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 This option can be also used as a coarse file-level mechanism
  93 to ignore uncommitted changes in tracked files (akin to what
  94 `.gitignore` does for untracked files).
  95 You should remember that an explicit 'git add' operation will
  96 still cause the file to be refreshed from the working tree.
  97 Git will fail (gracefully) in case it needs to modify this file
  98 in the index e.g. when merging in a commit;
  99 thus, in case the assumed-untracked file is changed upstream,
 100 you will need to handle the situation manually.
 101
 102 -g::
 103 --again::
 104         Runs 'git-update-index' itself on the paths whose index
 105         entries are different from those from the `HEAD` commit.
 106
 107 --unresolve::
 108         Restores the 'unmerged' or 'needs updating' state of a
 109         file during a merge if it was cleared by accident.
 110
 111 --info-only::
 112         Do not create objects in the object database for all
 113         <file> arguments that follow this flag; just insert
 114         their object IDs into the index.
 115
 116 --force-remove::
 117         Remove the file from the index even when the working directory
 118         still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
 119
 120 --replace::
 121         By default, when a file `path` exists in the index,
 122         'git-update-index' refuses an attempt to add `path/file`.
 123         Similarly if a file `path/file` exists, a file `path`
 124         cannot be added.  With --replace flag, existing entries
 125         that conflicts with the entry being added are
 126         automatically removed with warning messages.
 127
 128 --stdin::
 129         Instead of taking list of paths from the command line,
 130         read list of paths from the standard input.  Paths are
 131         separated by LF (i.e. one path per line) by default.
 132
 133 --verbose::
 134         Report what is being added and removed from index.
 135
 136 -z::
 137         Only meaningful with `--stdin`; paths are separated with
 138         NUL character instead of LF.
 139
 140 \--::
 141         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 142
 143 <file>::
 144         Files to act on.
 145         Note that files beginning with '.' are discarded. This includes
 146         `./file` and `dir/./file`. If you don't want this, then use
 147         cleaner names.
 148         The same applies to directories ending '/' and paths with '//'
 149
 150 Using --refresh
 151 ---------------
 152 '--refresh' does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the index
 153 up-to-date for mode/content changes. But what it *does* do is to
 154 "re-match" the stat information of a file with the index, so that you
 155 can refresh the index for a file that hasn't been changed but where
 156 the stat entry is out of date.
 157
 158 For example, you'd want to do this after doing a 'git-read-tree', to link
 159 up the stat index details with the proper files.
 160
 161 Using --cacheinfo or --info-only
 162 --------------------------------
 163 '--cacheinfo' is used to register a file that is not in the
 164 current working directory.  This is useful for minimum-checkout
 165 merging.
 166
 167 To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
 168
 169 ----------------
 170 $ git update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
 171 ----------------
 172
 173 '--info-only' is used to register files without placing them in the object
 174 database.  This is useful for status-only repositories.
 175
 176 Both '--cacheinfo' and '--info-only' behave similarly: the index is updated
 177 but the object database isn't.  '--cacheinfo' is useful when the object is
 178 in the database but the file isn't available locally.  '--info-only' is
 179 useful when the file is available, but you do not wish to update the
 180 object database.
 181
 182
 183 Using --index-info
 184 ------------------
 185
 186 `--index-info` is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed
 187 multiple entry definitions from the standard input, and designed
 188 specifically for scripts.  It can take inputs of three formats:
 189
 190     . mode         SP sha1          TAB path
 191 +
 192 The first format is what "git-apply --index-info"
 193 reports, and used to reconstruct a partial tree
 194 that is used for phony merge base tree when falling
 195 back on 3-way merge.
 196
 197     . mode SP type SP sha1          TAB path
 198 +
 199 The second format is to stuff 'git-ls-tree' output
 200 into the index file.
 201
 202     . mode         SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
 203 +
 204 This format is to put higher order stages into the
 205 index file and matches 'git-ls-files --stage' output.
 206
 207 To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should
 208 first be removed by feeding a mode=0 entry for the path, and
 209 then feeding necessary input lines in the third format.
 210
 211 For example, starting with this index:
 212
 213 ------------
 214 $ git ls-files -s
 215 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0       frotz
 216 ------------
 217
 218 you can feed the following input to `--index-info`:
 219
 220 ------------
 221 $ git update-index --index-info
 222 0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000      frotz
 223 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1       frotz
 224 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2       frotz
 225 ------------
 226
 227 The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove the
 228 path; the SHA1 does not matter as long as it is well formatted.
 229 Then the second and third line feeds stage 1 and stage 2 entries
 230 for that path.  After the above, we would end up with this:
 231
 232 ------------
 233 $ git ls-files -s
 234 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1       frotz
 235 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2       frotz
 236 ------------
 237
 238
 239 Using ``assume unchanged'' bit
 240 ------------------------------
 241
 242 Many operations in git depend on your filesystem to have an
 243 efficient `lstat(2)` implementation, so that `st_mtime`
 244 information for working tree files can be cheaply checked to see
 245 if the file contents have changed from the version recorded in
 246 the index file.  Unfortunately, some filesystems have
 247 inefficient `lstat(2)`.  If your filesystem is one of them, you
 248 can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have not changed to
 249 cause git not to do this check.  Note that setting this bit on a
 250 path does not mean git will check the contents of the file to
 251 see if it has changed -- it makes git to omit any checking and
 252 assume it has *not* changed.  When you make changes to working
 253 tree files, you have to explicitly tell git about it by dropping
 254 "assume unchanged" bit, either before or after you modify them.
 255
 256 In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use `--assume-unchanged`
 257 option.  To unset, use `--no-assume-unchanged`.
 258
 259 The command looks at `core.ignorestat` configuration variable.  When
 260 this is true, paths updated with `git update-index paths...` and
 261 paths updated with other git commands that update both index and
 262 working tree (e.g. 'git-apply --index', 'git-checkout-index -u',
 263 and 'git-read-tree -u') are automatically marked as "assume
 264 unchanged".  Note that "assume unchanged" bit is *not* set if
 265 `git update-index --refresh` finds the working tree file matches
 266 the index (use `git update-index --really-refresh` if you want
 267 to mark them as "assume unchanged").
 268
 269
 270 Examples
 271 --------
 272 To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
 273
 274 ----------------
 275 $ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
 276 ----------------
 277
 278 On an inefficient filesystem with `core.ignorestat` set::
 279 +
 280 ------------
 281 $ git update-index --really-refresh              <1>
 282 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c   <2>
 283 $ git diff --name-only                           <3>
 284 $ edit foo.c
 285 $ git diff --name-only                           <4>
 286 M foo.c
 287 $ git update-index foo.c                         <5>
 288 $ git diff --name-only                           <6>
 289 $ edit foo.c
 290 $ git diff --name-only                           <7>
 291 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c   <8>
 292 $ git diff --name-only                           <9>
 293 M foo.c
 294 ------------
 295 +
 296 <1> forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for paths that match index.
 297 <2> mark the path to be edited.
 298 <3> this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
 299 <4> this does lstat(2) and finds index does *not* match the path.
 300 <5> registering the new version to index sets "assume unchanged" bit.
 301 <6> and it is assumed unchanged.
 302 <7> even after you edit it.
 303 <8> you can tell about the change after the fact.
 304 <9> now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been changed.
 305
 306
 307 Configuration
 308 -------------
 309
 310 The command honors `core.filemode` configuration variable.  If
 311 your repository is on an filesystem whose executable bits are
 312 unreliable, this should be set to 'false' (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 313 This causes the command to ignore differences in file modes recorded
 314 in the index and the file mode on the filesystem if they differ only on
 315 executable bit.   On such an unfortunate filesystem, you may
 316 need to use 'git-update-index --chmod='.
 317
 318 Quite similarly, if `core.symlinks` configuration variable is set
 319 to 'false' (see linkgit:git-config[1]), symbolic links are checked out
 320 as plain files, and this command does not modify a recorded file mode
 321 from symbolic link to regular file.
 322
 323 The command looks at `core.ignorestat` configuration variable.  See
 324 'Using "assume unchanged" bit' section above.
 325
 326
 327 SEE ALSO
 328 --------
 329 linkgit:git-config[1],
 330 linkgit:git-add[1]
 331
 332
 333 Author
 334 ------
 335 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 336
 337 Documentation
 338 --------------
 339 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 340
 341 GIT
 342 ---
 343 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite