Documentation/git-bundle.txt

   1 git-bundle(1)
   2 =============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git bundle' create <file> <git-rev-list args>
  13 'git bundle' verify <file>
  14 'git bundle' list-heads <file> [refname...]
  15 'git bundle' unbundle <file> [refname...]
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19
  20 Some workflows require that one or more branches of development on one
  21 machine be replicated on another machine, but the two machines cannot
  22 be directly connected so the interactive git protocols (git, ssh,
  23 rsync, http) cannot be used.  This command provides support for
  24 git-fetch and git-pull to operate by packaging objects and references
  25 in an archive at the originating machine, then importing those into
  26 another repository using linkgit:git-fetch[1] and linkgit:git-pull[1]
  27 after moving the archive by some means (i.e., by sneakernet).  As no
  28 direct connection between repositories exists, the user must specify a
  29 basis for the bundle that is held by the destination repository: the
  30 bundle assumes that all objects in the basis are already in the
  31 destination repository.
  32
  33 OPTIONS
  34 -------
  35
  36 create <file>::
  37        Used to create a bundle named 'file'.  This requires the
  38        git-rev-list arguments to define the bundle contents.
  39
  40 verify <file>::
  41        Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply
  42        cleanly to the current repository.  This includes checks on the
  43        bundle format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite
  44        commits exist and are fully linked in the current repository.
  45        git-bundle prints a list of missing commits, if any, and exits
  46        with non-zero status.
  47
  48 list-heads <file>::
  49        Lists the references defined in the bundle.  If followed by a
  50        list of references, only references matching those given are
  51        printed out.
  52
  53 unbundle <file>::
  54        Passes the objects in the bundle to linkgit:git-index-pack[1]
  55        for storage in the repository, then prints the names of all
  56        defined references. If a reflist is given, only references
  57        matching those in the given list are printed. This command is
  58        really plumbing, intended to be called only by
  59        linkgit:git-fetch[1].
  60
  61 [git-rev-list-args...]::
  62        A list of arguments, acceptable to git-rev-parse and
  63        git-rev-list, that specify the specific objects and references
  64        to transport.  For example, "master~10..master" causes the
  65        current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
  66        added since its 10th ancestor commit.  There is no explicit
  67        limit to the number of references and objects that may be
  68        packaged.
  69
  70
  71 [refname...]::
  72        A list of references used to limit the references reported as
  73        available. This is principally of use to git-fetch, which
  74        expects to receive only those references asked for and not
  75        necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, git-bundle is
  76        acting like linkgit:git-fetch-pack[1]).
  77
  78 SPECIFYING REFERENCES
  79 ---------------------
  80
  81 git-bundle will only package references that are shown by
  82 git-show-ref: this includes heads, tags, and remote heads.  References
  83 such as master~1 cannot be packaged, but are perfectly suitable for
  84 defining the basis.  More than one reference may be packaged, and more
  85 than one basis can be specified.  The objects packaged are those not
  86 contained in the union of the given bases.  Each basis can be
  87 specified explicitly (e.g., ^master~10), or implicitly (e.g.,
  88 master~10..master, master --since=10.days.ago).
  89
  90 It is very important that the basis used be held by the destination.
  91 It is okay to err on the side of conservatism, causing the bundle file
  92 to contain objects already in the destination as these are ignored
  93 when unpacking at the destination.
  94
  95 EXAMPLE
  96 -------
  97
  98 Assume two repositories exist as R1 on machine A, and R2 on machine B.
  99 For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
 100 but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc).
 101 We want to update R2 with developments made on branch master in R1.
 102
 103 To create the bundle you have to specify the basis. You have some options:
 104
 105 - Without basis.
 106 +
 107 This is useful when sending the whole history.
 108
 109 ------------
 110 $ git bundle create mybundle master
 111 ------------
 112
 113 - Using temporally tags.
 114 +
 115 We set a tag in R1 (lastR2bundle) after the previous such transport,
 116 and move it afterwards to help build the bundle.
 117
 118 ------------
 119 $ git bundle create mybundle master ^lastR2bundle
 120 $ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
 121 ------------
 122
 123 - Using a tag present in both repositories
 124
 125 ------------
 126 $ git bundle create mybundle master ^v1.0.0
 127 ------------
 128
 129 - A basis based on time.
 130
 131 ------------
 132 $ git bundle create mybundle master --since=10.days.ago
 133 ------------
 134
 135 - With a limit on the number of commits
 136
 137 ------------
 138 $ git bundle create mybundle master -n 10
 139 ------------
 140
 141 Then you move mybundle from A to B, and in R2 on B:
 142
 143 ------------
 144 $ git bundle verify mybundle
 145 $ git fetch mybundle master:localRef
 146 ------------
 147
 148 With something like this in the config in R2:
 149
 150 ------------------------
 151 [remote "bundle"]
 152     url = /home/me/tmp/file.bdl
 153     fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
 154 ------------------------
 155
 156 You can first sneakernet the bundle file to ~/tmp/file.bdl and
 157 then these commands on machine B:
 158
 159 ------------
 160 $ git ls-remote bundle
 161 $ git fetch bundle
 162 $ git pull bundle
 163 ------------
 164
 165 would treat it as if it is talking with a remote side over the
 166 network.
 167
 168 Author
 169 ------
 170 Written by Mark Levedahl <mdl123@verizon.net>
 171
 172 GIT
 173 ---
 174 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite