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NAME
----
-git-remote-helpers - Helper programs for interoperation with remote git
+git-remote-helpers - Helper programs to interact with remote repositories
SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git remote-<transport>' <remote>
+[verse]
+'git remote-<transport>' <repository> [<URL>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-These programs are normally not used directly by end users, but are
-invoked by various git programs that interact with remote repositories
-when the repository they would operate on will be accessed using
-transport code not linked into the main git binary. Various particular
-helper programs will behave as documented here.
+Remote helper programs are normally not used directly by end users,
+but they are invoked by git when it needs to interact with remote
+repositories git does not support natively. A given helper will
+implement a subset of the capabilities documented here. When git
+needs to interact with a repository using a remote helper, it spawns
+the helper as an independent process, sends commands to the helper's
+standard input, and expects results from the helper's standard
+output. Because a remote helper runs as an independent process from
+git, there is no need to re-link git to add a new helper, nor any
+need to link the helper with the implementation of git.
+
+Every helper must support the "capabilities" command, which git
+uses to determine what other commands the helper will accept. Those
+other commands can be used to discover and update remote refs,
+transport objects between the object database and the remote repository,
+and update the local object store.
+
+Git comes with a "curl" family of remote helpers, that handle various
+transport protocols, such as 'git-remote-http', 'git-remote-https',
+'git-remote-ftp' and 'git-remote-ftps'. They implement the capabilities
+'fetch', 'option', and 'push'.
+
+INPUT FORMAT
+------------
+
+Git sends the remote helper a list of commands on standard input, one
+per line. The first command is always the 'capabilities' command, in
+response to which the remote helper must print a list of the
+capabilities it supports (see below) followed by a blank line. The
+response to the capabilities command determines what commands Git uses
+in the remainder of the command stream.
+
+The command stream is terminated by a blank line. In some cases
+(indicated in the documentation of the relevant commands), this blank
+line is followed by a payload in some other protocol (e.g., the pack
+protocol), while in others it indicates the end of input.
+
+Capabilities
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Each remote helper is expected to support only a subset of commands.
+The operations a helper supports are declared to git in the response
+to the `capabilities` command (see COMMANDS, below).
+
+'option'::
+ For specifying settings like `verbosity` (how much output to
+ write to stderr) and `depth` (how much history is wanted in the
+ case of a shallow clone) that affect how other commands are
+ carried out.
+
+'connect'::
+ For fetching and pushing using git's native packfile protocol
+ that requires a bidirectional, full-duplex connection.
+
+'push'::
+ For listing remote refs and pushing specified objects from the
+ local object store to remote refs.
+
+'fetch'::
+ For listing remote refs and fetching the associated history to
+ the local object store.
+
+'import'::
+ For listing remote refs and fetching the associated history as
+ a fast-import stream.
+
+'refspec' <refspec>::
+ This modifies the 'import' capability, allowing the produced
+ fast-import stream to modify refs in a private namespace
+ instead of writing to refs/heads or refs/remotes directly.
+ It is recommended that all importers providing the 'import'
+ capability use this.
++
+A helper advertising the capability
+`refspec refs/heads/{asterisk}:refs/svn/origin/branches/{asterisk}`
+is saying that, when it is asked to `import refs/heads/topic`, the
+stream it outputs will update the `refs/svn/origin/branches/topic`
+ref.
++
+This capability can be advertised multiple times. The first
+applicable refspec takes precedence. The left-hand of refspecs
+advertised with this capability must cover all refs reported by
+the list command. If no 'refspec' capability is advertised,
+there is an implied `refspec {asterisk}:{asterisk}`.
+
+Capabilities for Pushing
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+'connect'::
+ Can attempt to connect to 'git receive-pack' (for pushing),
+ 'git upload-pack', etc for communication using the
+ packfile protocol.
++
+Supported commands: 'connect'.
+
+'push'::
+ Can discover remote refs and push local commits and the
+ history leading up to them to new or existing remote refs.
++
+Supported commands: 'list for-push', 'push'.
+
+If a helper advertises both 'connect' and 'push', git will use
+'connect' if possible and fall back to 'push' if the helper requests
+so when connecting (see the 'connect' command under COMMANDS).
+
+Capabilities for Fetching
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+'connect'::
+ Can try to connect to 'git upload-pack' (for fetching),
+ 'git receive-pack', etc for communication using the
+ packfile protocol.
++
+Supported commands: 'connect'.
+
+'fetch'::
+ Can discover remote refs and transfer objects reachable from
+ them to the local object store.
++
+Supported commands: 'list', 'fetch'.
+
+'import'::
+ Can discover remote refs and output objects reachable from
+ them as a stream in fast-import format.
++
+Supported commands: 'list', 'import'.
+
+If a helper advertises 'connect', git will use it if possible and
+fall back to another capability if the helper requests so when
+connecting (see the 'connect' command under COMMANDS).
+When choosing between 'fetch' and 'import', git prefers 'fetch'.
+Other frontends may have some other order of preference.
+
+'refspec' <refspec>::
+ This modifies the 'import' capability.
++
+A helper advertising
+`refspec refs/heads/{asterisk}:refs/svn/origin/branches/{asterisk}`
+in its capabilities is saying that, when it handles
+`import refs/heads/topic`, the stream it outputs will update the
+`refs/svn/origin/branches/topic` ref.
++
+This capability can be advertised multiple times. The first
+applicable refspec takes precedence. The left-hand of refspecs
+advertised with this capability must cover all refs reported by
+the list command. If no 'refspec' capability is advertised,
+there is an implied `refspec {asterisk}:{asterisk}`.
+
+INVOCATION
+----------
+
+Remote helper programs are invoked with one or (optionally) two
+arguments. The first argument specifies a remote repository as in git;
+it is either the name of a configured remote or a URL. The second
+argument specifies a URL; it is usually of the form
+'<transport>://<address>', but any arbitrary string is possible.
+The 'GIT_DIR' environment variable is set up for the remote helper
+and can be used to determine where to store additional data or from
+which directory to invoke auxiliary git commands.
+
+When git encounters a URL of the form '<transport>://<address>', where
+'<transport>' is a protocol that it cannot handle natively, it
+automatically invokes 'git remote-<transport>' with the full URL as
+the second argument. If such a URL is encountered directly on the
+command line, the first argument is the same as the second, and if it
+is encountered in a configured remote, the first argument is the name
+of that remote.
+
+A URL of the form '<transport>::<address>' explicitly instructs git to
+invoke 'git remote-<transport>' with '<address>' as the second
+argument. If such a URL is encountered directly on the command line,
+the first argument is '<address>', and if it is encountered in a
+configured remote, the first argument is the name of that remote.
+
+Additionally, when a configured remote has 'remote.<name>.vcs' set to
+'<transport>', git explicitly invokes 'git remote-<transport>' with
+'<name>' as the first argument. If set, the second argument is
+'remote.<name>.url'; otherwise, the second argument is omitted.
COMMANDS
--------
'capabilities'::
Lists the capabilities of the helper, one per line, ending
- with a blank line. Each capability may be preceded with '*'.
- This marks them mandatory for git version using the remote
+ with a blank line. Each capability may be preceded with '*',
+ which marks them mandatory for git version using the remote
helper to understand (unknown mandatory capability is fatal
error).
[<attr> ...]". The value may be a hex sha1 hash, "@<dest>" for
a symref, or "?" to indicate that the helper could not get the
value of the ref. A space-separated list of attributes follows
- the name; unrecognized attributes are ignored. After the
- complete list, outputs a blank line.
+ the name; unrecognized attributes are ignored. The list ends
+ with a blank line.
+
If 'push' is supported this may be called as 'list for-push'
to obtain the current refs prior to sending one or more 'push'
commands to the helper.
'option' <name> <value>::
- Set the transport helper option <name> to <value>. Outputs a
+ Sets the transport helper option <name> to <value>. Outputs a
single line containing one of 'ok' (option successfully set),
'unsupported' (option not recognized) or 'error <msg>'
- (option <name> is supported but <value> is not correct
+ (option <name> is supported but <value> is not valid
for it). Options should be set before other commands,
- and may how those commands behave.
+ and may influence the behavior of those commands.
+
Supported if the helper has the "option" capability.
'fetch' <sha1> <name>::
Fetches the given object, writing the necessary objects
to the database. Fetch commands are sent in a batch, one
- per line, and the batch is terminated with a blank line.
+ per line, terminated with a blank line.
Outputs a single blank line when all fetch commands in the
same batch are complete. Only objects which were reported
in the ref list with a sha1 may be fetched this way.
Supported if the helper has the "fetch" capability.
'push' +<src>:<dst>::
- Pushes the given <src> commit or branch locally to the
+ Pushes the given local <src> commit or branch to the
remote branch described by <dst>. A batch sequence of
- one or more push commands is terminated with a blank line.
+ one or more 'push' commands is terminated with a blank line
+ (if there is only one reference to push, a single 'push' command
+ is followed by a blank line). For example, the following would
+ be two batches of 'push', the first asking the remote-helper
+ to push the local ref 'master' to the remote ref 'master' and
+ the local 'HEAD' to the remote 'branch', and the second
+ asking to push ref 'foo' to ref 'bar' (forced update requested
+ by the '+').
++
+------------
+push refs/heads/master:refs/heads/master
+push HEAD:refs/heads/branch
+\n
+push +refs/heads/foo:refs/heads/bar
+\n
+------------
+
Zero or more protocol options may be entered after the last 'push'
command, before the batch's terminating blank line.
by applying the refspecs from the "refspec" capability to the
name of the ref.
+
+Especially useful for interoperability with a foreign versioning
+system.
++
+Just like 'push', a batch sequence of one or more 'import' is
+terminated with a blank line. For each batch of 'import', the remote
+helper should produce a fast-import stream terminated by a 'done'
+command.
++
Supported if the helper has the "import" capability.
'connect' <service>::
Additional commands may be supported, as may be determined from
capabilities reported by the helper.
-CAPABILITIES
-------------
-
-'fetch'::
- This helper supports the 'fetch' command.
-
-'option'::
- This helper supports the option command.
-
-'push'::
- This helper supports the 'push' command.
-
-'import'::
- This helper supports the 'import' command.
-
-'refspec' 'spec'::
- When using the import command, expect the source ref to have
- been written to the destination ref. The earliest applicable
- refspec takes precedence. For example
- "refs/heads/*:refs/svn/origin/branches/*" means that, after an
- "import refs/heads/name", the script has written to
- refs/svn/origin/branches/name. If this capability is used at
- all, it must cover all refs reported by the list command; if
- it is not used, it is effectively "*:*"
-
-'connect'::
- This helper supports the 'connect' command.
-
REF LIST ATTRIBUTES
-------------------
OPTIONS
-------
-'option verbosity' <N>::
- Change the level of messages displayed by the helper.
- When N is 0 the end-user has asked the process to be
- quiet, and the helper should produce only error output.
- N of 1 is the default level of verbosity, higher values
- of N correspond to the number of -v flags passed on the
+'option verbosity' <n>::
+ Changes the verbosity of messages displayed by the helper.
+ A value of 0 for <n> means that processes operate
+ quietly, and the helper produces only error output.
+ 1 is the default level of verbosity, and higher values
+ of <n> correspond to the number of -v flags passed on the
command line.
'option progress' \{'true'|'false'\}::
- Enable (or disable) progress messages displayed by the
+ Enables (or disables) progress messages displayed by the
transport helper during a command.
'option depth' <depth>::
- Deepen the history of a shallow repository.
+ Deepens the history of a shallow repository.
'option followtags' \{'true'|'false'\}::
If enabled the helper should automatically fetch annotated
helpers this only applies to the 'push', if supported.
'option servpath <c-style-quoted-path>'::
- Set service path (--upload-pack, --receive-pack etc.) for
- next connect. Remote helper MAY support this option. Remote
- helper MUST NOT rely on this option being set before
+ Sets service path (--upload-pack, --receive-pack etc.) for
+ next connect. Remote helper may support this option, but
+ must not rely on this option being set before
connect request occurs.
-Documentation
--------------
-Documentation by Daniel Barkalow and Ilari Liusvaara
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-remote[1]
+
+linkgit:git-remote-testgit[1]
GIT
---