Documentation/git-notes.txt

   1 git-notes(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-notes - Add/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' remove [<object>]
  18 'git notes' prune
  19
  20
  21 DESCRIPTION
  22 -----------
  23 This command allows you to add/remove notes to/from objects, without
  24 changing the objects themselves.
  25
  26 A typical use of notes is to extend a commit message without having
  27 to change the commit itself. Such commit notes can be shown by `git log`
  28 along with the original commit message. To discern these notes from the
  29 message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
  30 message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
  31 "Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).
  32
  33 This command always manipulates the notes specified in "core.notesRef"
  34 (see linkgit:git-config[1]), which can be overridden by GIT_NOTES_REF.
  35 To change which notes are shown by 'git-log', see the
  36 "notes.displayRef" configuration.
  37
  38 See the description of "notes.rewrite.<command>" in
  39 linkgit:git-config[1] for a way of carrying your notes across commands
  40 that rewrite commits.
  41
  42
  43 SUBCOMMANDS
  44 -----------
  45
  46 list::
  47         List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
  48         given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
  49         annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
  50         This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
  51
  52 add::
  53         Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
  54         object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite an
  55         existing note).
  56
  57 copy::
  58         Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
  59         Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
  60         object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
  61         second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
  62         `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
  63 +
  64 In `\--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
  65 +
  66 ----------
  67 <from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
  68 ----------
  69 +
  70 on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
  71 corresponding <to-object>.  (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
  72 the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
  73
  74 append::
  75         Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
  76         Creates a new notes object if needed.
  77
  78 edit::
  79         Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  80
  81 show::
  82         Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  83
  84 remove::
  85         Remove the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
  86         This is equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
  87         the `edit` subcommand.
  88
  89 prune::
  90         Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
  91
  92 OPTIONS
  93 -------
  94 -f::
  95 --force::
  96         When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
  97         overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
  98
  99 -m <msg>::
 100 --message=<msg>::
 101         Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
 102         If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
 103         are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
 104         Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
 105         single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
 106
 107 -F <file>::
 108 --file=<file>::
 109         Take the note message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 110         read the note message from the standard input.
 111         Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
 112         single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
 113
 114 -C <object>::
 115 --reuse-message=<object>::
 116         Take the note message from the given blob object (for
 117         example, another note).
 118
 119 -c <object>::
 120 --reedit-message=<object>::
 121         Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
 122         the user can further edit the note message.
 123
 124 --ref <ref>::
 125         Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>.  This overrides both
 126         GIT_NOTES_REF and the "core.notesRef" configuration.  The ref
 127         is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
 128
 129
 130 DISCUSSION
 131 ----------
 132
 133 Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object
 134 (usually information to supplement a commit's message).  These blobs
 135 are taken from notes refs.  A notes ref is usually a branch which
 136 contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects
 137 they describe, with some directory separators included for performance
 138 reasons footnote:[Permitted pathnames have the form
 139 'ab'`/`'cd'`/`'ef'`/`'...'`/`'abcdef...': a sequence of directory
 140 names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the
 141 rest of the object ID.].
 142
 143 Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
 144 You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
 145 `git log -p notes/commits`.  Currently the commit message only records
 146 which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is
 147 determined according to the usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).
 148 These details may change in the future.
 149
 150 It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree
 151 object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with
 152 `git log -p -g <refname>`.
 153
 154
 155 EXAMPLES
 156 --------
 157
 158 You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not
 159 available at the time a commit was written.
 160
 161 ------------
 162 $ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
 163 $ git show -s 72a144e
 164 [...]
 165     Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
 166
 167 Notes:
 168     Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
 169 ------------
 170
 171 In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of
 172 (non-)format is accepted.  You can binary-safely create notes from
 173 arbitrary files using 'git hash-object':
 174
 175 ------------
 176 $ cc *.c
 177 $ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
 178 $ git notes --ref=built add -C "$blob" HEAD
 179 ------------
 180
 181 Of course, it doesn't make much sense to display non-text-format notes
 182 with 'git log', so if you use such notes, you'll probably need to write
 183 some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.
 184
 185
 186 CONFIGURATION
 187 -------------
 188
 189 core.notesRef::
 190         When showing commit messages, also show notes which are stored in
 191         the given ref.  The ref must be fully qualified.  If the given
 192         ref does not exist, it is not an error but means that no
 193         notes should be printed.
 194 +
 195 This setting defaults to "refs/notes/commits", and it can be overridden by
 196 the 'GIT_NOTES_REF' environment variable.  See linkgit:git-notes[1].
 197
 198 notes.displayRef::
 199         The (fully qualified) refname from which to show notes when
 200         showing commit messages.  The value of this variable can be set
 201         to a glob, in which case notes from all matching refs will be
 202         shown.  You may also specify this configuration variable
 203         several times.  A warning will be issued for refs that do not
 204         exist, but a glob that does not match any refs is silently
 205         ignored.
 206 +
 207 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF`
 208 environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or
 209 globs.
 210 +
 211 The effective value of "core.notesRef" (possibly overridden by
 212 GIT_NOTES_REF) is also implicitly added to the list of refs to be
 213 displayed.
 214
 215 notes.rewrite.<command>::
 216         When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
 217         `rebase`) and this variable is set to `true`, git
 218         automatically copies your notes from the original to the
 219         rewritten commit.  Defaults to `true`, but see
 220         "notes.rewriteRef" below.
 221
 222 notes.rewriteMode::
 223         When copying notes during a rewrite (see the
 224         "notes.rewrite.<command>" option), determines what to do if
 225         the target commit already has a note.  Must be one of
 226         `overwrite`, `concatenate`, or `ignore`.  Defaults to
 227         `concatenate`.
 228 +
 229 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`
 230 environment variable.
 231
 232 notes.rewriteRef::
 233         When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully
 234         qualified) ref whose notes should be copied.  The ref may be a
 235         glob, in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied.
 236         You may also specify this configuration several times.
 237 +
 238 Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
 239 enable note rewriting.
 240 +
 241 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF`
 242 environment variable, which must be a colon separated list of refs or
 243 globs.
 244
 245 Author
 246 ------
 247 Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
 248 Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
 249
 250 Documentation
 251 -------------
 252 Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
 253
 254 GIT
 255 ---
 256 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite