1 git-p4(1)
2 =========
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories
9 SYNOPSIS
10 --------
11 [verse]
12 'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>...
13 'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...]
14 'git p4 rebase'
15 'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>]
18 DESCRIPTION
19 -----------
20 This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories
21 using git.
23 Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using
24 'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate
25 new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command
26 is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths.
27 Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command
28 'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto
29 the updated p4 remote branch.
32 EXAMPLE
33 -------
34 * Create an alias for 'git p4', using the full path to the 'git-p4'
35 script if needed:
36 +
37 ------------
38 $ git config --global alias.p4 '!git-p4'
39 ------------
41 * Clone a repository:
42 +
43 ------------
44 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
45 ------------
47 * Do some work in the newly created git repository:
48 +
49 ------------
50 $ cd project
51 $ vi foo.h
52 $ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"
53 ------------
55 * Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
56 work on top:
57 +
58 ------------
59 $ git p4 rebase
60 ------------
62 * Submit your commits back to p4:
63 +
64 ------------
65 $ git p4 submit
66 ------------
69 COMMANDS
70 --------
72 Clone
73 ~~~~~
74 Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory
75 from an existing p4 repository:
76 ------------
77 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
78 ------------
79 This:
81 1. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
82 +
83 2. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4
84 depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
85 +
86 3. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out.
88 To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on
89 the depot path:
90 ------------
91 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all
92 ------------
95 Sync
96 ~~~~
97 As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can
98 be included in the git repository using:
99 ------------
100 $ git p4 sync
101 ------------
102 This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits.
104 P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using
105 'git p4 sync' too:
106 ------------
107 $ mkdir repo-git
108 $ cd repo-git
109 $ git init
110 $ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
111 ------------
112 This imports the specified depot into
113 'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The
114 '--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to
115 be used for the p4 content.
117 If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
118 will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since
119 importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes
120 from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
123 Rebase
124 ~~~~~~
125 A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot
126 and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository
127 is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes
128 sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move
129 local commits on top of updated p4 changes.
130 ------------
131 $ git p4 rebase
132 ------------
135 Submit
136 ~~~~~~
137 Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository
138 requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified
139 using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration
140 variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root
141 will be created and populated if it does not already exist.
143 To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in
144 the 'p4/master' branch, use:
145 ------------
146 $ git p4 submit
147 ------------
149 To specify a branch other than the current one, use:
150 ------------
151 $ git p4 submit topicbranch
152 ------------
154 The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can
155 be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option.
157 The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The
158 '--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified
159 according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin
160 privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'.
163 OPTIONS
164 -------
166 General options
167 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
168 All commands except clone accept this option.
170 --git-dir <dir>::
171 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1].
173 Sync options
174 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
175 These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in
176 subsequent 'sync' operations.
178 --branch <branch>::
179 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with
180 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
181 will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'.
183 --detect-branches::
184 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is
185 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION".
187 --changesfile <file>::
188 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per
189 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository
190 state and detects the changes it should import.
192 --silent::
193 Do not print any progress information.
195 --verbose::
196 Provide more progress information.
198 --detect-labels::
199 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
200 them as tags in git.
202 --import-local::
203 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
204 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by
205 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead
206 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'.
208 --max-changes <n>::
209 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to
210 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision
211 specifier.
213 --keep-path::
214 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
215 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this
216 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example,
217 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
218 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the
219 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
221 --use-client-spec::
222 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
223 The client spec is discovered using 'p4 client -o' which checks
224 the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable and returns a mapping of
225 depot files to workspace files.
227 Clone options
228 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
229 These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync'
230 options described above.
232 --destination <directory>::
233 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last
234 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
235 directory.
237 --bare::
238 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
240 -/ <path>::
241 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning.
243 Submit options
244 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
245 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior.
247 --verbose::
248 Provide more progress information.
250 --origin <commit>::
251 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to
252 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable
253 from 'HEAD'.
255 -M[<n>]::
256 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be
257 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations.
259 --preserve-user::
260 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option
261 requires p4 admin privileges.
264 DEPOT PATH SYNTAX
265 -----------------
266 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
267 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
268 p4 revision specifier on the end:
270 "//depot/my/project"::
271 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
273 "//depot/my/project@all"::
274 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
276 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
277 Import only changes 1 through 6.
279 "//depot/proj1 //depot/proj2@all"::
280 Import all changes from both named depot paths.
282 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
285 BRANCH DETECTION
286 ----------------
287 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
288 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
289 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
290 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
291 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4'
292 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
294 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
295 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
296 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
297 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
299 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
300 ----
301 //depot/main/...
302 //depot/branch1/...
303 ----
305 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
306 ----
307 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
308 ----
310 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
311 ----
312 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
313 ----
314 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
315 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
317 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
318 them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
319 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
320 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
321 relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
322 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
323 the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the
324 presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
325 occur with:
326 ----
327 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
328 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
329 ----
332 PERFORMANCE
333 -----------
334 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
335 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
336 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
337 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
340 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
341 -----------------------
342 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
343 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
345 General variables
346 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
347 git-p4.user::
348 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
349 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
351 git-p4.password::
352 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
353 '-P <password>'.
354 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
356 git-p4.port::
357 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
358 '-p <port>'.
359 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
361 git-p4.host::
362 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
363 '-h <host>'.
364 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
366 git-p4.client::
367 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
368 '-c <client>'. This can also be used as a way to find
369 the client spec for the 'useClientSpec' option.
370 The environment variable 'P4CLIENT' can be used instead.
372 Clone and sync variables
373 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
374 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
375 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
376 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
377 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
378 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
379 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
381 git-p4.branchUser::
382 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
383 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are
384 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned
385 by the single user named in the variable.
387 git-p4.branchList::
388 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
389 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
390 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and
391 branchB were created from main:
392 -------------
393 git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA
394 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
395 -------------
397 git-p4.useClientSpec::
398 Specify that the p4 client spec to be used to identify p4 depot
399 paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the option
400 '--use-client-spec'. The variable 'git-p4.client' can be used
401 to specify the name of the client.
403 Submit variables
404 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
405 git-p4.detectRenames::
406 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
408 git-p4.detectCopies::
409 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
411 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
412 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
414 git-p4.preserveUser::
415 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
416 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
418 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
419 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
420 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting
421 submits the change regardless.
423 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
424 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
425 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing
426 step is skipped.
428 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
429 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
430 the description really was changed by looking at the file
431 modification time. This option disables that test.
433 git-p4.allowSubmit::
434 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
435 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only
436 the named branches to be used as submit sources.
438 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
439 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
440 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force
441 submission regardless.
444 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
445 ----------------------
446 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
447 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
448 collected using 'p4 print'.
449 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
450 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
451 this p4 client and submitted from there.
452 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
453 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This
454 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4
455 changes are new.