Documentation/git-remote-helpers.txt

   1 git-remote-helpers(1)
   2 =====================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-remote-helpers - Helper programs for interoperation with remote git
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 'git remote-<transport>' <remote>
  11
  12 DESCRIPTION
  13 -----------
  14
  15 These programs are normally not used directly by end users, but are
  16 invoked by various git programs that interact with remote repositories
  17 when the repository they would operate on will be accessed using
  18 transport code not linked into the main git binary. Various particular
  19 helper programs will behave as documented here.
  20
  21 COMMANDS
  22 --------
  23
  24 Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one per line.
  25
  26 'capabilities'::
  27         Lists the capabilities of the helper, one per line, ending
  28         with a blank line. Each capability may be preceded with '*'.
  29         This marks them mandatory for git version using the remote
  30         helper to understand (unknown mandatory capability is fatal
  31         error).
  32
  33 'list'::
  34         Lists the refs, one per line, in the format "<value> <name>
  35         [<attr> ...]". The value may be a hex sha1 hash, "@<dest>" for
  36         a symref, or "?" to indicate that the helper could not get the
  37         value of the ref. A space-separated list of attributes follows
  38         the name; unrecognized attributes are ignored. After the
  39         complete list, outputs a blank line.
  40 +
  41 If 'push' is supported this may be called as 'list for-push'
  42 to obtain the current refs prior to sending one or more 'push'
  43 commands to the helper.
  44
  45 'option' <name> <value>::
  46         Set the transport helper option <name> to <value>.  Outputs a
  47         single line containing one of 'ok' (option successfully set),
  48         'unsupported' (option not recognized) or 'error <msg>'
  49         (option <name> is supported but <value> is not correct
  50         for it).  Options should be set before other commands,
  51         and may how those commands behave.
  52 +
  53 Supported if the helper has the "option" capability.
  54
  55 'fetch' <sha1> <name>::
  56         Fetches the given object, writing the necessary objects
  57         to the database.  Fetch commands are sent in a batch, one
  58         per line, and the batch is terminated with a blank line.
  59         Outputs a single blank line when all fetch commands in the
  60         same batch are complete. Only objects which were reported
  61         in the ref list with a sha1 may be fetched this way.
  62 +
  63 Optionally may output a 'lock <file>' line indicating a file under
  64 GIT_DIR/objects/pack which is keeping a pack until refs can be
  65 suitably updated.
  66 +
  67 Supported if the helper has the "fetch" capability.
  68
  69 'push' +<src>:<dst>::
  70         Pushes the given <src> commit or branch locally to the
  71         remote branch described by <dst>.  A batch sequence of
  72         one or more push commands is terminated with a blank line.
  73 +
  74 Zero or more protocol options may be entered after the last 'push'
  75 command, before the batch's terminating blank line.
  76 +
  77 When the push is complete, outputs one or more 'ok <dst>' or
  78 'error <dst> <why>?' lines to indicate success or failure of
  79 each pushed ref.  The status report output is terminated by
  80 a blank line.  The option field <why> may be quoted in a C
  81 style string if it contains an LF.
  82 +
  83 Supported if the helper has the "push" capability.
  84
  85 'import' <name>::
  86         Produces a fast-import stream which imports the current value
  87         of the named ref. It may additionally import other refs as
  88         needed to construct the history efficiently. The script writes
  89         to a helper-specific private namespace. The value of the named
  90         ref should be written to a location in this namespace derived
  91         by applying the refspecs from the "refspec" capability to the
  92         name of the ref.
  93 +
  94 Supported if the helper has the "import" capability.
  95
  96 'connect' <service>::
  97         Connects to given service. Standard input and standard output
  98         of helper are connected to specified service (git prefix is
  99         included in service name so e.g. fetching uses 'git-upload-pack'
 100         as service) on remote side. Valid replies to this command are
 101         empty line (connection established), 'fallback' (no smart
 102         transport support, fall back to dumb transports) and just
 103         exiting with error message printed (can't connect, don't
 104         bother trying to fall back). After line feed terminating the
 105         positive (empty) response, the output of service starts. After
 106         the connection ends, the remote helper exits.
 107 +
 108 Supported if the helper has the "connect" capability.
 109
 110 If a fatal error occurs, the program writes the error message to
 111 stderr and exits. The caller should expect that a suitable error
 112 message has been printed if the child closes the connection without
 113 completing a valid response for the current command.
 114
 115 Additional commands may be supported, as may be determined from
 116 capabilities reported by the helper.
 117
 118 CAPABILITIES
 119 ------------
 120
 121 'fetch'::
 122         This helper supports the 'fetch' command.
 123
 124 'option'::
 125         This helper supports the option command.
 126
 127 'push'::
 128         This helper supports the 'push' command.
 129
 130 'import'::
 131         This helper supports the 'import' command.
 132
 133 'refspec' 'spec'::
 134         When using the import command, expect the source ref to have
 135         been written to the destination ref. The earliest applicable
 136         refspec takes precedence. For example
 137         "refs/heads/*:refs/svn/origin/branches/*" means that, after an
 138         "import refs/heads/name", the script has written to
 139         refs/svn/origin/branches/name. If this capability is used at
 140         all, it must cover all refs reported by the list command; if
 141         it is not used, it is effectively "*:*"
 142
 143 'connect'::
 144         This helper supports the 'connect' command.
 145
 146 REF LIST ATTRIBUTES
 147 -------------------
 148
 149 'for-push'::
 150         The caller wants to use the ref list to prepare push
 151         commands.  A helper might chose to acquire the ref list by
 152         opening a different type of connection to the destination.
 153
 154 'unchanged'::
 155         This ref is unchanged since the last import or fetch, although
 156         the helper cannot necessarily determine what value that produced.
 157
 158 OPTIONS
 159 -------
 160 'option verbosity' <N>::
 161         Change the level of messages displayed by the helper.
 162         When N is 0 the end-user has asked the process to be
 163         quiet, and the helper should produce only error output.
 164         N of 1 is the default level of verbosity, higher values
 165         of N correspond to the number of -v flags passed on the
 166         command line.
 167
 168 'option progress' \{'true'|'false'\}::
 169         Enable (or disable) progress messages displayed by the
 170         transport helper during a command.
 171
 172 'option depth' <depth>::
 173         Deepen the history of a shallow repository.
 174
 175 'option followtags' \{'true'|'false'\}::
 176         If enabled the helper should automatically fetch annotated
 177         tag objects if the object the tag points at was transferred
 178         during the fetch command.  If the tag is not fetched by
 179         the helper a second fetch command will usually be sent to
 180         ask for the tag specifically.  Some helpers may be able to
 181         use this option to avoid a second network connection.
 182
 183 'option dry-run' \{'true'|'false'\}:
 184         If true, pretend the operation completed successfully,
 185         but don't actually change any repository data.  For most
 186         helpers this only applies to the 'push', if supported.
 187
 188 'option servpath <c-style-quoted-path>'::
 189         Set service path (--upload-pack, --receive-pack etc.) for
 190         next connect. Remote helper MAY support this option. Remote
 191         helper MUST NOT rely on this option being set before
 192         connect request occurs.
 193
 194 Documentation
 195 -------------
 196 Documentation by Daniel Barkalow and Ilari Liusvaara
 197
 198 GIT
 199 ---
 200 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite