1 git-notes(1)
2 ============
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-notes - Add or inspect object notes
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 [verse]
11 'git notes' [list [<object>]]
12 'git notes' add [-f] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
13 'git notes' copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> <to-object> )
14 'git notes' append [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
15 'git notes' edit [<object>]
16 'git notes' show [<object>]
17 'git notes' merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes_ref>
18 'git notes' merge --commit [-v | -q]
19 'git notes' merge --abort [-v | -q]
20 'git notes' remove [--ignore-missing] [<object>...]
21 'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
22 'git notes' get-ref
25 DESCRIPTION
26 -----------
27 Adds, removes, or reads notes attached to objects, without touching
28 the objects themselves.
30 By default, notes are saved to and read from `refs/notes/commits`, but
31 this default can be overridden. See the OPTIONS, CONFIGURATION, and
32 ENVIRONMENT sections below. If this ref does not exist, it will be
33 quietly created when it is first needed to store a note.
35 A typical use of notes is to supplement a commit message without
36 changing the commit itself. Notes can be shown by 'git log' along with
37 the original commit message. To distinguish these notes from the
38 message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
39 message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
40 "Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).
42 To change which notes are shown by 'git log', see the
43 "notes.displayRef" configuration in linkgit:git-log[1].
45 See the "notes.rewrite.<command>" configuration for a way to carry
46 notes across commands that rewrite commits.
49 SUBCOMMANDS
50 -----------
52 list::
53 List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
54 given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
55 annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
56 This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
58 add::
59 Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
60 object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite existing notes).
61 However, if you're using `add` interactively (using an editor
62 to supply the notes contents), then - instead of aborting -
63 the existing notes will be opened in the editor (like the `edit`
64 subcommand).
66 copy::
67 Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
68 Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
69 object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
70 second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
71 `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
72 +
73 In `\--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
74 +
75 ----------
76 <from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
77 ----------
78 +
79 on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
80 corresponding <to-object>. (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
81 the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
83 append::
84 Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
85 Creates a new notes object if needed.
87 edit::
88 Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
90 show::
91 Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
93 merge::
94 Merge the given notes ref into the current notes ref.
95 This will try to merge the changes made by the given
96 notes ref (called "remote") since the merge-base (if
97 any) into the current notes ref (called "local").
98 +
99 If conflicts arise and a strategy for automatically resolving
100 conflicting notes (see the -s/--strategy option) is not given,
101 the "manual" resolver is used. This resolver checks out the
102 conflicting notes in a special worktree (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`),
103 and instructs the user to manually resolve the conflicts there.
104 When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
105 'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
106 'git notes merge --abort'.
108 remove::
109 Remove the notes for given objects (defaults to HEAD). When
110 giving zero or one object from the command line, this is
111 equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
112 the `edit` subcommand.
114 prune::
115 Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
117 get-ref::
118 Print the current notes ref. This provides an easy way to
119 retrieve the current notes ref (e.g. from scripts).
121 OPTIONS
122 -------
123 -f::
124 --force::
125 When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
126 overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
128 -m <msg>::
129 --message=<msg>::
130 Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
131 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
132 are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
133 Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
134 single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
136 -F <file>::
137 --file=<file>::
138 Take the note message from the given file. Use '-' to
139 read the note message from the standard input.
140 Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
141 single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
143 -C <object>::
144 --reuse-message=<object>::
145 Take the note message from the given blob object (for
146 example, another note).
148 -c <object>::
149 --reedit-message=<object>::
150 Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
151 the user can further edit the note message.
153 --ref <ref>::
154 Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>. This overrides
155 'GIT_NOTES_REF' and the "core.notesRef" configuration. The ref
156 is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
158 --ignore-missing::
159 Do not consider it an error to request removing notes from an
160 object that does not have notes attached to it.
162 -n::
163 --dry-run::
164 Do not remove anything; just report the object names whose notes
165 would be removed.
167 -s <strategy>::
168 --strategy=<strategy>::
169 When merging notes, resolve notes conflicts using the given
170 strategy. The following strategies are recognized: "manual"
171 (default), "ours", "theirs", "union" and "cat_sort_uniq".
172 See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section below for more
173 information on each notes merge strategy.
175 --commit::
176 Finalize an in-progress 'git notes merge'. Use this option
177 when you have resolved the conflicts that 'git notes merge'
178 stored in .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. This amends the partial
179 merge commit created by 'git notes merge' (stored in
180 .git/NOTES_MERGE_PARTIAL) by adding the notes in
181 .git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE. The notes ref stored in the
182 .git/NOTES_MERGE_REF symref is updated to the resulting commit.
184 --abort::
185 Abort/reset a in-progress 'git notes merge', i.e. a notes merge
186 with conflicts. This simply removes all files related to the
187 notes merge.
189 -q::
190 --quiet::
191 When merging notes, operate quietly.
193 -v::
194 --verbose::
195 When merging notes, be more verbose.
196 When pruning notes, report all object names whose notes are
197 removed.
200 DISCUSSION
201 ----------
203 Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object
204 (usually information to supplement a commit's message). These blobs
205 are taken from notes refs. A notes ref is usually a branch which
206 contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects
207 they describe, with some directory separators included for performance
208 reasons footnote:[Permitted pathnames have the form
209 'ab'`/`'cd'`/`'ef'`/`'...'`/`'abcdef...': a sequence of directory
210 names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the
211 rest of the object ID.].
213 Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
214 You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
215 `git log -p notes/commits`. Currently the commit message only records
216 which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is
217 determined according to the usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).
218 These details may change in the future.
220 It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree
221 object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with
222 `git log -p -g <refname>`.
225 NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES
226 ----------------------
228 The default notes merge strategy is "manual", which checks out
229 conflicting notes in a special work tree for resolving notes conflicts
230 (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to resolve the
231 conflicts in that work tree.
232 When done, the user can either finalize the merge with
233 'git notes merge --commit', or abort the merge with
234 'git notes merge --abort'.
236 "ours" automatically resolves conflicting notes in favor of the local
237 version (i.e. the current notes ref).
239 "theirs" automatically resolves notes conflicts in favor of the remote
240 version (i.e. the given notes ref being merged into the current notes
241 ref).
243 "union" automatically resolves notes conflicts by concatenating the
244 local and remote versions.
246 "cat_sort_uniq" is similar to "union", but in addition to concatenating
247 the local and remote versions, this strategy also sorts the resulting
248 lines, and removes duplicate lines from the result. This is equivalent
249 to applying the "cat | sort | uniq" shell pipeline to the local and
250 remote versions. This strategy is useful if the notes follow a line-based
251 format where one wants to avoid duplicated lines in the merge result.
252 Note that if either the local or remote version contain duplicate lines
253 prior to the merge, these will also be removed by this notes merge
254 strategy.
257 EXAMPLES
258 --------
260 You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not
261 available at the time a commit was written.
263 ------------
264 $ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
265 $ git show -s 72a144e
266 [...]
267 Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
269 Notes:
270 Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
271 ------------
273 In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of
274 (non-)format is accepted. You can binary-safely create notes from
275 arbitrary files using 'git hash-object':
277 ------------
278 $ cc *.c
279 $ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
280 $ git notes --ref=built add -C "$blob" HEAD
281 ------------
283 Of course, it doesn't make much sense to display non-text-format notes
284 with 'git log', so if you use such notes, you'll probably need to write
285 some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.
288 CONFIGURATION
289 -------------
291 core.notesRef::
292 Notes ref to read and manipulate instead of
293 `refs/notes/commits`. Must be an unabbreviated ref name.
294 This setting can be overridden through the environment and
295 command line.
297 notes.displayRef::
298 Which ref (or refs, if a glob or specified more than once), in
299 addition to the default set by `core.notesRef` or
300 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
301 messages with the 'git log' family of commands.
302 This setting can be overridden on the command line or by the
303 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF' environment variable.
304 See linkgit:git-log[1].
306 notes.rewrite.<command>::
307 When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
308 `rebase`), if this variable is `false`, git will not copy
309 notes from the original to the rewritten commit. Defaults to
310 `true`. See also "`notes.rewriteRef`" below.
311 +
312 This setting can be overridden by the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'
313 environment variable.
315 notes.rewriteMode::
316 When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
317 commit already has a note. Must be one of `overwrite`,
318 `concatenate`, and `ignore`. Defaults to `concatenate`.
319 +
320 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`
321 environment variable.
323 notes.rewriteRef::
324 When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully
325 qualified) ref whose notes should be copied. May be a glob,
326 in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied. You
327 may also specify this configuration several times.
328 +
329 Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
330 enable note rewriting.
331 +
332 Can be overridden with the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF' environment variable.
335 ENVIRONMENT
336 -----------
338 'GIT_NOTES_REF'::
339 Which ref to manipulate notes from, instead of `refs/notes/commits`.
340 This overrides the `core.notesRef` setting.
342 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF'::
343 Colon-delimited list of refs or globs indicating which refs,
344 in addition to the default from `core.notesRef` or
345 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
346 messages.
347 This overrides the `notes.displayRef` setting.
348 +
349 A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that
350 does not match any refs is silently ignored.
352 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE'::
353 When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
354 commit already has a note.
355 Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, and `ignore`.
356 This overrides the `core.rewriteMode` setting.
358 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'::
359 When rewriting commits, which notes to copy from the original
360 to the rewritten commit. Must be a colon-delimited list of
361 refs or globs.
362 +
363 If not set in the environment, the list of notes to copy depends
364 on the `notes.rewrite.<command>` and `notes.rewriteRef` settings.
367 Author
368 ------
369 Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
370 Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
372 Documentation
373 -------------
374 Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
376 GIT
377 ---
378 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite