Merge with master.
[git.git] / Documentation / git.txt
1 git(7)
2 ======
3 May 2005
4
5 NAME
6 ----
7 git - the stupid content tracker
8
9
10 SYNOPSIS
11 --------
12 'git-<command>' <args>
13
14 DESCRIPTION
15 -----------
16
17 This is reference information for the core git commands.
18
19 The Discussion section below contains much useful definition and
20 clarification info - read that first.  And of the commands, I suggest
21 reading link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache] and
22 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree] first - I wish I had!
23
24 David Greaves <david@dgreaves.com>
25 08/05/05
26
27 Updated by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> on 2005-05-05 to
28 reflect recent changes.
29
30 Commands Overview
31 -----------------
32 The git commands can helpfully be split into those that manipulate
33 the repository, the cache and the working fileset, those that
34 interrogate and compare them, and those that moves objects and
35 references between repositories.
36
37 In addition, git itself comes with a spartan set of porcelain
38 commands.  They are usable but are not meant to compete with real
39 Porcelains.
40
41 There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
42 aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
43 SCMs layered over git.
44
45 Manipulation commands
46 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
47 link:git-checkout-cache.html[git-checkout-cache]::
48         Copy files from the cache to the working directory
49
50 link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]::
51         Creates a new commit object
52
53 link:git-init-db.html[git-init-db]::
54         Creates an empty git object database
55
56 link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
57         Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge
58
59 link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
60         Creates a tag object
61
62 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree]::
63         Reads tree information into the directory cache
64
65 link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
66         Modifies the index or directory cache
67
68 link:git-hash-object.html[git-hash-object]::
69         Computes the object ID from a file.
70
71 link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
72         Creates a tree from the current cache
73
74 Interrogation commands
75 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
76 link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
77         Provide content or type information for repository objects
78
79 link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
80         Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
81
82 link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files]::
83         Compares files in the working tree and the cache
84
85 link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
86         Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects
87
88 link:git-export.html[git-export]::
89         Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents
90
91 link:git-fsck-cache.html[git-fsck-cache]::
92         Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
93
94 link:git-ls-files.html[git-ls-files]::
95         Information about files in the cache/working directory
96
97 link:git-ls-tree.html[git-ls-tree]::
98         Displays a tree object in human readable form
99
100 link:git-merge-cache.html[git-merge-cache]::
101         Runs a merge for files needing merging
102
103 link:git-rev-list.html[git-rev-list]::
104         Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order
105
106 link:git-rev-tree.html[git-rev-tree]::
107         Provides the revision tree for one or more commits
108
109 link:git-tar-tree.html[git-tar-tree]::
110         Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree
111
112 link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
113         Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents
114
115 link:git-var.html[git-var]::
116         Displays a git logical variable
117
118 link:git-verify-pack.html[git-verify-pack]::
119         Validates packed GIT archive files
120
121 The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
122 touch the working file set - but in general they don't
123
124
125 Synching repositories
126 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
127
128 link:git-clone-script.html[git-clone-script]::
129         Clones a repository into the current repository (user interface)
130
131 link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
132         Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
133         for ssh and local transport)
134
135 link:git-http-pull.html[git-http-pull]::
136         Downloads a remote GIT repository via HTTP
137
138 link:git-local-pull.html[git-local-pull]::
139         Duplicates another GIT repository on a local system
140
141 link:git-ssh-pull.html[git-ssh-pull]::
142         Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection
143
144 link:git-send-pack.html[git-send-pack]::
145         Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
146
147 link:git-receive-pack.html[git-receive-pack]::
148         Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
149
150 link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
151         Clones from a remote repository.
152
153 link:git-fetch-pack.html[git-fetch-pack]::
154         Updates from a remote repository.
155
156 link:git-peek-remote.html[git-peek-remote]::
157         Lists references on a remote repository using upload-pack protocol.
158
159 link:git-upload-pack.html[git-upload-pack]::
160         Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
161         what are asked for.
162
163 link:git-update-server-info.html[git-update-server-info]::
164         Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
165         clients discover references and packs on it.
166
167
168 Porcelainish Commands
169 ---------------------
170 link:git-fetch-script.html[git-fetch-script]::
171         Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
172
173 link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
174         Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
175
176 link:git-commit-script.html[git-commit-script]::
177         Record changes to the repository.
178
179
180 Ancilliary Commands
181 -------------------
182 Manipulators:
183
184 link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
185         Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
186
187 link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
188         Converts old-style GIT repository
189
190 link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
191         The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
192
193 link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
194         Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database
195
196 link:git-resolve-script.html[git-resolve-script]::
197         Script used to merge two trees
198
199 link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
200         An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG
201
202
203 Interogators:
204
205 link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
206         Generates patch format output for git-diff-*
207
208 link:git-ssh-push.html[git-ssh-push]::
209         Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-pull
210
211
212
213 Identifier Terminology
214 ----------------------
215 <object>::
216         Indicates the sha1 identifier for any type of object
217
218 <blob>::
219         Indicates a blob object sha1 identifier
220
221 <tree>::
222         Indicates a tree object sha1 identifier
223
224 <commit>::
225         Indicates a commit object sha1 identifier
226
227 <tree-ish>::
228         Indicates a tree, commit or tag object sha1 identifier.  A
229         command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
230         operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
231         <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
232
233 <type>::
234         Indicates that an object type is required.
235         Currently one of: blob/tree/commit/tag
236
237 <file>::
238         Indicates a filename - always relative to the root of
239         the tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.
240
241 Symbolic Identifiers
242 --------------------
243 Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
244 symbolic notation:
245
246 HEAD::
247         indicates the head of the repository (ie the contents of
248         `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`)
249 <tag>::
250         a valid tag 'name'+
251         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`)
252 <head>::
253         a valid head 'name'+
254         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`)
255 <snap>::
256         a valid snapshot 'name'+
257         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/snap/<snap>`)
258
259
260 File/Directory Structure
261 ------------------------
262 The git-core manipulates the following areas in the directory:
263
264  .git/         The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
265    objects/    The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
266      ??/       'First 2 chars of object' directories.
267      pack/     Packed archives.
268
269    refs/       Directories containing symbolic names for objects
270                (each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
271      heads/    Commits which are heads of various sorts
272      tags/     Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
273      */        Any other subdirectory of refs/ can be used to store
274                files similar to what are under refs/heads/.
275    HEAD        Symlink to refs/heads/<current-branch-name>
276
277 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
278 GIT_DIR.
279
280 Terminology
281 -----------
282 Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
283
284  object database, .git directory
285  directory cache, index
286  id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
287  type, tag
288
289
290 Environment Variables
291 ---------------------
292 Various git commands use the following environment variables:
293
294 The git Repository
295 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
296 These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
297 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
298 git so take care if using Cogito etc
299
300 'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
301         This environment allows the specification of an alternate
302         cache/index file. If not specified, the default of
303         `$GIT_DIR/index` is used.
304
305 'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
306         If the object storage directory is specified via this
307         environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
308         underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
309         directory is used.
310
311 'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
312         Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
313         archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
314         specifies a ":" seperated list of git object directories which
315         can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
316         written to these directories.
317
318 'GIT_DIR'::
319         If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it specifies
320         a path to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the
321         repository.
322
323 git Commits
324 ~~~~~~~~~~~
325 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
326 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
327 'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
328 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
329 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
330         see link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]
331
332 git Diffs
333 ~~~~~~~~~
334 'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
335 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
336         see the "generating patches" section in :
337         link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache];
338         link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files];
339         link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]
340
341 Discussion
342 ----------
343 include::../README[]
344
345 Author
346 ------
347 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
348
349 Documentation
350 --------------
351 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
352
353 GIT
354 ---
355 Part of the link:git.html[git] suite
356