]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/git.git/blob - Documentation/gitrepository-layout.txt
Merge branch 'js/t3404-typofix' into maint
[thirdparty/git.git] / Documentation / gitrepository-layout.txt
1 gitrepository-layout(5)
2 =======================
3
4 NAME
5 ----
6 gitrepository-layout - Git Repository Layout
7
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 $GIT_DIR/*
11
12 DESCRIPTION
13 -----------
14
15 A Git repository comes in two different flavours:
16
17 * a `.git` directory at the root of the working tree;
18
19 * a `<project>.git` directory that is a 'bare' repository
20 (i.e. without its own working tree), that is typically used for
21 exchanging histories with others by pushing into it and fetching
22 from it.
23
24 *Note*: Also you can have a plain text file `.git` at the root of
25 your working tree, containing `gitdir: <path>` to point at the real
26 directory that has the repository. This mechanism is often used for
27 a working tree of a submodule checkout, to allow you in the
28 containing superproject to `git checkout` a branch that does not
29 have the submodule. The `checkout` has to remove the entire
30 submodule working tree, without losing the submodule repository.
31
32 These things may exist in a Git repository.
33
34 objects::
35 Object store associated with this repository. Usually
36 an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
37 that are referred to by an object found in it are also
38 found in it), but there are a few ways to violate it.
39 +
40 . You could have an incomplete but locally usable repository
41 by creating a shallow clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
42 . You could be using the `objects/info/alternates` or
43 `$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanisms to 'borrow'
44 objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
45 of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
46 use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
47 `objects/info/alternates` points at the object stores it
48 borrows from.
49 +
50 This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
51 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/objects" will be used instead.
52
53 objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
54 A newly created object is stored in its own file.
55 The objects are splayed over 256 subdirectories using
56 the first two characters of the sha1 object name to
57 keep the number of directory entries in `objects`
58 itself to a manageable number. Objects found
59 here are often called 'unpacked' (or 'loose') objects.
60
61 objects/pack::
62 Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
63 along with index files to allow them to be randomly
64 accessed) are found in this directory.
65
66 objects/info::
67 Additional information about the object store is
68 recorded in this directory.
69
70 objects/info/packs::
71 This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
72 are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
73 added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
74 to keep this file up to date if the repository is
75 published for dumb transports. 'git repack' does this
76 by default.
77
78 objects/info/alternates::
79 This file records paths to alternate object stores that
80 this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
81 line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
82 but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
83 will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
84 to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
85 alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
86 paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
87 is the same. See also `objects/info/http-alternates`.
88
89 objects/info/http-alternates::
90 This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
91 this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
92 the repository is fetched over HTTP.
93
94 refs::
95 References are stored in subdirectories of this
96 directory. The 'git prune' command knows to preserve
97 objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
98 its subdirectories.
99 This directory is ignored (except refs/bisect and
100 refs/worktree) if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
101 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/refs" will be used instead.
102
103 refs/heads/`name`::
104 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
105
106 refs/tags/`name`::
107 records any object name (not necessarily a commit
108 object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
109
110 refs/remotes/`name`::
111 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branches copied
112 from a remote repository.
113
114 refs/replace/`<obj-sha1>`::
115 records the SHA-1 of the object that replaces `<obj-sha1>`.
116 This is similar to info/grafts and is internally used and
117 maintained by linkgit:git-replace[1]. Such refs can be exchanged
118 between repositories while grafts are not.
119
120 packed-refs::
121 records the same information as refs/heads/, refs/tags/,
122 and friends record in a more efficient way. See
123 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1]. This file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
124 is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/packed-refs" will be used instead.
125
126 HEAD::
127 A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
128 describing the currently active branch. It does not mean
129 much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
130 (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid Git repository
131 *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
132 guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
133 (usually 'master'). It is legal if the named branch
134 'name' does not (yet) exist. In some legacy setups, it is
135 a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
136 branch.
137 +
138 HEAD can also record a specific commit directly, instead of
139 being a symref to point at the current branch. Such a state
140 is often called 'detached HEAD.' See linkgit:git-checkout[1]
141 for details.
142
143 config::
144 Repository specific configuration file. This file is ignored
145 if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/config" will be
146 used instead.
147
148 config.worktree::
149 Working directory specific configuration file for the main
150 working directory in multiple working directory setup (see
151 linkgit:git-worktree[1]).
152
153 branches::
154 A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
155 to specify a URL to 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push'.
156 A file can be stored as `branches/<name>` and then
157 'name' can be given to these commands in place of
158 'repository' argument. See the REMOTES section in
159 linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
160 and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
161 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
162 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/branches" will be used instead.
163
164
165 hooks::
166 Hooks are customization scripts used by various Git
167 commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
168 'git init' is run, but all of them are disabled by
169 default. To enable, the `.sample` suffix has to be
170 removed from the filename by renaming.
171 Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about
172 each hook. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set
173 and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/hooks" will be used instead.
174
175 common::
176 When multiple working trees are used, most of files in
177 $GIT_DIR are per-worktree with a few known exceptions. All
178 files under 'common' however will be shared between all
179 working trees.
180
181 index::
182 The current index file for the repository. It is
183 usually not found in a bare repository.
184
185 sharedindex.<SHA-1>::
186 The shared index part, to be referenced by $GIT_DIR/index and
187 other temporary index files. Only valid in split index mode.
188
189 info::
190 Additional information about the repository is recorded
191 in this directory. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
192 is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/info" will be used instead.
193
194 info/refs::
195 This file helps dumb transports discover what refs are
196 available in this repository. If the repository is
197 published for dumb transports, this file should be
198 regenerated by 'git update-server-info' every time a tag
199 or branch is created or modified. This is normally done
200 from the `hooks/update` hook, which is run by the
201 'git-receive-pack' command when you 'git push' into the
202 repository.
203
204 info/grafts::
205 This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
206 pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
207 from how the commit was actually created. One record
208 per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
209 listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
210 by a space and terminated by a newline.
211 +
212 Note that the grafts mechanism is outdated and can lead to problems
213 transferring objects between repositories; see linkgit:git-replace[1]
214 for a more flexible and robust system to do the same thing.
215
216 info/exclude::
217 This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
218 exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
219 ignore file. 'git status', 'git add', 'git rm' and
220 'git clean' look at it but the core Git commands do not look
221 at it. See also: linkgit:gitignore[5].
222
223 info/attributes::
224 Defines which attributes to assign to a path, similar to per-directory
225 `.gitattributes` files. See also: linkgit:gitattributes[5].
226
227 info/sparse-checkout::
228 This file stores sparse checkout patterns.
229 See also: linkgit:git-read-tree[1].
230
231 remotes::
232 Stores shorthands for URL and default refnames for use
233 when interacting with remote repositories via 'git fetch',
234 'git pull' and 'git push' commands. See the REMOTES section
235 in linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
236 and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
237 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
238 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/remotes" will be used instead.
239
240 logs::
241 Records of changes made to refs are stored in this directory.
242 See linkgit:git-update-ref[1] for more information. This
243 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
244 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/logs" will be used instead.
245
246 logs/refs/heads/`name`::
247 Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
248
249 logs/refs/tags/`name`::
250 Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.
251
252 shallow::
253 This is similar to `info/grafts` but is internally used
254 and maintained by shallow clone mechanism. See `--depth`
255 option to linkgit:git-clone[1] and linkgit:git-fetch[1]. This
256 file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
257 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/shallow" will be used instead.
258
259 commondir::
260 If this file exists, $GIT_COMMON_DIR (see linkgit:git[1]) will
261 be set to the path specified in this file if it is not
262 explicitly set. If the specified path is relative, it is
263 relative to $GIT_DIR. The repository with commondir is
264 incomplete without the repository pointed by "commondir".
265
266 modules::
267 Contains the git-repositories of the submodules.
268
269 worktrees::
270 Contains administrative data for linked
271 working trees. Each subdirectory contains the working tree-related
272 part of a linked working tree. This directory is ignored if
273 $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set, in which case
274 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/worktrees" will be used instead.
275
276 worktrees/<id>/gitdir::
277 A text file containing the absolute path back to the .git file
278 that points to here. This is used to check if the linked
279 repository has been manually removed and there is no need to
280 keep this directory any more. The mtime of this file should be
281 updated every time the linked repository is accessed.
282
283 worktrees/<id>/locked::
284 If this file exists, the linked working tree may be on a
285 portable device and not available. The presence of this file
286 prevents `worktrees/<id>` from being pruned either automatically
287 or manually by `git worktree prune`. The file may contain a string
288 explaining why the repository is locked.
289
290 worktrees/<id>/config.worktree::
291 Working directory specific configuration file.
292
293 include::technical/repository-version.txt[]
294
295 SEE ALSO
296 --------
297 linkgit:git-init[1],
298 linkgit:git-clone[1],
299 linkgit:git-fetch[1],
300 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1],
301 linkgit:git-gc[1],
302 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
303 linkgit:gitglossary[7],
304 link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual]
305
306 GIT
307 ---
308 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite