Documentation/git-fsck.txt

   1 git-fsck(1)
   2 ===========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-fsck - Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git fsck' [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]
  13          [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]
  14          [--[no-]dangling] [--[no-]progress] [--connectivity-only]
  15          [--[no-]name-objects] [<object>*]
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19 Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database.
  20
  21 OPTIONS
  22 -------
  23 <object>::
  24         An object to treat as the head of an unreachability trace.
  25 +
  26 If no objects are given, 'git fsck' defaults to using the
  27 index file, all SHA-1 references in `refs` namespace, and all reflogs
  28 (unless --no-reflogs is given) as heads.
  29
  30 --unreachable::
  31         Print out objects that exist but that aren't reachable from any
  32         of the reference nodes.
  33
  34 --[no-]dangling::
  35         Print objects that exist but that are never 'directly' used (default).
  36         `--no-dangling` can be used to omit this information from the output.
  37
  38 --root::
  39         Report root nodes.
  40
  41 --tags::
  42         Report tags.
  43
  44 --cache::
  45         Consider any object recorded in the index also as a head node for
  46         an unreachability trace.
  47
  48 --no-reflogs::
  49         Do not consider commits that are referenced only by an
  50         entry in a reflog to be reachable.  This option is meant
  51         only to search for commits that used to be in a ref, but
  52         now aren't, but are still in that corresponding reflog.
  53
  54 --full::
  55         Check not just objects in GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY
  56         ($GIT_DIR/objects), but also the ones found in alternate
  57         object pools listed in GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES
  58         or $GIT_DIR/objects/info/alternates,
  59         and in packed Git archives found in $GIT_DIR/objects/pack
  60         and corresponding pack subdirectories in alternate
  61         object pools.  This is now default; you can turn it off
  62         with --no-full.
  63
  64 --connectivity-only::
  65         Check only the connectivity of reachable objects, making sure
  66         that any objects referenced by a reachable tag, commit, or tree
  67         is present. This speeds up the operation by avoiding reading
  68         blobs entirely (though it does still check that referenced blobs
  69         exist). This will detect corruption in commits and trees, but
  70         not do any semantic checks (e.g., for format errors). Corruption
  71         in blob objects will not be detected at all.
  72
  73 --strict::
  74         Enable more strict checking, namely to catch a file mode
  75         recorded with g+w bit set, which was created by older
  76         versions of Git.  Existing repositories, including the
  77         Linux kernel, Git itself, and sparse repository have old
  78         objects that triggers this check, but it is recommended
  79         to check new projects with this flag.
  80
  81 --verbose::
  82         Be chatty.
  83
  84 --lost-found::
  85         Write dangling objects into .git/lost-found/commit/ or
  86         .git/lost-found/other/, depending on type.  If the object is
  87         a blob, the contents are written into the file, rather than
  88         its object name.
  89
  90 --name-objects::
  91         When displaying names of reachable objects, in addition to the
  92         SHA-1 also display a name that describes *how* they are reachable,
  93         compatible with linkgit:git-rev-parse[1], e.g.
  94         `HEAD@{1234567890}~25^2:src/`.
  95
  96 --[no-]progress::
  97         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by
  98         default when it is attached to a terminal, unless
  99         --no-progress or --verbose is specified. --progress forces
 100         progress status even if the standard error stream is not
 101         directed to a terminal.
 102
 103 DISCUSSION
 104 ----------
 105
 106 git-fsck tests SHA-1 and general object sanity, and it does full tracking
 107 of the resulting reachability and everything else. It prints out any
 108 corruption it finds (missing or bad objects), and if you use the
 109 `--unreachable` flag it will also print out objects that exist but that
 110 aren't reachable from any of the specified head nodes (or the default
 111 set, as mentioned above).
 112
 113 Any corrupt objects you will have to find in backups or other archives
 114 (i.e., you can just remove them and do an 'rsync' with some other site in
 115 the hopes that somebody else has the object you have corrupted).
 116
 117 If core.commitGraph is true, the commit-graph file will also be inspected
 118 using 'git commit-graph verify'. See linkgit:git-commit-graph[1].
 119
 120 Extracted Diagnostics
 121 ---------------------
 122
 123 expect dangling commits - potential heads - due to lack of head information::
 124         You haven't specified any nodes as heads so it won't be
 125         possible to differentiate between un-parented commits and
 126         root nodes.
 127
 128 missing sha1 directory '<dir>'::
 129         The directory holding the sha1 objects is missing.
 130
 131 unreachable <type> <object>::
 132         The <type> object <object>, isn't actually referred to directly
 133         or indirectly in any of the trees or commits seen. This can
 134         mean that there's another root node that you're not specifying
 135         or that the tree is corrupt. If you haven't missed a root node
 136         then you might as well delete unreachable nodes since they
 137         can't be used.
 138
 139 missing <type> <object>::
 140         The <type> object <object>, is referred to but isn't present in
 141         the database.
 142
 143 dangling <type> <object>::
 144         The <type> object <object>, is present in the database but never
 145         'directly' used. A dangling commit could be a root node.
 146
 147 sha1 mismatch <object>::
 148         The database has an object who's sha1 doesn't match the
 149         database value.
 150         This indicates a serious data integrity problem.
 151
 152 Environment Variables
 153 ---------------------
 154
 155 GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY::
 156         used to specify the object database root (usually $GIT_DIR/objects)
 157
 158 GIT_INDEX_FILE::
 159         used to specify the index file of the index
 160
 161 GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES::
 162         used to specify additional object database roots (usually unset)
 163
 164 GIT
 165 ---
 166 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite