git(7)
======
-May 2005
+v0.99.4, Aug 2005
NAME
----
This is reference information for the core git commands.
+Before reading this cover to cover, you may want to take a look
+at the link:tutorial.html[tutorial] document.
+
The Discussion section below contains much useful definition and
clarification info - read that first. And of the commands, I suggest
reading link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache] and
Commands Overview
-----------------
The git commands can helpfully be split into those that manipulate
-the repository, the cache and the working fileset and those that
-interrogate and compare them.
+the repository, the cache and the working fileset, those that
+interrogate and compare them, and those that moves objects and
+references between repositories.
+
+In addition, git itself comes with a spartan set of porcelain
+commands. They are usable but are not meant to compete with real
+Porcelains.
-There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
+There are also some ancillary programs that can be viewed as useful
aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
SCMs layered over git.
link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge
-link:git-mkdelta.html[git-mkdelta]::
- Creates a delta object
-
link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
Creates a tag object
link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
Modifies the index or directory cache
-link:git-write-blob.html[git-write-blob]::
- Creates a blob from a file
+link:git-hash-object.html[git-hash-object]::
+ Computes the object ID from a file.
link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
Creates a tree from the current cache
+link:git-pack-objects.html[git-pack-objects]::
+ Creates a packed archive of objects.
+
+link:git-unpack-objects.html[git-unpack-objects]::
+ Unpacks objects out of a packed archive.
+
+link:git-prune-packed.html[git-prune-packed]::
+ Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
+
+link:git-apply.html[git-apply]::
+ Reads a "diff -up1" or git generated patch file and
+ applies it to the working tree.
+
+
Interrogation commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
Provide content or type information for repository objects
-link:git-check-files.html[git-check-files]::
- Verify a list of files are up-to-date
-
link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects
+link:git-diff-stages.html[git-diff-stages]::
+ Compares two "merge stages" in the index file.
+
link:git-export.html[git-export]::
Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents
link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents
+link:git-var.html[git-var]::
+ Displays a git logical variable
+
+link:git-show-index.html[git-show-index]::
+ Displays contents of a pack idx file.
+
+link:git-verify-pack.html[git-verify-pack]::
+ Validates packed GIT archive files
+
The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
touch the working file set - but in general they don't
-Ancilliary Commands
--------------------
-Manipulators:
+Synching repositories
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
- Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
+link:git-clone-script.html[git-clone-script]::
+ Clones a repository into the current repository (user interface)
-link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
- Converts old-style GIT repository
+link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
+ Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
+ for ssh and local transport)
link:git-http-pull.html[git-http-pull]::
Downloads a remote GIT repository via HTTP
link:git-local-pull.html[git-local-pull]::
Duplicates another GIT repository on a local system
-link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
- The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
+link:git-ssh-pull.html[git-ssh-pull]::
+ Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection
+
+link:git-send-pack.html[git-send-pack]::
+ Pushes to a remote repository, intelligently.
+
+link:git-receive-pack.html[git-receive-pack]::
+ Invoked by 'git-send-pack' to receive what is pushed to it.
+
+link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
+ Clones from a remote repository.
+
+link:git-fetch-pack.html[git-fetch-pack]::
+ Updates from a remote repository.
+
+link:git-peek-remote.html[git-peek-remote]::
+ Lists references on a remote repository using upload-pack protocol.
+
+link:git-upload-pack.html[git-upload-pack]::
+ Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
+ what are asked for.
+
+link:git-update-server-info.html[git-update-server-info]::
+ Updates auxiliary information on a dumb server to help
+ clients discover references and packs on it.
+
+
+Porcelain-ish Commands
+----------------------
+link:git-whatchanged.html[git-whatchanged]::
+ Shows commit logs and differences they introduce.
+
+link:git-log-script.html[git-log-script]::
+ Shows commit logs.
+
+link:git-shortlog.html[git-shortlog]::
+ Summarizes 'git log' output.
+
+link:git-status-script.html[git-status-script]::
+ Shows the working tree status.
+
+link:git-fetch-script.html[git-fetch-script]::
+ Download from a remote repository via various protocols.
link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
- Script used by Linus to pull and merge a remote repository
+ Fetch from and merge with a remote repository.
+
+ulink:git-commit-script.html[git-commit-script]::
+ Record changes to the repository.
+
+link:git-show-branch.html[git-show-branch]::
+ Show branches and their commits.
+
+link:git-repack-script.html[git-repack-script]::
+ Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
+
+link:git-rename-script.html[git-rename]::
+ Rename files and directories.
+
+link:git-ls-remote-script.html[git-ls-remote-script]::
+ Shows references in a remote or local repository.
+
+
+Ancillary Commands
+------------------
+Manipulators:
+
+link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
+ Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
+
+link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
+ Converts old-style GIT repository
+
+link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
+ The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database
link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG
-link:git-ssh-pull.html[git-ssh-pull]::
- Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection
+link:git-cvsimport-script.html[git-cvsimport-script]::
+ Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
+
-Interogators:
+Interrogators:
link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
Generates patch format output for git-diff-*
link:git-ssh-push.html[git-ssh-push]::
Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-pull
+link:git-send-email-script.html[git-send-email]::
+ Send patch e-mails out of "format-patch --mbox" output.
+
+
+Commands not yet documented
+---------------------------
+
+link:git-applymbox.html[git-applymbox]::
+ git-applymbox.
+
+link:git-applypatch.html[git-applypatch]::
+ git-applypatch.
+
+link:git-mailinfo.html[git-mailinfo]::
+ git-mailinfo.
+
+link:git-mailsplit.html[git-mailsplit]::
+ git-mailsplit.
+
+link:git-add-script.html[git-add-script]::
+ git-add-script.
+
+link:git-bisect-script.html[git-bisect-script]::
+ git-bisect-script.
+
+link:git-branch-script.html[git-branch-script]::
+ git-branch-script.
+
+link:git-build-rev-cache.html[git-build-rev-cache]::
+ git-build-rev-cache.
+
+link:git-checkout-script.html[git-checkout-script]::
+ git-checkout-script.
+
+link:git-cherry.html[git-cherry]::
+ git-cherry.
+
+link:git-clone-dumb-http.html[git-clone-dumb-http]::
+ git-clone-dumb-http.
+
+link:git-count-objects-script.html[git-count-objects-script]::
+ git-count-objects-script.
+
+link:git-daemon.html[git-daemon]::
+ git-daemon.
+
+link:git-diff-script.html[git-diff-script]::
+ git-diff-script.
+
+link:git-format-patch-script.html[git-format-patch-script]::
+ git-format-patch-script.
+
+link:git-get-tar-commit-id.html[git-get-tar-commit-id]::
+ git-get-tar-commit-id.
+
+link:git-patch-id.html[git-patch-id]::
+ git-patch-id.
+
+link:git-push-script.html[git-push-script]::
+ git-push-script.
+
+link:git-rebase-script.html[git-rebase-script]::
+ git-rebase-script.
+
+link:git-relink-script.html[git-relink-script]::
+ git-relink-script.
+
+link:git-request-pull-script.html[git-request-pull-script]::
+ git-request-pull-script.
+
+link:git-reset-script.html[git-reset-script]::
+ git-reset-script.
+
+link:git-rev-parse.html[git-rev-parse]::
+ git-rev-parse.
+
+link:git-revert-script.html[git-revert-script]::
+ git-revert-script.
+
+link:git-sh-setup-script.html[git-sh-setup-script]::
+ git-sh-setup-script.
+
+link:git-show-rev-cache.html[git-show-rev-cache]::
+ git-show-rev-cache.
+
+link:git-stripspace.html[git-stripspace]::
+ git-stripspace.
+
+link:git-verify-tag-script.html[git-verify-tag-script]::
+ git-verify-tag-script.
+
+link:gitk.html[gitk]::
+ gitk.
Identifier Terminology
Symbolic Identifiers
--------------------
-Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
+Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
symbolic notation:
HEAD::
.git/ The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
objects/ The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
- ??/ 'First 2 chars of object' directories
-
-It can interrogate (but never updates) the following areas:
+ ??/ 'First 2 chars of object' directories.
+ pack/ Packed archives.
refs/ Directories containing symbolic names for objects
(each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
heads/ Commits which are heads of various sorts
tags/ Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
- snap/ ????
- ... Everything else isn't shared
- HEAD Symlink to refs/heads/<something>
+ */ Any other subdirectory of refs/ can be used to store
+ files similar to what are under refs/heads/.
+ HEAD Symlink to refs/heads/<current-branch-name>
Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
GIT_DIR.
Terminology
-----------
-Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
-
- object database, .git directory
- directory cache, index
- id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
- type, tag
+Please see link:glossary.html[glossary] document.
Environment Variables
'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
- specifies a ":" seperated list of git object directories which
+ specifies a ":" separated list of git object directories which
can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
written to these directories.
projects / git.git / blobdiff