X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-commit.txt;h=e54fb12103d4e4955f41532566cb4558432a97bb;hb=b3abdd9d216c578383b66bb10b95edb3380640e7;hp=8e0e7e2d0400b85b05c7e684bc87d9f5f1279e4a;hpb=ef0c2abf3e5061f891b7f07953ef3b0695f52c89;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
index 8e0e7e2d0..e54fb1210 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
@@ -15,26 +15,27 @@ SYNOPSIS
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-Use 'git commit' when you want to record your changes into the repository
-along with a log message describing what the commit is about. All changes
-to be committed must be explicitly identified using one of the following
-methods:
+Use 'git commit' to store the current contents of the index in a new
+commit along with a log message describing the changes you have made.
+
+The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
 
 1. by using gitlink:git-add[1] to incrementally "add" changes to the
-   next commit before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
+   index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
    files must be "added");
 
-2. by using gitlink:git-rm[1] to identify content removal for the next
-   commit, again before using the 'commit' command;
+2. by using gitlink:git-rm[1] to remove files from the working tree
+   and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
 
-3. by directly listing files containing changes to be committed as arguments
-   to the 'commit' command, in which cases only those files alone will be
-   considered for the commit;
+3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
+   case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
+   record the current content of the listed files;
 
-4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically "add"
-   changes from all known files i.e. files that have already been committed
-   before, and to automatically "rm" files that have been
-   removed from the working tree, and perform the actual commit.
+4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
+   "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
+   listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
+   that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
+   actual commit;
 
 5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
    by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
@@ -74,6 +75,13 @@ OPTIONS
 -m <msg>|--message=<msg>::
 	Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
 
+-t <file>|--template=<file>::
+	Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
+	of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
+	make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
+	the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
+	overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
+
 -s|--signoff::
 	Add Signed-off-by line at the end of the commit message.