Your Name Comes Here | |
4521 | email = you@yourdomain.example.com | |
4522 | EOF | |
4523 | ------------------------------------------------ | |
4524 | ||
4525 | Select file contents to include in the next commit, then make the | |
4526 | commit: | |
4527 | ||
4528 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4529 | $ git add a.txt # updated file | |
4530 | $ git add b.txt # new file | |
4531 | $ git rm c.txt # old file | |
4532 | $ git commit | |
4533 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4534 | ||
4535 | Or, prepare and create the commit in one step: | |
4536 | ||
4537 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4538 | $ git commit d.txt # use latest content only of d.txt | |
4539 | $ git commit -a # use latest content of all tracked files | |
4540 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4541 | ||
4542 | [[merging]] | |
4543 | Merging | |
4544 | ------- | |
4545 | ||
4546 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4547 | $ git merge test # merge branch "test" into the current branch | |
4548 | $ git pull git://example.com/project.git master | |
4549 | # fetch and merge in remote branch | |
4550 | $ git pull . test # equivalent to git merge test | |
4551 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4552 | ||
4553 | [[sharing-your-changes]] | |
4554 | Sharing your changes | |
4555 | -------------------- | |
4556 | ||
4557 | Importing or exporting patches: | |
4558 | ||
4559 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4560 | $ git format-patch origin..HEAD # format a patch for each commit | |
4561 | # in HEAD but not in origin | |
4562 | $ git am mbox # import patches from the mailbox "mbox" | |
4563 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4564 | ||
2de9b711 | 4565 | Fetch a branch in a different Git repository, then merge into the |
2624d9a5 BF |
4566 | current branch: |
4567 | ||
4568 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4569 | $ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch | |
4570 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4571 | ||
4572 | Store the fetched branch into a local branch before merging into the | |
4573 | current branch: | |
4574 | ||
4575 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4576 | $ git pull git://example.com/project.git theirbranch:mybranch | |
4577 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4578 | ||
4579 | After creating commits on a local branch, update the remote | |
4580 | branch with your commits: | |
4581 | ||
4582 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4583 | $ git push ssh://example.com/project.git mybranch:theirbranch | |
4584 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4585 | ||
4586 | When remote and local branch are both named "test": | |
4587 | ||
4588 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4589 | $ git push ssh://example.com/project.git test | |
4590 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4591 | ||
4592 | Shortcut version for a frequently used remote repository: | |
4593 | ||
4594 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4595 | $ git remote add example ssh://example.com/project.git | |
4596 | $ git push example test | |
4597 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4598 | ||
4599 | [[repository-maintenance]] | |
4600 | Repository maintenance | |
4601 | ---------------------- | |
4602 | ||
4603 | Check for corruption: | |
4604 | ||
4605 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4606 | $ git fsck | |
4607 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4608 | ||
4609 | Recompress, remove unused cruft: | |
4610 | ||
4611 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4612 | $ git gc | |
4613 | ----------------------------------------------- | |
4614 | ||
4615 | ||
e34caace | 4616 | [[todo]] |
2624d9a5 BF |
4617 | Appendix B: Notes and todo list for this manual |
4618 | =============================================== | |
6bd9b682 BF |
4619 | |
4620 | This is a work in progress. | |
4621 | ||
4622 | The basic requirements: | |
ecd95b53 BF |
4623 | |
4624 | - It must be readable in order, from beginning to end, by someone | |
4625 | intelligent with a basic grasp of the UNIX command line, but without | |
2de9b711 | 4626 | any special knowledge of Git. If necessary, any other prerequisites |
ecd95b53 BF |
4627 | should be specifically mentioned as they arise. |
4628 | - Whenever possible, section headings should clearly describe the task | |
4629 | they explain how to do, in language that requires no more knowledge | |
4630 | than necessary: for example, "importing patches into a project" rather | |
6127c086 | 4631 | than "the `git am` command" |
6bd9b682 | 4632 | |
d5cd5de4 BF |
4633 | Think about how to create a clear chapter dependency graph that will |
4634 | allow people to get to important topics without necessarily reading | |
4635 | everything in between. | |
d19fbc3c | 4636 | |
1249d8ad | 4637 | Scan `Documentation/` for other stuff left out; in particular: |
ecd95b53 BF |
4638 | |
4639 | - howto's | |
1249d8ad | 4640 | - some of `technical/`? |
ecd95b53 | 4641 | - hooks |
5162e697 | 4642 | - list of commands in linkgit:git[1] |
d19fbc3c BF |
4643 | |
4644 | Scan email archives for other stuff left out | |
4645 | ||
4646 | Scan man pages to see if any assume more background than this manual | |
4647 | provides. | |
4648 | ||
2f99710c | 4649 | Simplify beginning by suggesting disconnected head instead of |
b181d57f | 4650 | temporary branch creation? |
d19fbc3c | 4651 | |
2f99710c BF |
4652 | Add more good examples. Entire sections of just cookbook examples |
4653 | might be a good idea; maybe make an "advanced examples" section a | |
4654 | standard end-of-chapter section? | |
d19fbc3c BF |
4655 | |
4656 | Include cross-references to the glossary, where appropriate. | |
4657 | ||
9a241220 BF |
4658 | Document shallow clones? See draft 1.5.0 release notes for some |
4659 | documentation. | |
4660 | ||
3dff5379 | 4661 | Add a section on working with other version control systems, including |
9a241220 BF |
4662 | CVS, Subversion, and just imports of series of release tarballs. |
4663 | ||
a8cd1402 | 4664 | More details on gitweb? |
0b375ab0 BF |
4665 | |
4666 | Write a chapter on using plumbing and writing scripts. | |
d9bd321c BF |
4667 | |
4668 | Alternates, clone -reference, etc. | |
4669 | ||
1cdade2c BF |
4670 | More on recovery from repository corruption. See: |
4671 | http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=git&m=117263864820799&w=2 | |
4672 | http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=git&m=117147855503798&w=2 |