Documentation/git-update-index.txt

   1 git-update-index(1)
   2 ===================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-update-index - Register file contents in the working tree to the index
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git update-index'
  13              [--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
  14              [--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
  15              [--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>]\*
  16              [--chmod=(+|-)x]
  17              [--assume-unchanged | --no-assume-unchanged]
  18              [--ignore-submodules]
  19              [--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
  20              [--info-only] [--index-info]
  21              [-z] [--stdin]
  22              [--verbose]
  23              [--] [<file>]\*
  24
  25 DESCRIPTION
  26 -----------
  27 Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned is updated
  28 into the index and any 'unmerged' or 'needs updating' state is
  29 cleared.
  30
  31 See also linkgit:git-add[1] for a more user-friendly way to do some of
  32 the most common operations on the index.
  33
  34 The way "git-update-index" handles files it is told about can be modified
  35 using the various options:
  36
  37 OPTIONS
  38 -------
  39 --add::
  40         If a specified file isn't in the index already then it's
  41         added.
  42         Default behaviour is to ignore new files.
  43
  44 --remove::
  45         If a specified file is in the index but is missing then it's
  46         removed.
  47         Default behavior is to ignore removed file.
  48
  49 --refresh::
  50         Looks at the current index and checks to see if merges or
  51         updates are needed by checking stat() information.
  52
  53 -q::
  54         Quiet.  If --refresh finds that the index needs an update, the
  55         default behavior is to error out.  This option makes
  56         git-update-index continue anyway.
  57
  58 --ignore-submodules:
  59         Do not try to update submodules.  This option is only respected
  60         when passed before --refresh.
  61
  62 --unmerged::
  63         If --refresh finds unmerged changes in the index, the default
  64         behavior is to error out.  This option makes git-update-index
  65         continue anyway.
  66
  67 --ignore-missing::
  68         Ignores missing files during a --refresh
  69
  70 --cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>::
  71         Directly insert the specified info into the index.
  72
  73 --index-info::
  74         Read index information from stdin.
  75
  76 --chmod=(+|-)x::
  77         Set the execute permissions on the updated files.
  78
  79 --assume-unchanged::
  80 --no-assume-unchanged::
  81         When these flags are specified, the object name recorded
  82         for the paths are not updated.  Instead, these options
  83         sets and unsets the "assume unchanged" bit for the
  84         paths.  When the "assume unchanged" bit is on, git stops
  85         checking the working tree files for possible
  86         modifications, so you need to manually unset the bit to
  87         tell git when you change the working tree file. This is
  88         sometimes helpful when working with a big project on a
  89         filesystem that has very slow lstat(2) system call
  90         (e.g. cifs).
  91
  92 -g::
  93 --again::
  94         Runs `git-update-index` itself on the paths whose index
  95         entries are different from those from the `HEAD` commit.
  96
  97 --unresolve::
  98         Restores the 'unmerged' or 'needs updating' state of a
  99         file during a merge if it was cleared by accident.
 100
 101 --info-only::
 102         Do not create objects in the object database for all
 103         <file> arguments that follow this flag; just insert
 104         their object IDs into the index.
 105
 106 --force-remove::
 107         Remove the file from the index even when the working directory
 108         still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
 109
 110 --replace::
 111         By default, when a file `path` exists in the index,
 112         git-update-index refuses an attempt to add `path/file`.
 113         Similarly if a file `path/file` exists, a file `path`
 114         cannot be added.  With --replace flag, existing entries
 115         that conflicts with the entry being added are
 116         automatically removed with warning messages.
 117
 118 --stdin::
 119         Instead of taking list of paths from the command line,
 120         read list of paths from the standard input.  Paths are
 121         separated by LF (i.e. one path per line) by default.
 122
 123 --verbose::
 124         Report what is being added and removed from index.
 125
 126 -z::
 127         Only meaningful with `--stdin`; paths are separated with
 128         NUL character instead of LF.
 129
 130 \--::
 131         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 132
 133 <file>::
 134         Files to act on.
 135         Note that files beginning with '.' are discarded. This includes
 136         `./file` and `dir/./file`. If you don't want this, then use
 137         cleaner names.
 138         The same applies to directories ending '/' and paths with '//'
 139
 140 Using --refresh
 141 ---------------
 142 '--refresh' does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the index
 143 up-to-date for mode/content changes. But what it *does* do is to
 144 "re-match" the stat information of a file with the index, so that you
 145 can refresh the index for a file that hasn't been changed but where
 146 the stat entry is out of date.
 147
 148 For example, you'd want to do this after doing a "git-read-tree", to link
 149 up the stat index details with the proper files.
 150
 151 Using --cacheinfo or --info-only
 152 --------------------------------
 153 '--cacheinfo' is used to register a file that is not in the
 154 current working directory.  This is useful for minimum-checkout
 155 merging.
 156
 157 To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
 158
 159 ----------------
 160 $ git update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
 161 ----------------
 162
 163 '--info-only' is used to register files without placing them in the object
 164 database.  This is useful for status-only repositories.
 165
 166 Both '--cacheinfo' and '--info-only' behave similarly: the index is updated
 167 but the object database isn't.  '--cacheinfo' is useful when the object is
 168 in the database but the file isn't available locally.  '--info-only' is
 169 useful when the file is available, but you do not wish to update the
 170 object database.
 171
 172
 173 Using --index-info
 174 ------------------
 175
 176 `--index-info` is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed
 177 multiple entry definitions from the standard input, and designed
 178 specifically for scripts.  It can take inputs of three formats:
 179
 180     . mode         SP sha1          TAB path
 181 +
 182 The first format is what "git-apply --index-info"
 183 reports, and used to reconstruct a partial tree
 184 that is used for phony merge base tree when falling
 185 back on 3-way merge.
 186
 187     . mode SP type SP sha1          TAB path
 188 +
 189 The second format is to stuff git-ls-tree output
 190 into the index file.
 191
 192     . mode         SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
 193 +
 194 This format is to put higher order stages into the
 195 index file and matches git-ls-files --stage output.
 196
 197 To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should
 198 first be removed by feeding a mode=0 entry for the path, and
 199 then feeding necessary input lines in the third format.
 200
 201 For example, starting with this index:
 202
 203 ------------
 204 $ git ls-files -s
 205 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0       frotz
 206 ------------
 207
 208 you can feed the following input to `--index-info`:
 209
 210 ------------
 211 $ git update-index --index-info
 212 0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000      frotz
 213 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1       frotz
 214 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2       frotz
 215 ------------
 216
 217 The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove the
 218 path; the SHA1 does not matter as long as it is well formatted.
 219 Then the second and third line feeds stage 1 and stage 2 entries
 220 for that path.  After the above, we would end up with this:
 221
 222 ------------
 223 $ git ls-files -s
 224 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1       frotz
 225 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2       frotz
 226 ------------
 227
 228
 229 Using ``assume unchanged'' bit
 230 ------------------------------
 231
 232 Many operations in git depend on your filesystem to have an
 233 efficient `lstat(2)` implementation, so that `st_mtime`
 234 information for working tree files can be cheaply checked to see
 235 if the file contents have changed from the version recorded in
 236 the index file.  Unfortunately, some filesystems have
 237 inefficient `lstat(2)`.  If your filesystem is one of them, you
 238 can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have not changed to
 239 cause git not to do this check.  Note that setting this bit on a
 240 path does not mean git will check the contents of the file to
 241 see if it has changed -- it makes git to omit any checking and
 242 assume it has *not* changed.  When you make changes to working
 243 tree files, you have to explicitly tell git about it by dropping
 244 "assume unchanged" bit, either before or after you modify them.
 245
 246 In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use `--assume-unchanged`
 247 option.  To unset, use `--no-assume-unchanged`.
 248
 249 The command looks at `core.ignorestat` configuration variable.  When
 250 this is true, paths updated with `git update-index paths...` and
 251 paths updated with other git commands that update both index and
 252 working tree (e.g. `git-apply --index`, `git-checkout-index -u`,
 253 and `git-read-tree -u`) are automatically marked as "assume
 254 unchanged".  Note that "assume unchanged" bit is *not* set if
 255 `git update-index --refresh` finds the working tree file matches
 256 the index (use `git update-index --really-refresh` if you want
 257 to mark them as "assume unchanged").
 258
 259
 260 Examples
 261 --------
 262 To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
 263
 264 ----------------
 265 $ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
 266 ----------------
 267
 268 On an inefficient filesystem with `core.ignorestat` set::
 269 +
 270 ------------
 271 $ git update-index --really-refresh              <1>
 272 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c   <2>
 273 $ git diff --name-only                           <3>
 274 $ edit foo.c
 275 $ git diff --name-only                           <4>
 276 M foo.c
 277 $ git update-index foo.c                         <5>
 278 $ git diff --name-only                           <6>
 279 $ edit foo.c
 280 $ git diff --name-only                           <7>
 281 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c   <8>
 282 $ git diff --name-only                           <9>
 283 M foo.c
 284 ------------
 285 +
 286 <1> forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for paths that match index.
 287 <2> mark the path to be edited.
 288 <3> this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
 289 <4> this does lstat(2) and finds index does *not* match the path.
 290 <5> registering the new version to index sets "assume unchanged" bit.
 291 <6> and it is assumed unchanged.
 292 <7> even after you edit it.
 293 <8> you can tell about the change after the fact.
 294 <9> now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been changed.
 295
 296
 297 Configuration
 298 -------------
 299
 300 The command honors `core.filemode` configuration variable.  If
 301 your repository is on an filesystem whose executable bits are
 302 unreliable, this should be set to 'false' (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 303 This causes the command to ignore differences in file modes recorded
 304 in the index and the file mode on the filesystem if they differ only on
 305 executable bit.   On such an unfortunate filesystem, you may
 306 need to use `git-update-index --chmod=`.
 307
 308 Quite similarly, if `core.symlinks` configuration variable is set
 309 to 'false' (see linkgit:git-config[1]), symbolic links are checked out
 310 as plain files, and this command does not modify a recorded file mode
 311 from symbolic link to regular file.
 312
 313 The command looks at `core.ignorestat` configuration variable.  See
 314 'Using "assume unchanged" bit' section above.
 315
 316
 317 SEE ALSO
 318 --------
 319 linkgit:git-config[1],
 320 linkgit:git-add[1]
 321
 322
 323 Author
 324 ------
 325 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 326
 327 Documentation
 328 --------------
 329 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 330
 331 GIT
 332 ---
 333 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite