Documentation/git-notes.txt

   1 git-notes(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-notes - Add or inspect object notes
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git notes' [list [<object>]]
  12 'git notes' add [-f] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
  13 'git notes' copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> <to-object> )
  14 'git notes' append [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
  15 'git notes' edit [<object>]
  16 'git notes' show [<object>]
  17 'git notes' merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes_ref>
  18 'git notes' merge --commit [-v | -q]
  19 'git notes' merge --abort [-v | -q]
  20 'git notes' remove [--ignore-missing] [--stdin] [<object>...]
  21 'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
  22 'git notes' get-ref
  23
  24
  25 DESCRIPTION
  26 -----------
  27 Adds, removes, or reads notes attached to objects, without touching
  28 the objects themselves.
  29
  30 By default, notes are saved to and read from `refs/notes/commits`, but
  31 this default can be overridden.  See the OPTIONS, CONFIGURATION, and
  32 ENVIRONMENT sections below.  If this ref does not exist, it will be
  33 quietly created when it is first needed to store a note.
  34
  35 A typical use of notes is to supplement a commit message without
  36 changing the commit itself. Notes can be shown by 'git log' along with
  37 the original commit message. To distinguish these notes from the
  38 message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
  39 message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
  40 "Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).
  41
  42 Notes can also be added to patches prepared with `git format-patch` by
  43 using the `--notes` option. Such notes are added as a patch commentary
  44 after a three dash separator line.
  45
  46 To change which notes are shown by 'git log', see the
  47 "notes.displayRef" configuration in linkgit:git-log[1].
  48
  49 See the "notes.rewrite.<command>" configuration for a way to carry
  50 notes across commands that rewrite commits.
  51
  52
  53 SUBCOMMANDS
  54 -----------
  55
  56 list::
  57         List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
  58         given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
  59         annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
  60         This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
  61
  62 add::
  63         Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
  64         object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite existing notes).
  65         However, if you're using `add` interactively (using an editor
  66         to supply the notes contents), then - instead of aborting -
  67         the existing notes will be opened in the editor (like the `edit`
  68         subcommand).
  69
  70 copy::
  71         Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
  72         Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
  73         object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
  74         second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
  75         `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
  76 +
  77 In `--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
  78 +
  79 ----------
  80 <from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
  81 ----------
  82 +
  83 on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
  84 corresponding <to-object>.  (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
  85 the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
  86
  87 append::
  88         Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
  89         Creates a new notes object if needed.
  90
  91 edit::
  92         Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  93
  94 show::
  95         Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  96
  97 merge::
  98         Merge the given notes ref into the current notes ref.
  99         This will try to merge the changes made by the given
 100         notes ref (called "remote") since the merge-base (if
 101         any) into the current notes ref (called "local").
 102 +
 103 If conflicts arise and a strategy for automatically resolving
 104 conflicting notes (see the -s/--strategy option) is not given,
 105 the "manual" resolver is used. This resolver checks out the
 106 conflicting notes in a special worktree (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`),
 107 and instructs the user to manually resolve the conflicts there.
 108 When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
 109 'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
 110 'git notes merge --abort'.
 111
 112 remove::
 113         Remove the notes for given objects (defaults to HEAD). When
 114         giving zero or one object from the command line, this is
 115         equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
 116         the `edit` subcommand.
 117
 118 prune::
 119         Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
 120
 121 get-ref::
 122         Print the current notes ref. This provides an easy way to
 123         retrieve the current notes ref (e.g. from scripts).
 124
 125 OPTIONS
 126 -------
 127 -f::
 128 --force::
 129         When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
 130         overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
 131
 132 -m <msg>::
 133 --message=<msg>::
 134         Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
 135         If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
 136         are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
 137         Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
 138         single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
 139
 140 -F <file>::
 141 --file=<file>::
 142         Take the note message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 143         read the note message from the standard input.
 144         Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
 145         single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
 146
 147 -C <object>::
 148 --reuse-message=<object>::
 149         Take the given blob object (for example, another note) as the
 150         note message. (Use `git notes copy <object>` instead to
 151         copy notes between objects.)
 152
 153 -c <object>::
 154 --reedit-message=<object>::
 155         Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
 156         the user can further edit the note message.
 157
 158 --ref <ref>::
 159         Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>.  This overrides
 160         'GIT_NOTES_REF' and the "core.notesRef" configuration.  The ref
 161         is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
 162
 163 --ignore-missing::
 164         Do not consider it an error to request removing notes from an
 165         object that does not have notes attached to it.
 166
 167 --stdin::
 168         Also read the object names to remove notes from from the standard
 169         input (there is no reason you cannot combine this with object
 170         names from the command line).
 171
 172 -n::
 173 --dry-run::
 174         Do not remove anything; just report the object names whose notes
 175         would be removed.
 176
 177 -s <strategy>::
 178 --strategy=<strategy>::
 179         When merging notes, resolve notes conflicts using the given
 180         strategy. The following strategies are recognized: "manual"
 181         (default), "ours", "theirs", "union" and "cat_sort_uniq".
 182         See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section below for more
 183         information on each notes merge strategy.
 184
 185 --commit::
 186         Finalize an in-progress 'git notes merge'. Use this option
 187         when you have resolved the conflicts that 'git notes merge'
 188         stored in .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. This amends the partial
 189         merge commit created by 'git notes merge' (stored in
 190         .git/NOTES_MERGE_PARTIAL) by adding the notes in
 191         .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. The notes ref stored in the
 192         .git/NOTES_MERGE_REF symref is updated to the resulting commit.
 193
 194 --abort::
 195         Abort/reset a in-progress 'git notes merge', i.e. a notes merge
 196         with conflicts. This simply removes all files related to the
 197         notes merge.
 198
 199 -q::
 200 --quiet::
 201         When merging notes, operate quietly.
 202
 203 -v::
 204 --verbose::
 205         When merging notes, be more verbose.
 206         When pruning notes, report all object names whose notes are
 207         removed.
 208
 209
 210 DISCUSSION
 211 ----------
 212
 213 Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object
 214 (usually information to supplement a commit's message).  These blobs
 215 are taken from notes refs.  A notes ref is usually a branch which
 216 contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects
 217 they describe, with some directory separators included for performance
 218 reasons footnote:[Permitted pathnames have the form
 219 'ab'`/`'cd'`/`'ef'`/`'...'`/`'abcdef...': a sequence of directory
 220 names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the
 221 rest of the object ID.].
 222
 223 Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
 224 You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
 225 `git log -p notes/commits`.  Currently the commit message only records
 226 which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is
 227 determined according to the usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).
 228 These details may change in the future.
 229
 230 It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree
 231 object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with
 232 `git log -p -g <refname>`.
 233
 234
 235 NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES
 236 ----------------------
 237
 238 The default notes merge strategy is "manual", which checks out
 239 conflicting notes in a special work tree for resolving notes conflicts
 240 (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to resolve the
 241 conflicts in that work tree.
 242 When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
 243 'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
 244 'git notes merge --abort'.
 245
 246 "ours" automatically resolves conflicting notes in favor of the local
 247 version (i.e. the current notes ref).
 248
 249 "theirs" automatically resolves notes conflicts in favor of the remote
 250 version (i.e. the given notes ref being merged into the current notes
 251 ref).
 252
 253 "union" automatically resolves notes conflicts by concatenating the
 254 local and remote versions.
 255
 256 "cat_sort_uniq" is similar to "union", but in addition to concatenating
 257 the local and remote versions, this strategy also sorts the resulting
 258 lines, and removes duplicate lines from the result. This is equivalent
 259 to applying the "cat | sort | uniq" shell pipeline to the local and
 260 remote versions. This strategy is useful if the notes follow a line-based
 261 format where one wants to avoid duplicated lines in the merge result.
 262 Note that if either the local or remote version contain duplicate lines
 263 prior to the merge, these will also be removed by this notes merge
 264 strategy.
 265
 266
 267 EXAMPLES
 268 --------
 269
 270 You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not
 271 available at the time a commit was written.
 272
 273 ------------
 274 $ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
 275 $ git show -s 72a144e
 276 [...]
 277     Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
 278
 279 Notes:
 280     Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
 281 ------------
 282
 283 In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of
 284 (non-)format is accepted.  You can binary-safely create notes from
 285 arbitrary files using 'git hash-object':
 286
 287 ------------
 288 $ cc *.c
 289 $ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
 290 $ git notes --ref=built add -C "$blob" HEAD
 291 ------------
 292
 293 (You cannot simply use `git notes --ref=built add -F a.out HEAD`
 294 because that is not binary-safe.)
 295 Of course, it doesn't make much sense to display non-text-format notes
 296 with 'git log', so if you use such notes, you'll probably need to write
 297 some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.
 298
 299
 300 CONFIGURATION
 301 -------------
 302
 303 core.notesRef::
 304         Notes ref to read and manipulate instead of
 305         `refs/notes/commits`.  Must be an unabbreviated ref name.
 306         This setting can be overridden through the environment and
 307         command line.
 308
 309 notes.displayRef::
 310         Which ref (or refs, if a glob or specified more than once), in
 311         addition to the default set by `core.notesRef` or
 312         'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
 313         messages with the 'git log' family of commands.
 314         This setting can be overridden on the command line or by the
 315         'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF' environment variable.
 316         See linkgit:git-log[1].
 317
 318 notes.rewrite.<command>::
 319         When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
 320         `rebase`), if this variable is `false`, git will not copy
 321         notes from the original to the rewritten commit.  Defaults to
 322         `true`.  See also "`notes.rewriteRef`" below.
 323 +
 324 This setting can be overridden by the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'
 325 environment variable.
 326
 327 notes.rewriteMode::
 328         When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
 329         commit already has a note.  Must be one of `overwrite`,
 330         `concatenate`, and `ignore`.  Defaults to `concatenate`.
 331 +
 332 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`
 333 environment variable.
 334
 335 notes.rewriteRef::
 336         When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully
 337         qualified) ref whose notes should be copied.  May be a glob,
 338         in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied.  You
 339         may also specify this configuration several times.
 340 +
 341 Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
 342 enable note rewriting.
 343 +
 344 Can be overridden with the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF' environment variable.
 345
 346
 347 ENVIRONMENT
 348 -----------
 349
 350 'GIT_NOTES_REF'::
 351         Which ref to manipulate notes from, instead of `refs/notes/commits`.
 352         This overrides the `core.notesRef` setting.
 353
 354 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF'::
 355         Colon-delimited list of refs or globs indicating which refs,
 356         in addition to the default from `core.notesRef` or
 357         'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
 358         messages.
 359         This overrides the `notes.displayRef` setting.
 360 +
 361 A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that
 362 does not match any refs is silently ignored.
 363
 364 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE'::
 365         When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
 366         commit already has a note.
 367         Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, and `ignore`.
 368         This overrides the `core.rewriteMode` setting.
 369
 370 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'::
 371         When rewriting commits, which notes to copy from the original
 372         to the rewritten commit.  Must be a colon-delimited list of
 373         refs or globs.
 374 +
 375 If not set in the environment, the list of notes to copy depends
 376 on the `notes.rewrite.<command>` and `notes.rewriteRef` settings.
 377
 378
 379 Author
 380 ------
 381 Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
 382 Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
 383
 384 Documentation
 385 -------------
 386 Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
 387
 388 GIT
 389 ---
 390 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite