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1 | git-describe(1) |
2 | =============== | |
3 | ||
4 | NAME | |
5 | ---- | |
7bd7f280 | 6 | git-describe - Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit |
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7 | |
8 | ||
9 | SYNOPSIS | |
10 | -------- | |
b1889c36 | 11 | 'git describe' [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=<n>] <committish>... |
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12 | |
13 | DESCRIPTION | |
14 | ----------- | |
15 | The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a | |
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16 | commit. If the tag points to the commit, then only the tag is |
17 | shown. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number of | |
18 | additional commits on top of the tagged object and the | |
19 | abbreviated object name of the most recent commit. | |
c06818e2 | 20 | |
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21 | By default (without --all or --tags) `git describe` only shows |
22 | annotated tags. For more information about creating annotated tags | |
23 | see the -a and -s options to linkgit:git-tag[1]. | |
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24 | |
25 | OPTIONS | |
26 | ------- | |
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27 | <committish>...:: |
28 | Committish object names to describe. | |
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29 | |
30 | --all:: | |
31 | Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref | |
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32 | found in `.git/refs/`. This option enables matching |
33 | any known branch, remote branch, or lightweight tag. | |
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34 | |
35 | --tags:: | |
36 | Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag | |
7e425c4f SP |
37 | found in `.git/refs/tags`. This option enables matching |
38 | a lightweight (non-annotated) tag. | |
c06818e2 | 39 | |
23615708 SP |
40 | --contains:: |
41 | Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find | |
42 | the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it. | |
43 | Automatically implies --tags. | |
44 | ||
c06818e2 | 45 | --abbrev=<n>:: |
b938f62a | 46 | Instead of using the default 7 hexadecimal digits as the |
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47 | abbreviated object name, use <n> digits. |
48 | ||
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49 | --candidates=<n>:: |
50 | Instead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as | |
51 | candidates to describe the input committish consider | |
52 | up to <n> candidates. Increasing <n> above 10 will take | |
53 | slightly longer but may produce a more accurate result. | |
2c33f757 SP |
54 | An <n> of 0 will cause only exact matches to be output. |
55 | ||
56 | --exact-match:: | |
57 | Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the | |
58 | supplied commit). This is a synonym for --candidates=0. | |
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59 | |
60 | --debug:: | |
61 | Verbosely display information about the searching strategy | |
62 | being employed to standard error. The tag name will still | |
63 | be printed to standard out. | |
c06818e2 | 64 | |
518120e3 SB |
65 | --long:: |
66 | Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits | |
67 | and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a tag. | |
68 | This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit object name | |
69 | in "describe" output, even when the commit in question happens to be | |
70 | a tagged version. Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will | |
71 | describe such a commit as v1.2-0-deadbeef (0th commit since tag v1.2 | |
72 | that points at object deadbeef....). | |
73 | ||
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74 | --match <pattern>:: |
75 | Only consider tags matching the given pattern (can be used to avoid | |
76 | leaking private tags made from the repository). | |
77 | ||
a3800f66 SB |
78 | --always:: |
79 | Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback. | |
80 | ||
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81 | EXAMPLES |
82 | -------- | |
83 | ||
84 | With something like git.git current tree, I get: | |
85 | ||
b1889c36 | 86 | [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent |
1891261e | 87 | v1.0.4-14-g2414721 |
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88 | |
89 | i.e. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1.0.4, | |
323b9db8 | 90 | but since it has a few commits on top of that, |
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91 | describe has added the number of additional commits ("14") and |
92 | an abbreviated object name for the commit itself ("2414721") | |
93 | at the end. | |
94 | ||
95 | The number of additional commits is the number | |
96 | of commits which would be displayed by "git log v1.0.4..parent". | |
97 | The hash suffix is "-g" + 7-char abbreviation for the tip commit | |
98 | of parent (which was `2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6`). | |
c06818e2 | 99 | |
ba020ef5 | 100 | Doing a 'git-describe' on a tag-name will just show the tag name: |
c06818e2 | 101 | |
b1889c36 | 102 | [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4 |
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103 | v1.0.4 |
104 | ||
105 | With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so | |
106 | the output shows the reference path as well: | |
107 | ||
108 | [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2 | |
1891261e | 109 | tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b |
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110 | |
111 | [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all HEAD^ | |
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112 | heads/lt/describe-7-g975b |
113 | ||
114 | With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the | |
115 | closest tagname without any suffix: | |
116 | ||
117 | [torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2 | |
118 | tags/v1.0.0 | |
c06818e2 | 119 | |
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120 | SEARCH STRATEGY |
121 | --------------- | |
122 | ||
ba020ef5 | 123 | For each committish supplied, 'git-describe' will first look for |
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124 | a tag which tags exactly that commit. Annotated tags will always |
125 | be preferred over lightweight tags, and tags with newer dates will | |
126 | always be preferred over tags with older dates. If an exact match | |
127 | is found, its name will be output and searching will stop. | |
128 | ||
ba020ef5 | 129 | If an exact match was not found, 'git-describe' will walk back |
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130 | through the commit history to locate an ancestor commit which |
131 | has been tagged. The ancestor's tag will be output along with an | |
132 | abbreviation of the input committish's SHA1. | |
133 | ||
134 | If multiple tags were found during the walk then the tag which | |
135 | has the fewest commits different from the input committish will be | |
136 | selected and output. Here fewest commits different is defined as | |
483bc4f0 | 137 | the number of commits which would be shown by `git log tag..input` |
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138 | will be the smallest number of commits possible. |
139 | ||
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140 | |
141 | Author | |
142 | ------ | |
143 | Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, but somewhat | |
59eb68aa | 144 | butchered by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>. Later significantly |
1891261e | 145 | updated by Shawn Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>. |
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146 | |
147 | Documentation | |
148 | -------------- | |
149 | Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. | |
150 | ||
151 | GIT | |
152 | --- | |
9e1f0a85 | 153 | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |