6 git - the stupid content tracker
12 'git' [-v | --version] [-h | --help] [-C <path>] [-c <name>=<value>]
13 [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
14 [-p|--paginate|-P|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
15 [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
16 [--config-env=<name>=<envvar>] <command> [<args>]
20 Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
21 unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
22 and full access to internals.
24 See linkgit:gittutorial[7] to get started, then see
25 linkgit:giteveryday[7] for a useful minimum set of
26 commands. The link:user-manual.html[Git User's Manual] has a more
27 in-depth introduction.
29 After you mastered the basic concepts, you can come back to this
30 page to learn what commands Git offers. You can learn more about
31 individual Git commands with "git help command". linkgit:gitcli[7]
32 manual page gives you an overview of the command-line command syntax.
34 A formatted and hyperlinked copy of the latest Git documentation
35 can be viewed at https://git.github.io/htmldocs/git.html
36 or https://git-scm.com/docs.
43 Prints the Git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
45 This option is internally converted to `git version ...` and accepts
46 the same options as the linkgit:git-version[1] command. If `--help` is
47 also given, it takes precedence over `--version`.
51 Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
52 commands. If the option `--all` or `-a` is given then all
53 available commands are printed. If a Git command is named this
54 option will bring up the manual page for that command.
56 Other options are available to control how the manual page is
57 displayed. See linkgit:git-help[1] for more information,
58 because `git --help ...` is converted internally into `git
62 Run as if git was started in '<path>' instead of the current working
63 directory. When multiple `-C` options are given, each subsequent
64 non-absolute `-C <path>` is interpreted relative to the preceding `-C
65 <path>`. If '<path>' is present but empty, e.g. `-C ""`, then the
66 current working directory is left unchanged.
68 This option affects options that expect path name like `--git-dir` and
69 `--work-tree` in that their interpretations of the path names would be
70 made relative to the working directory caused by the `-C` option. For
71 example the following invocations are equivalent:
73 git --git-dir=a.git --work-tree=b -C c status
74 git --git-dir=c/a.git --work-tree=c/b status
77 Pass a configuration parameter to the command. The value
78 given will override values from configuration files.
79 The <name> is expected in the same format as listed by
80 'git config' (subkeys separated by dots).
82 Note that omitting the `=` in `git -c foo.bar ...` is allowed and sets
83 `foo.bar` to the boolean true value (just like `[foo]bar` would in a
84 config file). Including the equals but with an empty value (like `git -c
85 foo.bar= ...`) sets `foo.bar` to the empty string which `git config
86 --type=bool` will convert to `false`.
88 --config-env=<name>=<envvar>::
89 Like `-c <name>=<value>`, give configuration variable
90 '<name>' a value, where <envvar> is the name of an
91 environment variable from which to retrieve the value. Unlike
92 `-c` there is no shortcut for directly setting the value to an
93 empty string, instead the environment variable itself must be
94 set to the empty string. It is an error if the `<envvar>` does not exist
95 in the environment. `<envvar>` may not contain an equals sign
96 to avoid ambiguity with `<name>` containing one.
98 This is useful for cases where you want to pass transitory
99 configuration options to git, but are doing so on operating systems
100 where other processes might be able to read your command line
101 (e.g. `/proc/self/cmdline`), but not your environment
102 (e.g. `/proc/self/environ`). That behavior is the default on
103 Linux, but may not be on your system.
105 Note that this might add security for variables such as
106 `http.extraHeader` where the sensitive information is part of
107 the value, but not e.g. `url.<base>.insteadOf` where the
108 sensitive information can be part of the key.
110 --exec-path[=<path>]::
111 Path to wherever your core Git programs are installed.
112 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
113 environment variable. If no path is given, 'git' will print
114 the current setting and then exit.
117 Print the path, without trailing slash, where Git's HTML
118 documentation is installed and exit.
121 Print the manpath (see `man(1)`) for the man pages for
122 this version of Git and exit.
125 Print the path where the Info files documenting this
126 version of Git are installed and exit.
130 Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER) if standard
131 output is a terminal. This overrides the `pager.<cmd>`
132 configuration options (see the "Configuration Mechanism" section
137 Do not pipe Git output into a pager.
140 Set the path to the repository (".git" directory). This can also be
141 controlled by setting the `GIT_DIR` environment variable. It can be
142 an absolute path or relative path to current working directory.
144 Specifying the location of the ".git" directory using this
145 option (or `GIT_DIR` environment variable) turns off the
146 repository discovery that tries to find a directory with
147 ".git" subdirectory (which is how the repository and the
148 top-level of the working tree are discovered), and tells Git
149 that you are at the top level of the working tree. If you
150 are not at the top-level directory of the working tree, you
151 should tell Git where the top-level of the working tree is,
152 with the `--work-tree=<path>` option (or `GIT_WORK_TREE`
153 environment variable)
155 If you just want to run git as if it was started in `<path>` then use
159 Set the path to the working tree. It can be an absolute path
160 or a path relative to the current working directory.
161 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE
162 environment variable and the core.worktree configuration
163 variable (see core.worktree in linkgit:git-config[1] for a
164 more detailed discussion).
167 Set the Git namespace. See linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for more
168 details. Equivalent to setting the `GIT_NAMESPACE` environment
172 Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR
173 environment is not set, it is set to the current working
176 --no-replace-objects::
177 Do not use replacement refs to replace Git objects.
178 This is equivalent to exporting the `GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS`
179 environment variable with any value.
180 See linkgit:git-replace[1] for more information.
183 Do not fetch missing objects from the promisor remote on
184 demand. Useful together with `git cat-file -e <object>` to
185 see if the object is locally available.
187 --literal-pathspecs::
188 Treat pathspecs literally (i.e. no globbing, no pathspec magic).
189 This is equivalent to setting the `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS` environment
193 Add "glob" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
194 the `GIT_GLOB_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`. Disabling
195 globbing on individual pathspecs can be done using pathspec
199 Add "literal" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
200 the `GIT_NOGLOB_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`. Enabling
201 globbing on individual pathspecs can be done using pathspec
205 Add "icase" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
206 the `GIT_ICASE_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`.
208 --no-optional-locks::
209 Do not perform optional operations that require locks. This is
210 equivalent to setting the `GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS` to `0`.
212 --list-cmds=group[,group...]::
213 List commands by group. This is an internal/experimental
214 option and may change or be removed in the future. Supported
215 groups are: builtins, parseopt (builtin commands that use
216 parse-options), main (all commands in libexec directory),
217 others (all other commands in `$PATH` that have git- prefix),
218 list-<category> (see categories in command-list.txt),
219 nohelpers (exclude helper commands), alias and config
220 (retrieve command list from config variable completion.commands)
222 --attr-source=<tree-ish>::
223 Read gitattributes from <tree-ish> instead of the worktree. See
224 linkgit:gitattributes[5]. This is equivalent to setting the
225 `GIT_ATTR_SOURCE` environment variable.
230 We divide Git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
231 ("plumbing") commands.
233 High-level commands (porcelain)
234 -------------------------------
236 We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
237 ancillary user utilities.
239 Main porcelain commands
240 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
242 include::cmds-mainporcelain.txt[]
248 include::cmds-ancillarymanipulators.txt[]
252 include::cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt[]
255 Interacting with Others
256 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
258 These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other
259 people via patch over e-mail.
261 include::cmds-foreignscminterface.txt[]
263 Reset, restore and revert
264 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
265 There are three commands with similar names: `git reset`,
266 `git restore` and `git revert`.
268 * linkgit:git-revert[1] is about making a new commit that reverts the
269 changes made by other commits.
271 * linkgit:git-restore[1] is about restoring files in the working tree
272 from either the index or another commit. This command does not
273 update your branch. The command can also be used to restore files in
274 the index from another commit.
276 * linkgit:git-reset[1] is about updating your branch, moving the tip
277 in order to add or remove commits from the branch. This operation
278 changes the commit history.
280 `git reset` can also be used to restore the index, overlapping with
284 Low-level commands (plumbing)
285 -----------------------------
287 Although Git includes its
288 own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
289 development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains
290 might start by reading about linkgit:git-update-index[1] and
291 linkgit:git-read-tree[1].
293 The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics)
294 to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable
295 than Porcelain level commands, because these commands are
296 primarily for scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands
297 on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the
300 The following description divides
301 the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
302 the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
303 compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
307 Manipulation commands
308 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
310 include::cmds-plumbingmanipulators.txt[]
313 Interrogation commands
314 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
316 include::cmds-plumbinginterrogators.txt[]
318 In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
325 include::cmds-synchingrepositories.txt[]
327 The following are helper commands used by the above; end users
328 typically do not use them directly.
330 include::cmds-synchelpers.txt[]
333 Internal helper commands
334 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
336 These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end
337 users typically do not use them directly.
339 include::cmds-purehelpers.txt[]
344 The following documentation pages are guides about Git concepts.
346 include::cmds-guide.txt[]
348 Repository, command and file interfaces
349 ---------------------------------------
351 This documentation discusses repository and command interfaces which
352 users are expected to interact with directly. See `--user-formats` in
353 linkgit:git-help[1] for more details on the criteria.
355 include::cmds-userinterfaces.txt[]
357 File formats, protocols and other developer interfaces
358 ------------------------------------------------------
360 This documentation discusses file formats, over-the-wire protocols and
361 other git developer interfaces. See `--developer-interfaces` in
364 include::cmds-developerinterfaces.txt[]
366 Configuration Mechanism
367 -----------------------
369 Git uses a simple text format to store customizations that are per
370 repository and are per user. Such a configuration file may look
375 # A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
380 ; Don't trust file modes
385 name = "Junio C Hamano"
386 email = "gitster@pobox.com"
390 Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
391 their operation accordingly. See linkgit:git-config[1] for a
392 list and more details about the configuration mechanism.
395 Identifier Terminology
396 ----------------------
398 Indicates the object name for any type of object.
401 Indicates a blob object name.
404 Indicates a tree object name.
407 Indicates a commit object name.
410 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A
411 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
412 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
413 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
416 Indicates a commit or tag object name. A
417 command that takes a <commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to
418 operate on a <commit> object but automatically dereferences
419 <tag> objects that point at a <commit>.
422 Indicates that an object type is required.
423 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
426 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
427 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
431 Any Git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
435 indicates the head of the current branch.
439 (i.e. a `refs/tags/<tag>` reference).
443 (i.e. a `refs/heads/<head>` reference).
445 For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
446 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
449 File/Directory Structure
450 ------------------------
452 Please see the linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5] document.
454 Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about each hook.
456 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
462 Please see linkgit:gitglossary[7].
465 Environment Variables
466 ---------------------
467 Various Git commands pay attention to environment variables and change
468 their behavior. The environment variables marked as "Boolean" take
469 their values the same way as Boolean valued configuration variables, e.g.
470 "true", "yes", "on" and positive numbers are taken as "yes".
472 Here are the variables:
476 These environment variables apply to 'all' core Git commands. Nb: it
477 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
478 Git so take care if using a foreign front-end.
481 This environment variable specifies an alternate
482 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
485 `GIT_INDEX_VERSION`::
486 This environment variable specifies what index version is used
487 when writing the index file out. It won't affect existing index
488 files. By default index file version 2 or 3 is used. See
489 linkgit:git-update-index[1] for more information.
491 `GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY`::
492 If the object storage directory is specified via this
493 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
494 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
497 `GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES`::
498 Due to the immutable nature of Git objects, old objects can be
499 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
500 specifies a ":" separated (on Windows ";" separated) list
501 of Git object directories which can be used to search for Git
502 objects. New objects will not be written to these directories.
504 Entries that begin with `"` (double-quote) will be interpreted
505 as C-style quoted paths, removing leading and trailing
506 double-quotes and respecting backslash escapes. E.g., the value
507 `"path-with-\"-and-:-in-it":vanilla-path` has two paths:
508 `path-with-"-and-:-in-it` and `vanilla-path`.
511 If the `GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it
512 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
513 for the base of the repository.
514 The `--git-dir` command-line option also sets this value.
517 Set the path to the root of the working tree.
518 This can also be controlled by the `--work-tree` command-line
519 option and the core.worktree configuration variable.
522 Set the Git namespace; see linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for details.
523 The `--namespace` command-line option also sets this value.
525 `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES`::
526 This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths. If
527 set, it is a list of directories that Git should not chdir up
528 into while looking for a repository directory (useful for
529 excluding slow-loading network directories). It will not
530 exclude the current working directory or a GIT_DIR set on the
531 command line or in the environment. Normally, Git has to read
532 the entries in this list and resolve any symlink that
533 might be present in order to compare them with the current
534 directory. However, if even this access is slow, you
535 can add an empty entry to the list to tell Git that the
536 subsequent entries are not symlinks and needn't be resolved;
538 `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=/maybe/symlink::/very/slow/non/symlink`.
540 `GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM`::
541 When run in a directory that does not have ".git" repository
542 directory, Git tries to find such a directory in the parent
543 directories to find the top of the working tree, but by default it
544 does not cross filesystem boundaries. This Boolean environment variable
545 can be set to true to tell Git not to stop at filesystem
546 boundaries. Like `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES`, this will not affect
547 an explicit repository directory set via `GIT_DIR` or on the
551 If this variable is set to a path, non-worktree files that are
552 normally in $GIT_DIR will be taken from this path
553 instead. Worktree-specific files such as HEAD or index are
554 taken from $GIT_DIR. See linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5] and
555 linkgit:git-worktree[1] for
556 details. This variable has lower precedence than other path
557 variables such as GIT_INDEX_FILE, GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY...
560 If this variable is set, the default hash algorithm for new
561 repositories will be set to this value. This value is
562 ignored when cloning and the setting of the remote repository
563 is always used. The default is "sha1".
564 See `--object-format` in linkgit:git-init[1].
569 The human-readable name used in the author identity when creating commit or
570 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.name` and
571 `author.name` configuration settings.
574 The email address used in the author identity when creating commit or
575 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.email` and
576 `author.email` configuration settings.
579 The date used for the author identity when creating commit or tag objects, or
580 when writing reflogs. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for valid formats.
582 `GIT_COMMITTER_NAME`::
583 The human-readable name used in the committer identity when creating commit or
584 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.name` and
585 `committer.name` configuration settings.
587 `GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL`::
588 The email address used in the author identity when creating commit or
589 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.email` and
590 `committer.email` configuration settings.
592 `GIT_COMMITTER_DATE`::
593 The date used for the committer identity when creating commit or tag objects, or
594 when writing reflogs. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for valid formats.
597 The email address used in the author and committer identities if no other
598 relevant environment variable or configuration setting has been set.
603 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the
604 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created.
605 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option
606 value passed on the Git diff command line.
608 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF`::
609 When the environment variable `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is set, the
610 program named by it is called to generate diffs, and Git
611 does not use its builtin diff machinery.
612 For a path that is added, removed, or modified,
613 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called with 7 parameters:
615 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode
619 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the
620 contents of <old|new>,
621 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA-1 hashes,
622 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes.
624 The file parameters can point at the user's working file
625 (e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file`
626 when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the
627 index). `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` should not worry about unlinking the
628 temporary file -- it is removed when `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` exits.
630 For a path that is unmerged, `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called with 1
633 For each path `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called, two environment variables,
634 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_COUNTER` and `GIT_DIFF_PATH_TOTAL` are set.
636 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_COUNTER`::
637 A 1-based counter incremented by one for every path.
639 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_TOTAL`::
640 The total number of paths.
644 `GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY`::
645 A number controlling the amount of output shown by
646 the recursive merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity.
647 See linkgit:git-merge[1]
650 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set
651 to an empty string or to the value "cat", Git will not launch
652 a pager. See also the `core.pager` option in
653 linkgit:git-config[1].
655 `GIT_PROGRESS_DELAY`::
656 A number controlling how many seconds to delay before showing
657 optional progress indicators. Defaults to 2.
660 This environment variable overrides `$EDITOR` and `$VISUAL`.
661 It is used by several Git commands when, on interactive mode,
662 an editor is to be launched. See also linkgit:git-var[1]
663 and the `core.editor` option in linkgit:git-config[1].
665 `GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR`::
666 This environment variable overrides the configured Git editor
667 when editing the todo list of an interactive rebase. See also
668 linkgit:git-rebase[1] and the `sequence.editor` option in
669 linkgit:git-config[1].
673 If either of these environment variables is set then 'git fetch'
674 and 'git push' will use the specified command instead of 'ssh'
675 when they need to connect to a remote system.
676 The command-line parameters passed to the configured command are
677 determined by the ssh variant. See `ssh.variant` option in
678 linkgit:git-config[1] for details.
680 `$GIT_SSH_COMMAND` takes precedence over `$GIT_SSH`, and is interpreted
681 by the shell, which allows additional arguments to be included.
682 `$GIT_SSH` on the other hand must be just the path to a program
683 (which can be a wrapper shell script, if additional arguments are
686 Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your
687 personal `.ssh/config` file. Please consult your ssh documentation
691 If this environment variable is set, it overrides Git's autodetection
692 whether `GIT_SSH`/`GIT_SSH_COMMAND`/`core.sshCommand` refer to OpenSSH,
693 plink or tortoiseplink. This variable overrides the config setting
694 `ssh.variant` that serves the same purpose.
696 `GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY`::
697 Setting and exporting this environment variable to any value
698 tells Git not to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or
702 Sets the treeish that gitattributes will be read from.
705 If this environment variable is set, then Git commands which need to
706 acquire passwords or passphrases (e.g. for HTTP or IMAP authentication)
707 will call this program with a suitable prompt as command-line argument
708 and read the password from its STDOUT. See also the `core.askPass`
709 option in linkgit:git-config[1].
711 `GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT`::
712 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, git will not prompt
713 on the terminal (e.g., when asking for HTTP authentication).
715 `GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL`::
716 `GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM`::
717 Take the configuration from the given files instead from global or
718 system-level configuration files. If `GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM` is set, the
719 system config file defined at build time (usually `/etc/gitconfig`)
720 will not be read. Likewise, if `GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL` is set, neither
721 `$HOME/.gitconfig` nor `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` will be read. Can
722 be set to `/dev/null` to skip reading configuration files of the
725 `GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM`::
726 Whether to skip reading settings from the system-wide
727 `$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig` file. This Boolean environment variable can
728 be used along with `$HOME` and `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` to create a
729 predictable environment for a picky script, or you can set it
730 to true to temporarily avoid using a buggy `/etc/gitconfig` file while
731 waiting for someone with sufficient permissions to fix it.
734 // NEEDSWORK: make it into a usual Boolean environment variable
735 If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such
736 as 'git blame' (in incremental mode), 'git rev-list', 'git log',
737 'git check-attr' and 'git check-ignore' will
738 force a flush of the output stream after each record have been
740 variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done
741 using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is
742 not set, Git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing
743 based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not.
746 Enables general trace messages, e.g. alias expansion, built-in
747 command execution and external command execution.
749 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
750 is case insensitive), trace messages will be printed to
753 If the variable is set to an integer value greater than 2
754 and lower than 10 (strictly) then Git will interpret this
755 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
756 trace messages into this file descriptor.
758 Alternatively, if the variable is set to an absolute path
759 (starting with a '/' character), Git will interpret this
760 as a file path and will try to append the trace messages
763 Unsetting the variable, or setting it to empty, "0" or
764 "false" (case insensitive) disables trace messages.
766 `GIT_TRACE_FSMONITOR`::
767 Enables trace messages for the filesystem monitor extension.
768 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
770 `GIT_TRACE_PACK_ACCESS`::
771 Enables trace messages for all accesses to any packs. For each
772 access, the pack file name and an offset in the pack is
773 recorded. This may be helpful for troubleshooting some
774 pack-related performance problems.
775 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
778 Enables trace messages for all packets coming in or out of a
779 given program. This can help with debugging object negotiation
780 or other protocol issues. Tracing is turned off at a packet
781 starting with "PACK" (but see `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE` below).
782 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
784 `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE`::
785 Enables tracing of packfiles sent or received by a
786 given program. Unlike other trace output, this trace is
787 verbatim: no headers, and no quoting of binary data. You almost
788 certainly want to direct into a file (e.g.,
789 `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE=/tmp/my.pack`) rather than displaying it on
790 the terminal or mixing it with other trace output.
792 Note that this is currently only implemented for the client side
793 of clones and fetches.
795 `GIT_TRACE_PERFORMANCE`::
796 Enables performance related trace messages, e.g. total execution
797 time of each Git command.
798 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
801 Enables trace messages for operations on the ref database.
802 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
805 Enables trace messages printing the .git, working tree and current
806 working directory after Git has completed its setup phase.
807 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
809 `GIT_TRACE_SHALLOW`::
810 Enables trace messages that can help debugging fetching /
811 cloning of shallow repositories.
812 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
815 Enables a curl full trace dump of all incoming and outgoing data,
816 including descriptive information, of the git transport protocol.
817 This is similar to doing curl `--trace-ascii` on the command line.
818 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
820 `GIT_TRACE_CURL_NO_DATA`::
821 When a curl trace is enabled (see `GIT_TRACE_CURL` above), do not dump
822 data (that is, only dump info lines and headers).
825 Enables more detailed trace messages from the "trace2" library.
826 Output from `GIT_TRACE2` is a simple text-based format for human
829 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
830 is case insensitive), trace messages will be printed to
833 If the variable is set to an integer value greater than 2
834 and lower than 10 (strictly) then Git will interpret this
835 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
836 trace messages into this file descriptor.
838 Alternatively, if the variable is set to an absolute path
839 (starting with a '/' character), Git will interpret this
840 as a file path and will try to append the trace messages
841 to it. If the path already exists and is a directory, the
842 trace messages will be written to files (one per process)
843 in that directory, named according to the last component
844 of the SID and an optional counter (to avoid filename
847 In addition, if the variable is set to
848 `af_unix:[<socket_type>:]<absolute-pathname>`, Git will try
849 to open the path as a Unix Domain Socket. The socket type
850 can be either `stream` or `dgram`.
852 Unsetting the variable, or setting it to empty, "0" or
853 "false" (case insensitive) disables trace messages.
855 See link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation]
860 This setting writes a JSON-based format that is suited for machine
862 See `GIT_TRACE2` for available trace output options and
863 link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation] for full details.
866 In addition to the text-based messages available in `GIT_TRACE2`, this
867 setting writes a column-based format for understanding nesting
869 See `GIT_TRACE2` for available trace output options and
870 link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation] for full details.
873 By default, when tracing is activated, Git redacts the values of
874 cookies, the "Authorization:" header, the "Proxy-Authorization:"
875 header and packfile URIs. Set this Boolean environment variable to false to prevent this
878 `GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS`::
879 Setting and exporting this environment variable tells Git to
880 ignore replacement refs and do not replace Git objects.
882 `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS`::
883 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
884 pathspecs literally, rather than as glob patterns. For example,
885 running `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS=1 git log -- '*.c'` will search
886 for commits that touch the path `*.c`, not any paths that the
887 glob `*.c` matches. You might want this if you are feeding
888 literal paths to Git (e.g., paths previously given to you by
889 `git ls-tree`, `--raw` diff output, etc).
891 `GIT_GLOB_PATHSPECS`::
892 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
893 pathspecs as glob patterns (aka "glob" magic).
895 `GIT_NOGLOB_PATHSPECS`::
896 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
897 pathspecs as literal (aka "literal" magic).
899 `GIT_ICASE_PATHSPECS`::
900 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
901 pathspecs as case-insensitive.
903 `GIT_REFLOG_ACTION`::
904 When a ref is updated, reflog entries are created to keep
905 track of the reason why the ref was updated (which is
906 typically the name of the high-level command that updated
907 the ref), in addition to the old and new values of the ref.
908 A scripted Porcelain command can use set_reflog_action
909 helper function in `git-sh-setup` to set its name to this
910 variable when it is invoked as the top level command by the
911 end user, to be recorded in the body of the reflog.
914 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, ignore broken or badly named refs when iterating
915 over lists of refs. Normally Git will try to include any such
916 refs, which may cause some operations to fail. This is usually
917 preferable, as potentially destructive operations (e.g.,
918 linkgit:git-prune[1]) are better off aborting rather than
919 ignoring broken refs (and thus considering the history they
920 point to as not worth saving). The default value is `1` (i.e.,
921 be paranoid about detecting and aborting all operations). You
922 should not normally need to set this to `0`, but it may be
923 useful when trying to salvage data from a corrupted repository.
925 `GIT_COMMIT_GRAPH_PARANOIA`::
926 When loading a commit object from the commit-graph, Git performs an
927 existence check on the object in the object database. This is done to
928 avoid issues with stale commit-graphs that contain references to
929 already-deleted commits, but comes with a performance penalty.
931 The default is "true", which enables the aforementioned behavior.
932 Setting this to "false" disables the existence check. This can lead to
933 a performance improvement at the cost of consistency.
935 `GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL`::
936 If set to a colon-separated list of protocols, behave as if
937 `protocol.allow` is set to `never`, and each of the listed
938 protocols has `protocol.<name>.allow` set to `always`
939 (overriding any existing configuration). See the description of
940 `protocol.allow` in linkgit:git-config[1] for more details.
942 `GIT_PROTOCOL_FROM_USER`::
943 Set this Boolean environment variable to false to prevent protocols used by fetch/push/clone which are
944 configured to the `user` state. This is useful to restrict recursive
945 submodule initialization from an untrusted repository or for programs
946 which feed potentially-untrusted URLS to git commands. See
947 linkgit:git-config[1] for more details.
950 For internal use only. Used in handshaking the wire protocol.
951 Contains a colon ':' separated list of keys with optional values
952 'key[=value]'. Presence of unknown keys and values must be
955 Note that servers may need to be configured to allow this variable to
956 pass over some transports. It will be propagated automatically when
957 accessing local repositories (i.e., `file://` or a filesystem path), as
958 well as over the `git://` protocol. For git-over-http, it should work
959 automatically in most configurations, but see the discussion in
960 linkgit:git-http-backend[1]. For git-over-ssh, the ssh server may need
961 to be configured to allow clients to pass this variable (e.g., by using
962 `AcceptEnv GIT_PROTOCOL` with OpenSSH).
964 This configuration is optional. If the variable is not propagated, then
965 clients will fall back to the original "v0" protocol (but may miss out
966 on some performance improvements or features). This variable currently
967 only affects clones and fetches; it is not yet used for pushes (but may
970 `GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS`::
971 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, Git will complete any requested operation without
972 performing any optional sub-operations that require taking a lock.
973 For example, this will prevent `git status` from refreshing the
974 index as a side effect. This is useful for processes running in
975 the background which do not want to cause lock contention with
976 other operations on the repository. Defaults to `1`.
978 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDIN`::
979 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDOUT`::
980 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDERR`::
981 Windows-only: allow redirecting the standard input/output/error
982 handles to paths specified by the environment variables. This is
983 particularly useful in multi-threaded applications where the
984 canonical way to pass standard handles via `CreateProcess()` is
985 not an option because it would require the handles to be marked
986 inheritable (and consequently *every* spawned process would
987 inherit them, possibly blocking regular Git operations). The
988 primary intended use case is to use named pipes for communication
989 (e.g. `\\.\pipe\my-git-stdin-123`).
991 Two special values are supported: `off` will simply close the
992 corresponding standard handle, and if `GIT_REDIRECT_STDERR` is
993 `2>&1`, standard error will be redirected to the same handle as
996 `GIT_PRINT_SHA1_ELLIPSIS` (deprecated)::
997 If set to `yes`, print an ellipsis following an
998 (abbreviated) SHA-1 value. This affects indications of
999 detached HEADs (linkgit:git-checkout[1]) and the raw
1000 diff output (linkgit:git-diff[1]). Printing an
1001 ellipsis in the cases mentioned is no longer considered
1002 adequate and support for it is likely to be removed in the
1003 foreseeable future (along with the variable).
1005 Discussion[[Discussion]]
1006 ------------------------
1008 More detail on the following is available from the
1009 link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
1010 user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7].
1012 A Git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git"
1013 subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other
1014 things, a compressed object database representing the complete history
1015 of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current
1016 contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such
1017 as tags and branch heads.
1019 The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which
1020 hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up
1021 directory hierarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree
1022 and some number of parent commits.
1024 The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or
1025 "version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent
1026 represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one
1027 parent represent merges of independent lines of development.
1029 All objects are named by the SHA-1 hash of their contents, normally
1030 written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique.
1031 The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing
1032 just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this
1035 When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for
1036 efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files".
1038 Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref
1039 may contain the SHA-1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs
1040 with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA-1 name of the most
1041 recent commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA-1 names of
1042 tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named
1043 `HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch.
1045 The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each
1046 path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents
1047 the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The
1048 attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the
1049 corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the
1050 working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may
1051 be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the
1052 content stored in the index.
1054 The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages")
1055 for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various
1056 unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress.
1058 FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
1059 ---------------------
1061 See the references in the "description" section to get started
1062 using Git. The following is probably more detail than necessary
1063 for a first-time user.
1065 The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
1066 user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7] both provide
1067 introductions to the underlying Git architecture.
1069 See linkgit:gitworkflows[7] for an overview of recommended workflows.
1071 See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
1074 The internals are documented in the
1075 link:technical/api-index.html[Git API documentation].
1077 Users migrating from CVS may also want to
1078 read linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
1083 Git was started by Linus Torvalds, and is currently maintained by Junio
1084 C Hamano. Numerous contributions have come from the Git mailing list
1085 <git@vger.kernel.org>. http://www.openhub.net/p/git/contributors/summary
1086 gives you a more complete list of contributors.
1088 If you have a clone of git.git itself, the
1089 output of linkgit:git-shortlog[1] and linkgit:git-blame[1] can show you
1090 the authors for specific parts of the project.
1095 Report bugs to the Git mailing list <git@vger.kernel.org> where the
1096 development and maintenance is primarily done. You do not have to be
1097 subscribed to the list to send a message there. See the list archive
1098 at https://lore.kernel.org/git for previous bug reports and other
1101 Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to
1102 the Git Security mailing list <git-security@googlegroups.com>.
1106 linkgit:gittutorial[7], linkgit:gittutorial-2[7],
1107 linkgit:giteveryday[7], linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7],
1108 linkgit:gitglossary[7], linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7],
1109 linkgit:gitcli[7], link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual],
1110 linkgit:gitworkflows[7]
1114 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite