Documentation/repository-layout.txt

   1 git repository layout
   2 =====================
   3
   4 You may find these things in your git repository (`.git`
   5 directory for a repository associated with your working tree, or
   6 `'project'.git` directory for a public 'bare' repository).
   7
   8 objects::
   9         Object store associated with this repository.  Usually
  10         an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
  11         that are referred to by an object found in it are also
  12         found in it), but there are couple of ways to violate
  13         it.
  14 +
  15 . You could populate the repository by running a commit walker
  16 without `-a` option.  Depending on which options are given, you
  17 could have only commit objects without associated blobs and
  18 trees this way, for example.  A repository with this kind of
  19 incomplete object store is not suitable to be published to the
  20 outside world but sometimes useful for private repository.
  21 . You can be using `objects/info/alternates` mechanism, or
  22 `$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanism to 'borrow'
  23 objects from other object stores.  A repository with this kind
  24 of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
  25 use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
  26 `objects/info/alternates` points at the right object stores
  27 it borrows from.
  28
  29 objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
  30         Traditionally, each object is stored in its own file.
  31         They are split into 256 subdirectories using the first
  32         two letters from its object name to keep the number of
  33         directory entries `objects` directory itself needs to
  34         hold.  Objects found here are often called 'unpacked'
  35         objects.
  36
  37 objects/pack::
  38         Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
  39         along with index files to allow them to be randomly
  40         accessed) are found in this directory.
  41
  42 objects/info::
  43         Additional information about the object store is
  44         recorded in this directory.
  45
  46 objects/info/packs::
  47         This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
  48         are available in this object store.  Whenever a pack is
  49         added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
  50         to keep this file up-to-date if the repository is
  51         published for dumb transports.  `git repack` does this
  52         by default.
  53
  54 objects/info/alternates::
  55         This file records paths to alternate object stores that
  56         this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
  57         line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
  58         but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
  59         will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
  60         to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
  61         alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
  62         paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
  63         is the same. See also 'objects/info/http-alternates'.
  64
  65 objects/info/http-alternates::
  66         This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
  67         this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
  68         the repository is fetched over HTTP.
  69
  70 refs::
  71         References are stored in subdirectories of this
  72         directory.  The `git prune` command knows to keep
  73         objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
  74         its subdirectories.
  75
  76 refs/heads/`name`::
  77         records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
  78
  79 refs/tags/`name`::
  80         records any object name (not necessarily a commit
  81         object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
  82
  83 HEAD::
  84         A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
  85         describing the currently active branch.  It does not mean
  86         much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
  87         (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid git repository
  88         *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
  89         guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
  90         (usually 'master').  It is legal if the named branch
  91         'name' does not (yet) exist.  In some legacy setups, it is
  92         a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
  93         branch.
  94
  95 branches::
  96         A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
  97         to specify URL to `git fetch`, `git pull` and `git push`
  98         commands is to store a file in `branches/'name'` and
  99         give 'name' to these commands in place of 'repository'
 100         argument.
 101
 102 hooks::
 103         Hooks are customization scripts used by various git
 104         commands.  A handful of sample hooks are installed when
 105         `git init` is run, but all of them are disabled by
 106         default.  To enable, they need to be made executable.
 107         Read link:hooks.html[hooks] for more details about
 108         each hook.
 109
 110 index::
 111         The current index file for the repository.  It is
 112         usually not found in a bare repository.
 113
 114 info::
 115         Additional information about the repository is recorded
 116         in this directory.
 117
 118 info/refs::
 119         This file is to help dumb transports to discover what
 120         refs are available in this repository.  Whenever you
 121         create/delete a new branch or a new tag, `git
 122         update-server-info` should be run to keep this file
 123         up-to-date if the repository is published for dumb
 124         transports.  The `git-receive-pack` command, which is
 125         run on a remote repository when you `git push` into it,
 126         runs `hooks/update` hook to help you achieve this.
 127
 128 info/grafts::
 129         This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
 130         pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
 131         from how the commit was actually created.  One record
 132         per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
 133         listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
 134         by a space and terminated by a newline.
 135
 136 info/exclude::
 137         This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
 138         exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
 139         ignore file.  `git status`, `git add`, `git rm` and `git
 140         clean` look at it but the core git commands do not look
 141         at it.  See also: gitlink:git-ls-files[1] `--exclude-from`
 142         and `--exclude-per-directory`.
 143
 144 remotes::
 145         Stores shorthands to be used to give URL and default
 146         refnames to interact with remote repository to `git
 147         fetch`, `git pull` and `git push` commands.
 148
 149 logs::
 150         Records of changes made to refs are stored in this
 151         directory.  See the documentation on git-update-ref
 152         for more information.
 153
 154 logs/refs/heads/`name`::
 155         Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
 156
 157 logs/refs/tags/`name`::
 158         Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.