Documentation/git-p4.txt

   1 git-p4(1)
   2 =========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>...
  13 'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...]
  14 'git p4 rebase'
  15 'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>]
  16
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20 This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories
  21 using git.
  22
  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.
  30
  31
  32 EXAMPLE
  33 -------
  34 * Create an alias for 'git p4', using the full path to the 'git-p4'
  35   script if needed:
  36 +
  37 ------------
  38 $ git config --global alias.p4 '!git-p4'
  39 ------------
  40
  41 * Clone a repository:
  42 +
  43 ------------
  44 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
  45 ------------
  46
  47 * Do some work in the newly created git repository:
  48 +
  49 ------------
  50 $ cd project
  51 $ vi foo.h
  52 $ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"
  53 ------------
  54
  55 * Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
  56   work on top:
  57 +
  58 ------------
  59 $ git p4 rebase
  60 ------------
  61
  62 * Submit your commits back to p4:
  63 +
  64 ------------
  65 $ git p4 submit
  66 ------------
  67
  68
  69 COMMANDS
  70 --------
  71
  72 Clone
  73 ~~~~~
  74 Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory
  75 from an existing p4 repository:
  76 ------------
  77 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
  78 ------------
  79 This:
  80
  81 1.   Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
  82 +
  83 2.   Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4
  84 depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
  85 +
  86 3.   Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out.
  87
  88 To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on
  89 the depot path:
  90 ------------
  91 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all
  92 ------------
  93
  94
  95 Sync
  96 ~~~~
  97 As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can
  98 be included in the git repository using:
  99 ------------
 100 $ git p4 sync
 101 ------------
 102 This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits.
 103
 104 P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using
 105 'git p4 sync' too:
 106 ------------
 107 $ mkdir repo-git
 108 $ cd repo-git
 109 $ git init
 110 $ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
 111 ------------
 112 This imports the specified depot into
 113 'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository.  The
 114 '--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to
 115 be used for the p4 content.
 116
 117 If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
 118 will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'.  Since
 119 importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes
 120 from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
 121
 122
 123 Rebase
 124 ~~~~~~
 125 A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot
 126 and merge them with local uncommitted changes.  Often, the p4 repository
 127 is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes
 128 sense.  This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move
 129 local commits on top of updated p4 changes.
 130 ------------
 131 $ git p4 rebase
 132 ------------
 133
 134
 135 Submit
 136 ~~~~~~
 137 Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository
 138 requires a separate p4 client workspace.  This should be specified
 139 using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration
 140 variable 'git-p4.client'.  The p4 client must exist, but the client root
 141 will be created and populated if it does not already exist.
 142
 143 To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in
 144 the 'p4/master' branch, use:
 145 ------------
 146 $ git p4 submit
 147 ------------
 148
 149 To specify a branch other than the current one, use:
 150 ------------
 151 $ git p4 submit topicbranch
 152 ------------
 153
 154 The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can
 155 be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option.
 156
 157 The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The
 158 '--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified
 159 according to the author of the git commit.  This option requires admin
 160 privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'.
 161
 162
 163 OPTIONS
 164 -------
 165
 166 General options
 167 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 168 All commands except clone accept this option.
 169
 170 --git-dir <dir>::
 171         Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable.  See linkgit:git[1].
 172
 173 Sync options
 174 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
 175 These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in
 176 subsequent 'sync' operations.
 177
 178 --branch <branch>::
 179         Import changes into given branch.  If the branch starts with
 180         'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
 181         will be prepended.  The default branch is 'master'.  If used
 182         with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out.
 183 +
 184 This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing
 185 git repository:
 186 ----
 187     $ git init
 188     $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2
 189 ----
 190
 191 --detect-branches::
 192         Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4.  It is
 193         documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION".
 194
 195 --changesfile <file>::
 196         Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per
 197         line.  Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository
 198         state and detects the changes it should import.
 199
 200 --silent::
 201         Do not print any progress information.
 202
 203 --verbose::
 204         Provide more progress information.
 205
 206 --detect-labels::
 207         Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
 208         them as tags in git.
 209
 210 --import-local::
 211         By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
 212         where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by
 213         linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands.  This option instead
 214         puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'.  Note that future
 215         sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that
 216         they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads.
 217
 218 --max-changes <n>::
 219         Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'.  Useful to
 220         limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision
 221         specifier.
 222
 223 --keep-path::
 224         The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
 225         default, involves removing the entire depot path.  With this
 226         option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git.  For example,
 227         path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
 228         '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'.  With '--keep-path', the
 229         git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
 230
 231 --use-client-spec::
 232         Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
 233         The client spec is discovered using 'p4 client -o' which checks
 234         the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable and returns a mapping of
 235         depot files to workspace files.  Note that a depot path is
 236         still required, but files found in the path that match in
 237         the client spec view will be laid out according to the client
 238         spec.
 239
 240 Clone options
 241 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 242 These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync'
 243 options described above.
 244
 245 --destination <directory>::
 246         Where to create the git repository.  If not provided, the last
 247         component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
 248         directory.
 249
 250 --bare::
 251         Perform a bare clone.  See linkgit:git-clone[1].
 252
 253 -/ <path>::
 254         Exclude selected depot paths when cloning.
 255
 256 Submit options
 257 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 258 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior.
 259
 260 --verbose::
 261         Provide more progress information.
 262
 263 --origin <commit>::
 264         Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to
 265         p4.  By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable
 266         from 'HEAD'.
 267
 268 -M[<n>]::
 269         Detect renames.  See linkgit:git-diff[1].  Renames will be
 270         represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations.
 271
 272 --preserve-user::
 273         Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4.  This option
 274         requires p4 admin privileges.
 275
 276
 277 DEPOT PATH SYNTAX
 278 -----------------
 279 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
 280 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
 281 p4 revision specifier on the end:
 282
 283 "//depot/my/project"::
 284     Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
 285
 286 "//depot/my/project@all"::
 287     Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
 288
 289 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
 290     Import only changes 1 through 6.
 291
 292 "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
 293     Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
 294     repository.  Only files below these directories are included.
 295     There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
 296     You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
 297     than one depot path.  The revision specifier must be specified
 298     identically on each depot path.  If there are files in the
 299     depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
 300     updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
 301
 302 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
 303
 304
 305 BRANCH DETECTION
 306 ----------------
 307 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git.  Instead,
 308 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
 309 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
 310 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
 311 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content.  'git p4'
 312 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
 313
 314 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
 315 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
 316 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
 317 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
 318
 319 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
 320 ----
 321 //depot/main/...
 322 //depot/branch1/...
 323 ----
 324
 325 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
 326 ----
 327 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
 328 ----
 329
 330 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
 331 ----
 332 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
 333 ----
 334 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
 335 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
 336
 337 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
 338 them like branches.  Because it is difficult to infer branch
 339 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
 340 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
 341 relationships.  It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
 342 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
 343 the path elements in the p4 repository.  The example above relied on the
 344 presence of the p4 branch.  Without p4 branches, the same result will
 345 occur with:
 346 ----
 347 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
 348 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
 349 ----
 350
 351
 352 PERFORMANCE
 353 -----------
 354 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
 355 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'.  Normally, git garbage compression
 356 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
 357 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
 358
 359
 360 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 361 -----------------------
 362 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
 363 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
 364
 365 General variables
 366 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 367 git-p4.user::
 368         User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
 369         The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
 370
 371 git-p4.password::
 372         Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
 373         '-P <password>'.
 374         The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
 375
 376 git-p4.port::
 377         Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
 378         '-p <port>'.
 379         The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
 380
 381 git-p4.host::
 382         Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
 383         '-h <host>'.
 384         The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
 385
 386 git-p4.client::
 387         Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
 388         '-c <client>'.  This can also be used as a way to find
 389         the client spec for the 'useClientSpec' option.
 390         The environment variable 'P4CLIENT' can be used instead.
 391
 392 Clone and sync variables
 393 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 394 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
 395         Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
 396         than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
 397         first in git remotes.  If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
 398         those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4.  This
 399         variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
 400
 401 git-p4.branchUser::
 402         One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
 403         to find new ones to import.  By default, all branches are
 404         inspected.  This option limits the search to just those owned
 405         by the single user named in the variable.
 406
 407 git-p4.branchList::
 408         List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
 409         enabled.  Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
 410         by a colon (:).  This example declares that both branchA and
 411         branchB were created from main:
 412 -------------
 413 git config       git-p4.branchList main:branchA
 414 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
 415 -------------
 416
 417 git-p4.useClientSpec::
 418         Specify that the p4 client spec to be used to identify p4 depot
 419         paths of interest.  This is equivalent to specifying the option
 420         '--use-client-spec'.  The variable 'git-p4.client' can be used
 421         to specify the name of the client.
 422
 423 Submit variables
 424 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 425 git-p4.detectRenames::
 426         Detect renames.  See linkgit:git-diff[1].
 427
 428 git-p4.detectCopies::
 429         Detect copies.  See linkgit:git-diff[1].
 430
 431 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
 432         Detect copies harder.  See linkgit:git-diff[1].
 433
 434 git-p4.preserveUser::
 435         On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
 436         regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
 437
 438 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
 439         When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
 440         cannot find an author in the p4 user map.  This setting
 441         submits the change regardless.
 442
 443 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
 444         The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
 445         is submitted.  If this setting is true, though, the editing
 446         step is skipped.
 447
 448 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
 449         After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
 450         the description really was changed by looking at the file
 451         modification time.  This option disables that test.
 452
 453 git-p4.allowSubmit::
 454         By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
 455         submit' operation.  This configuration variable, if set, permits only
 456         the named branches to be used as submit sources.
 457
 458 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
 459         If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
 460         user map, 'git p4' exits.  This option can be used to force
 461         submission regardless.
 462
 463
 464 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
 465 ----------------------
 466 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
 467 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
 468   collected using 'p4 print'.
 469 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
 470   as the git repository.  Patches are applied, one at a time, to
 471   this p4 client and submitted from there.
 472 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
 473   message indicating the p4 depot location and change number.  This
 474   line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4
 475   changes are new.