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 There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
  38 aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
  39 SCMs layered over git.
  40
  41 Manipulation commands
  42 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  43 link:git-checkout-cache.html[git-checkout-cache]::
  44         Copy files from the cache to the working directory
  45
  46 link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]::
  47         Creates a new commit object
  48
  49 link:git-init-db.html[git-init-db]::
  50         Creates an empty git object database
  51
  52 link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
  53         Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge
  54
  55 link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
  56         Creates a tag object
  57
  58 link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree]::
  59         Reads tree information into the directory cache
  60
  61 link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
  62         Modifies the index or directory cache
  63
  64 link:git-hash-object.html[git-hash-object]::
  65         Computes the object ID from a file.
  66
  67 link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
  68         Creates a tree from the current cache
  69
  70 Interrogation commands
  71 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  72 link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
  73         Provide content or type information for repository objects
  74
  75 link:git-check-files.html[git-check-files]::
  76         Verify a list of files are up-to-date
  77
  78 link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
  79         Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository
  80
  81 link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files]::
  82         Compares files in the working tree and the cache
  83
  84 link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
  85         Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects
  86
  87 link:git-export.html[git-export]::
  88         Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents
  89
  90 link:git-fsck-cache.html[git-fsck-cache]::
  91         Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database
  92
  93 link:git-ls-files.html[git-ls-files]::
  94         Information about files in the cache/working directory
  95
  96 link:git-ls-tree.html[git-ls-tree]::
  97         Displays a tree object in human readable form
  98
  99 link:git-merge-cache.html[git-merge-cache]::
 100         Runs a merge for files needing merging
 101
 102 link:git-rev-list.html[git-rev-list]::
 103         Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order
 104
 105 link:git-rev-tree.html[git-rev-tree]::
 106         Provides the revision tree for one or more commits
 107
 108 link:git-tar-tree.html[git-tar-tree]::
 109         Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree
 110
 111 link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
 112         Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents
 113
 114 link:git-var.html[git-var]::
 115         Displays a git logical variable
 116
 117 link:git-verify-pack.html[git-verify-pack]::
 118         Validates packed GIT archive files
 119
 120 The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
 121 touch the working file set - but in general they don't
 122
 123
 124 link:git-clone-script.html[git-clone-script]::
 125         Clones a repository into the current repository (user interface)
 126
 127 link:git-clone-pack.html[git-clone-pack]::
 128         Clones a repository into the current repository (engine
 129         for ssh and local transport)
 130
 131 link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
 132         Pull from a repote repository via various protocols
 133         (user interface).
 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-upload-pack.html[git-upload-pack]::
 157         Invoked by 'git-clone-pack' and 'git-fetch-pack' to push
 158         what are asked for.
 159
 160
 161 Ancilliary Commands
 162 -------------------
 163 Manipulators:
 164
 165 link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
 166         Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*
 167
 168 link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
 169         Converts old-style GIT repository
 170
 171 link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
 172         The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"
 173
 174 link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
 175         Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database
 176
 177 link:git-resolve-script.html[git-resolve-script]::
 178         Script used to merge two trees
 179
 180 link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
 181         An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG
 182
 183
 184 Interogators:
 185
 186 link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
 187         Generates patch format output for git-diff-*
 188
 189 link:git-ssh-push.html[git-ssh-push]::
 190         Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-pull
 191
 192
 193
 194 Identifier Terminology
 195 ----------------------
 196 <object>::
 197         Indicates the sha1 identifier for any type of object
 198
 199 <blob>::
 200         Indicates a blob object sha1 identifier
 201
 202 <tree>::
 203         Indicates a tree object sha1 identifier
 204
 205 <commit>::
 206         Indicates a commit object sha1 identifier
 207
 208 <tree-ish>::
 209         Indicates a tree, commit or tag object sha1 identifier.  A
 210         command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
 211         operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
 212         <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
 213
 214 <type>::
 215         Indicates that an object type is required.
 216         Currently one of: blob/tree/commit/tag
 217
 218 <file>::
 219         Indicates a filename - always relative to the root of
 220         the tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.
 221
 222 Symbolic Identifiers
 223 --------------------
 224 Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
 225 symbolic notation:
 226
 227 HEAD::
 228         indicates the head of the repository (ie the contents of
 229         `$GIT_DIR/HEAD`)
 230 <tag>::
 231         a valid tag 'name'+
 232         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`)
 233 <head>::
 234         a valid head 'name'+
 235         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`)
 236 <snap>::
 237         a valid snapshot 'name'+
 238         (ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/snap/<snap>`)
 239
 240
 241 File/Directory Structure
 242 ------------------------
 243 The git-core manipulates the following areas in the directory:
 244
 245  .git/         The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
 246    objects/    The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
 247      ??/       'First 2 chars of object' directories.
 248      pack/     Packed archives.
 249
 250    refs/       Directories containing symbolic names for objects
 251                (each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
 252      heads/    Commits which are heads of various sorts
 253      tags/     Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
 254      */        Any other subdirectory of refs/ can be used to store
 255                files similar to what are under refs/heads/.
 256    HEAD        Symlink to refs/heads/<current-branch-name>
 257
 258 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
 259 GIT_DIR.
 260
 261 Terminology
 262 -----------
 263 Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
 264
 265  object database, .git directory
 266  directory cache, index
 267  id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
 268  type, tag
 269
 270
 271 Environment Variables
 272 ---------------------
 273 Various git commands use the following environment variables:
 274
 275 The git Repository
 276 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 277 These environment variables apply to 'all' core git commands. Nb: it
 278 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
 279 git so take care if using Cogito etc
 280
 281 'GIT_INDEX_FILE'::
 282         This environment allows the specification of an alternate
 283         cache/index file. If not specified, the default of
 284         `$GIT_DIR/index` is used.
 285
 286 'GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY'::
 287         If the object storage directory is specified via this
 288         environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
 289         underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
 290         directory is used.
 291
 292 'GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES'::
 293         Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
 294         archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
 295         specifies a ":" seperated list of git object directories which
 296         can be used to search for git objects. New objects will not be
 297         written to these directories.
 298
 299 'GIT_DIR'::
 300         If the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set then it specifies
 301         a path to use instead of `./.git` for the base of the
 302         repository.
 303
 304 git Commits
 305 ~~~~~~~~~~~
 306 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
 307 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
 308 'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
 309 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 310 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 311         see link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]
 312
 313 git Diffs
 314 ~~~~~~~~~
 315 'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
 316 'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
 317         see the "generating patches" section in :
 318         link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache];
 319         link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files];
 320         link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]
 321
 322 Discussion
 323 ----------
 324 include::../README[]
 325
 326 Author
 327 ------
 328 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 329
 330 Documentation
 331 --------------
 332 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 333
 334 GIT
 335 ---
 336 Part of the link:git.html[git] suite
 337