6 git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories
12 'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>...
13 'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...]
15 'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>]
20 This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories
23 Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using
24 'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate
25 new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command
26 is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths.
27 Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command
28 'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto
29 the updated p4 remote branch.
37 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
40 * Do some work in the newly created git repository:
45 $ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"
48 * Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
55 * Submit your commits back to p4:
67 Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory
68 from an existing p4 repository:
70 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
74 1. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
76 2. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4
77 depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
79 3. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out.
81 To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on
84 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all
90 As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can
91 be included in the git repository using:
95 This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits.
97 P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using
103 $ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
105 This imports the specified depot into
106 'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The
107 '--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to
108 be used for the p4 content.
110 If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
111 will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since
112 importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes
113 from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
118 A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot
119 and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository
120 is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes
121 sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move
122 local commits on top of updated p4 changes.
130 Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository
131 requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified
132 using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration
133 variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root
134 will be created and populated if it does not already exist.
136 To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in
137 the 'p4/master' branch, use:
142 To specify a branch other than the current one, use:
144 $ git p4 submit topicbranch
147 The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can
148 be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option.
150 The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The
151 '--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified
152 according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin
153 privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'.
161 All commands except clone accept these options.
164 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1].
167 Provide more progress information.
171 These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in
172 subsequent 'sync' operations.
175 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with
176 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
177 will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'. If used
178 with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out.
180 This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing
185 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2
189 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is
190 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION".
192 --changesfile <file>::
193 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per
194 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository
195 state and detects the changes it should import.
198 Do not print any progress information.
201 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
202 them as tags in git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels
203 associated with new changelists. Deprecated.
206 Import labels from p4 into git.
209 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
210 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by
211 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead
212 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future
213 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that
214 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads.
217 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to
218 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision
222 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
223 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this
224 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example,
225 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
226 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the
227 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
230 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
231 See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below.
235 These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync'
236 options described above.
238 --destination <directory>::
239 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last
240 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
244 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
247 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning.
251 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior.
254 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to
255 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable
259 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be
260 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There
261 is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are
262 variables for both moves and copies.
265 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option
266 requires p4 admin privileges.
269 Export tags from git as p4 labels. Tags found in git are applied
270 to the perforce working directory.
273 Show just what commits would be submitted to p4; do not change
277 Apply a commit to the p4 workspace, opening, adding and deleting
278 files in p4 as for a normal submit operation. Do not issue the
279 final "p4 submit", but instead print a message about how to
280 submit manually or revert. This option always stops after the
281 first (oldest) commit. Git tags are not exported to p4.
285 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior.
292 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
293 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
294 p4 revision specifier on the end:
296 "//depot/my/project"::
297 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
299 "//depot/my/project@all"::
300 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
302 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
303 Import only changes 1 through 6.
305 "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
306 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
307 repository. Only files below these directories are included.
308 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
309 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
310 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified
311 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the
312 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
313 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
315 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
320 The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command
321 and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot
322 is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands
323 can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or
324 when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the
325 useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository
326 configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to
327 work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does
328 not have a command-line option.
330 The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4'
331 knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line
332 mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes
333 around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles
334 '...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain
335 if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.
337 Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot
338 paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository,
339 'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without
340 dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'.
342 The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The
343 variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise,
344 normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment
345 variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name.
350 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
351 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
352 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
353 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
354 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4'
355 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
357 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
358 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
359 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
360 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
362 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
368 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
370 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
373 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
375 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
377 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
378 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
380 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
381 them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
382 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
383 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
384 relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
385 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
386 the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the
387 presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
390 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
391 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
397 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
398 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
399 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
400 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
403 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
404 -----------------------
405 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
406 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
411 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
412 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
415 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
417 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
420 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
422 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
425 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
427 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
430 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
431 '-c <client>', including the client spec.
433 Clone and sync variables
434 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
435 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
436 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
437 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
438 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
439 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
440 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
443 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
444 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are
445 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned
446 by the single user named in the variable.
449 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
450 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
451 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and
452 branchB were created from main:
455 git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA
456 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
459 git-p4.ignoredP4Labels::
460 List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as
461 unimportable labels are discovered.
463 git-p4.importLabels::
464 Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels.
466 git-p4.labelImportRegexp::
467 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The
468 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
470 git-p4.useClientSpec::
471 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4
472 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the
473 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above.
474 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client.
478 git-p4.detectRenames::
479 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true,
480 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -M'.
482 git-p4.detectCopies::
483 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true,
484 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -C'.
486 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
487 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. A boolean.
489 git-p4.preserveUser::
490 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
491 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
493 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
494 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
495 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting
496 submits the change regardless.
498 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
499 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
500 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing
503 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
504 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
505 the description really was changed by looking at the file
506 modification time. This option disables that test.
509 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
510 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only
511 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names
512 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be
513 separated by commas (","), with no spaces.
515 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
516 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
517 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force
518 submission regardless.
520 git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup::
521 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords
522 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent
523 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at
526 git-p4.exportLabels::
527 Export git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels.
529 git-p4.labelExportRegexp::
530 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The
531 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
533 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
534 ----------------------
535 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
536 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
537 collected using 'p4 print'.
538 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
539 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
540 this p4 client and submitted from there.
541 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
542 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This
543 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4