builtin-remote: add set-head subcommand

[thirdparty/git.git] / Documentation / git-remote.txt

git-remote(1)
============

NAME
----
git-remote - manage set of tracked repositories


SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git remote' [-v | --verbose]
'git remote add' [-t <branch>] [-m <master>] [-f] [--mirror] <name> <url>
'git remote rename' <old> <new>
'git remote rm' <name>
'git remote set-head' <name> [-a | -d | <branch>]
'git remote show' [-n] <name>
'git remote prune' [-n | --dry-run] <name>
'git remote update' [group]

DESCRIPTION
-----------

Manage the set of repositories ("remotes") whose branches you track.


OPTIONS
-------

-v::
--verbose::
	Be a little more verbose and show remote url after name.


COMMANDS
--------

With no arguments, shows a list of existing remotes.  Several
subcommands are available to perform operations on the remotes.

'add'::

Adds a remote named <name> for the repository at
<url>.  The command `git fetch <name>` can then be used to create and
update remote-tracking branches <name>/<branch>.
+
With `-f` option, `git fetch <name>` is run immediately after
the remote information is set up.
+
With `-t <branch>` option, instead of the default glob
refspec for the remote to track all branches under
`$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/`, a refspec to track only `<branch>`
is created.  You can give more than one `-t <branch>` to track
multiple branches without grabbing all branches.
+
With `-m <master>` option, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set
up to point at remote's `<master>` branch. See also the set-head command.
+
In mirror mode, enabled with `\--mirror`, the refs will not be stored
in the 'refs/remotes/' namespace, but in 'refs/heads/'.  This option
only makes sense in bare repositories.  If a remote uses mirror
mode, furthermore, `git push` will always behave as if `\--mirror`
was passed.

'rename'::

Rename the remote named <old> to <new>. All remote tracking branches and
configuration settings for the remote are updated.
+
In case <old> and <new> are the same, and <old> is a file under
`$GIT_DIR/remotes` or `$GIT_DIR/branches`, the remote is converted to
the configuration file format.

'rm'::

Remove the remote named <name>. All remote tracking branches and
configuration settings for the remote are removed.

'set-head'::

Sets or deletes the default branch (`$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD`) for
the named remote. Having a default branch for a remote is not required,
but allows the name of the remote to be specified in lieu of a specific
branch. For example, if the default branch for `origin` is set to
`master`, then `origin` may be specified wherever you would normally
specify `origin/master`.
+
With `-d`, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is deleted.
+
With `-a`, the remote is queried to determine its `HEAD`, then
`$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` is set to the same branch. e.g., if the remote
`HEAD` is pointed at `next`, "`git remote set-head origin -a`" will set
`$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` to `refs/remotes/origin/next`. This will
only work if `refs/remotes/origin/next` already exists; if not it must be
fetched first.
+
Use `<branch>` to set `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<name>/HEAD` explicitly. e.g., "git
remote set-head origin master" will set `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` to
`refs/remotes/origin/master`. This will only work if
`refs/remotes/origin/master` already exists; if not it must be fetched first.
+

'show'::

Gives some information about the remote <name>.
+
With `-n` option, the remote heads are not queried first with
`git ls-remote <name>`; cached information is used instead.

'prune'::

Deletes all stale tracking branches under <name>.
These stale branches have already been removed from the remote repository
referenced by <name>, but are still locally available in
"remotes/<name>".
+
With `--dry-run` option, report what branches will be pruned, but do no
actually prune them.

'update'::

Fetch updates for a named set of remotes in the repository as defined by
remotes.<group>.  If a named group is not specified on the command line,
the configuration parameter remotes.default will get used; if
remotes.default is not defined, all remotes which do not have the
configuration parameter remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate set to true will
be updated.  (See linkgit:git-config[1]).


DISCUSSION
----------

The remote configuration is achieved using the `remote.origin.url` and
`remote.origin.fetch` configuration variables.  (See
linkgit:git-config[1]).

Examples
--------

* Add a new remote, fetch, and check out a branch from it
+
------------
$ git remote
origin
$ git branch -r
origin/master
$ git remote add linux-nfs git://linux-nfs.org/pub/linux/nfs-2.6.git
$ git remote
linux-nfs
origin
$ git fetch
* refs/remotes/linux-nfs/master: storing branch 'master' ...
  commit: bf81b46
$ git branch -r
origin/master
linux-nfs/master
$ git checkout -b nfs linux-nfs/master
...
------------

* Imitate 'git-clone' but track only selected branches
+
------------
$ mkdir project.git
$ cd project.git
$ git init
$ git remote add -f -t master -m master origin git://example.com/git.git/
$ git merge origin
------------


SEE ALSO
--------
linkgit:git-fetch[1]
linkgit:git-branch[1]
linkgit:git-config[1]

Author
------
Written by Junio Hamano


Documentation
--------------
Documentation by J. Bruce Fields and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.


GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite