projects / thirdparty / git.git / blame
| Commit | Line | Data |
|---|---|---|
| 12905637 JH |
1 | git-symbolic-ref(1) |
| 2 | =================== | |
| 3 | ||
| 4 | NAME | |
| 5 | ---- | |
| c3f0baac | 6 | git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs |
| 12905637 JH |
7 | |
| 8 | SYNOPSIS | |
| 9 | -------- | |
| 8b5157e4 | 10 | 'git-symbolic-ref' [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>] |
| 12905637 JH |
11 | |
| 12 | DESCRIPTION | |
| 13 | ----------- | |
| 14 | Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic | |
| 15 | ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` | |
| 16 | directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> | |
| 17 | argument to see on which branch your working tree is on. | |
| 18 | ||
| 19 | Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to | |
| 20 | point at the given branch <ref>. | |
| 21 | ||
| 22b1c7ee AP |
22 | A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that |
| 23 | begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is | |
| 24 | a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. | |
| 25 | ||
| a0f4280f JH |
26 | OPTIONS |
| 27 | ------- | |
| 28 | ||
| 29 | -q:: | |
| 30 | Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a | |
| 31 | symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with | |
| 32 | non-zero status silently. | |
| 33 | ||
| 8b5157e4 NP |
34 | -m:: |
| 35 | Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only | |
| 36 | when creating or updating a symbolic ref. | |
| 37 | ||
| 22b1c7ee AP |
38 | NOTES |
| 39 | ----- | |
| 40 | In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at | |
| 41 | `refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, | |
| 42 | we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted | |
| 12905637 JH |
43 | to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
| 44 | This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by | |
| 27dedf0c JH |
45 | default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks, |
| 46 | or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit | |
| 12905637 | 47 | cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as |
| 22b1c7ee AP |
48 | advertised (horrors). Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated |
| 49 | and symbolic refs are used by default. | |
| 12905637 | 50 | |
| a74b1706 JK |
51 | git-symbolic-ref will exit with status 0 if the contents of the |
| 52 | symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested | |
| 53 | name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. | |
| 54 | ||
| 12905637 JH |
55 | Author |
| 56 | ------ | |
| 57 | Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> | |
| 58 | ||
| 59 | GIT | |
| 60 | --- | |
| 61 | Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite |