NAME
git - the stupid content tracker
SYNOPSIS
git [--version] [--exec-path[=GIT_EXEC_PATH]] [--html-path]
[-p|--paginate|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects]
[--bare] [--git-dir=GIT_DIR] [--work-tree=GIT_WORK_TREE]
[--help] COMMAND [ARGS]
DESCRIPTION
Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and
full access to internals.
See gittutorial(7) to get started, then see Everyday Git[1] for a
useful minimum set of commands, and "man git-commandname" for
documentation of each command. CVS users may also want to read gitcvs-
migration(7). See the Git User's Manual[2] for a more in-depth
introduction.
The COMMAND is either a name of a Git command (see below) or an alias
as defined in the configuration file (see git-config(1)).
Formatted and hyperlinked version of the latest git documentation can
be viewed at http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/.
OPTIONS
--version
Prints the git suite version that the git program came from.
--help
Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used commands.
If the option --all or -a is given then all available commands are
printed. If a git command is named this option will bring up the
manual page for that command.
Other options are available to control how the manual page is
displayed. See git-help(1) for more information, because git --help
... is converted internally into git help ....
--exec-path
Path to wherever your core git programs are installed. This can
also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH environment
variable. If no path is given, git will print the current setting
and then exit.
--html-path
Print the path to wherever your git HTML documentation is installed
and exit.
-p, --paginate
Pipe all output into less (or if set, $PAGER) if standard output is
a terminal. This overrides the pager.<cmd> configuration options
(see the "Configuration Mechanism" section below).
--no-pager
Do not pipe git output into a pager.
--git-dir=<path>
Set the path to the repository. This can also be controlled by
setting the GIT_DIR environment variable. It can be an absolute
path or relative path to current working directory.
--work-tree=<path>
Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be used in
combination with repositories found automatically in a .git
directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). This can also be controlled
by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE environment variable and the
core.worktree configuration variable. It can be an absolute path or
relative path to the directory specified by --git-dir or GIT_DIR.
Note: If --git-dir or GIT_DIR are specified but none of
--work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE and core.worktree is specified, the
current working directory is regarded as the top directory of your
working tree.
--bare
Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR environment
is not set, it is set to the current working directory.
--no-replace-objects
Do not use replacement refs to replace git objects. See git-
replace(1) for more information.
FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
See the references above to get started using git. The following is
probably more detail than necessary for a first-time user.
The git concepts chapter of the user-manual[3] and gitcore-tutorial(7)
both provide introductions to the underlying git architecture.
See gitworkflows(7) for an overview of recommended workflows.
See also the howto[4] documents for some useful examples.
The internals are documented in the GIT API documentation[5].
GIT COMMANDS
We divide git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
("plumbing") commands.
HIGH-LEVEL COMMANDS (PORCELAIN)
We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
ancillary user utilities.
Main porcelain commands
git-add(1)
Add file contents to the index.
git-am(1)
Apply a series of patches from a mailbox.
git-archive(1)
Create an archive of files from a named tree.
git-bisect(1)
Find by binary search the change that introduced a bug.
git-branch(1)
List, create, or delete branches.
git-bundle(1)
Move objects and refs by archive.
git-checkout(1)
Checkout a branch or paths to the working tree.
git-cherry-pick(1)
Apply the change introduced by an existing commit.
git-citool(1)
Graphical alternative to git-commit.
git-clean(1)
Remove untracked files from the working tree.
git-clone(1)
Clone a repository into a new directory.
git-commit(1)
Record changes to the repository.
git-describe(1)
Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit.
git-diff(1)
Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
git-fetch(1)
Download objects and refs from another repository.
git-format-patch(1)
Prepare patches for e-mail submission.
git-gc(1)
Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository.
git-grep(1)
Print lines matching a pattern.
git-gui(1)
A portable graphical interface to Git.
git-init(1)
Create an empty git repository or reinitialize an existing one.
git-log(1)
Show commit logs.
git-merge(1)
Join two or more development histories together.
git-mv(1)
Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlink.
git-notes(1)
Add/inspect object notes.
git-pull(1)
Fetch from and merge with another repository or a local branch.
git-push(1)
Update remote refs along with associated objects.
git-rebase(1)
Forward-port local commits to the updated upstream head.
git-reset(1)
Reset current HEAD to the specified state.
git-revert(1)
Revert an existing commit.
git-rm(1)
Remove files from the working tree and from the index.
git-shortlog(1)
Summarize git log output.
git-show(1)
Show various types of objects.
git-stash(1)
Stash the changes in a dirty working directory away.
git-status(1)
Show the working tree status.
git-submodule(1)
Initialize, update or inspect submodules.
git-tag(1)
Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPG.
gitk(1)
The git repository browser.
Ancillary Commands
Manipulators:
git-config(1)
Get and set repository or global options.
git-fast-export(1)
Git data exporter.
git-fast-import(1)
Backend for fast Git data importers.
git-filter-branch(1)
Rewrite branches.
git-lost-found(1)
(deprecated) Recover lost refs that luckily have not yet been
pruned.
git-mergetool(1)
Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts.
git-pack-refs(1)
Pack heads and tags for efficient repository access.
git-prune(1)
Prune all unreachable objects from the object database.
git-reflog(1)
Manage reflog information.
git-relink(1)
Hardlink common objects in local repositories.
git-remote(1)
manage set of tracked repositories.
git-repack(1)
Pack unpacked objects in a repository.
git-replace(1)
Create, list, delete refs to replace objects.
git-repo-config(1)
(deprecated) Get and set repository or global options.
Interrogators:
git-annotate(1)
Annotate file lines with commit information.
git-blame(1)
Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file.
git-cherry(1)
Find commits not merged upstream.
git-count-objects(1)
Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.
git-difftool(1)
Show changes using common diff tools.
git-fsck(1)
Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the
database.
git-get-tar-commit-id(1)
Extract commit ID from an archive created using git-archive.
git-help(1)
display help information about git.
git-instaweb(1)
Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb.
git-merge-tree(1)
Show three-way merge without touching index.
git-rerere(1)
Reuse recorded resolution of conflicted merges.
git-rev-parse(1)
Pick out and massage parameters.
git-show-branch(1)
Show branches and their commits.
git-verify-tag(1)
Check the GPG signature of tags.
git-whatchanged(1)
Show logs with difference each commit introduces.
Interacting with Others
These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other people
via patch over e-mail.
git-archimport(1)
Import an Arch repository into git.
git-cvsexportcommit(1)
Export a single commit to a CVS checkout.
git-cvsimport(1)
Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate.
git-cvsserver(1)
A CVS server emulator for git.
git-imap-send(1)
Send a collection of patches from stdin to an IMAP folder.
git-quiltimport(1)
Applies a quilt patchset onto the current branch.
git-request-pull(1)
Generates a summary of pending changes.
git-send-email(1)
Send a collection of patches as emails.
git-svn(1)
Bidirectional operation between a Subversion repository and git.
LOW-LEVEL COMMANDS (PLUMBING)
Although git includes its own porcelain layer, its low-level commands
are sufficient to support development of alternative porcelains.
Developers of such porcelains might start by reading about git-update-
index(1) and git-read-tree(1).
The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics) to
these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable than
Porcelain level commands, because these commands are primarily for
scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands on the other hand are
subject to change in order to improve the end user experience.
The following description divides the low-level commands into commands
that manipulate objects (in the repository, index, and working tree),
commands that interrogate and compare objects, and commands that move
objects and references between repositories.
Manipulation commands
git-apply(1)
Apply a patch to files and/or to the index.
git-checkout-index(1)
Copy files from the index to the working tree.
git-commit-tree(1)
Create a new commit object.
git-hash-object(1)
Compute object ID and optionally creates a blob from a file.
git-index-pack(1)
Build pack index file for an existing packed archive.
git-merge-file(1)
Run a three-way file merge.
git-merge-index(1)
Run a merge for files needing merging.
git-mktag(1)
Creates a tag object.
git-mktree(1)
Build a tree-object from ls-tree formatted text.
git-pack-objects(1)
Create a packed archive of objects.
git-prune-packed(1)
Remove extra objects that are already in pack files.
git-read-tree(1)
Reads tree information into the index.
git-symbolic-ref(1)
Read and modify symbolic refs.
git-unpack-objects(1)
Unpack objects from a packed archive.
git-update-index(1)
Register file contents in the working tree to the index.
git-update-ref(1)
Update the object name stored in a ref safely.
git-write-tree(1)
Create a tree object from the current index.
Interrogation commands
git-cat-file(1)
Provide content or type and size information for repository
objects.
git-diff-files(1)
Compares files in the working tree and the index.
git-diff-index(1)
Compares content and mode of blobs between the index and
repository.
git-diff-tree(1)
Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects.
git-for-each-ref(1)
Output information on each ref.
git-ls-files(1)
Show information about files in the index and the working tree.
git-ls-remote(1)
List references in a remote repository.
git-ls-tree(1)
List the contents of a tree object.
git-merge-base(1)
Find as good common ancestors as possible for a merge.
git-name-rev(1)
Find symbolic names for given revs.
git-pack-redundant(1)
Find redundant pack files.
git-rev-list(1)
Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order.
git-show-index(1)
Show packed archive index.
git-show-ref(1)
List references in a local repository.
git-tar-tree(1)
(deprecated) Create a tar archive of the files in the named tree
object.
git-unpack-file(1)
Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents.
git-var(1)
Show a git logical variable.
git-verify-pack(1)
Validate packed git archive files.
In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in the
working tree.
Synching repositories
git-daemon(1)
A really simple server for git repositories.
git-fetch-pack(1)
Receive missing objects from another repository.
git-http-backend(1)
Server side implementation of Git over HTTP.
git-send-pack(1)
Push objects over git protocol to another repository.
git-update-server-info(1)
Update auxiliary info file to help dumb servers.
The following are helper commands used by the above; end users
typically do not use them directly.
git-http-fetch(1)
Download from a remote git repository via HTTP.
git-http-push(1)
Push objects over HTTP/DAV to another repository.
git-parse-remote(1)
Routines to help parsing remote repository access parameters.
git-receive-pack(1)
Receive what is pushed into the repository.
git-shell(1)
Restricted login shell for GIT-only SSH access.
git-upload-archive(1)
Send archive back to git-archive.
git-upload-pack(1)
Send objects packed back to git-fetch-pack.
Internal helper commands
These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end users
typically do not use them directly.
git-check-attr(1)
Display gitattributes information.
git-check-ref-format(1)
Ensures that a reference name is well formed.
git-fmt-merge-msg(1)
Produce a merge commit message.
git-mailinfo(1)
Extracts patch and authorship from a single e-mail message.
git-mailsplit(1)
Simple UNIX mbox splitter program.
git-merge-one-file(1)
The standard helper program to use with git-merge-index.
git-patch-id(1)
Compute unique ID for a patch.
git-peek-remote(1)
(deprecated) List the references in a remote repository.
git-sh-setup(1)
Common git shell script setup code.
git-stripspace(1)
Filter out empty lines.
CONFIGURATION MECHANISM
Starting from 0.99.9 (actually mid 0.99.8.GIT), .git/config file is
used to hold per-repository configuration options. It is a simple text
file modeled after .ini format familiar to some people. Here is an
example:
#
# A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
#
; core variables
[core]
; Don't trust file modes
filemode = false
; user identity
[user]
name = "Junio C Hamano"
email = "junkio@twinsun.com"
Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust their
operation accordingly. See git-config(1) for a list.
IDENTIFIER TERMINOLOGY
<object>
Indicates the object name for any type of object.
<blob>
Indicates a blob object name.
<tree>
Indicates a tree object name.
<commit>
Indicates a commit object name.
<tree-ish>
Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A command that takes a
<tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to operate on a <tree> object
but automatically dereferences <commit> and <tag> objects that
point at a <tree>.
<commit-ish>
Indicates a commit or tag object name. A command that takes a
<commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to operate on a <commit>
object but automatically dereferences <tag> objects that point at a
<commit>.
<type>
Indicates that an object type is required. Currently one of: blob,
tree, commit, or tag.
<file>
Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the root of the
tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.
SYMBOLIC IDENTIFIERS
Any git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
symbolic notation:
HEAD
indicates the head of the current branch (i.e. the contents of
$GIT_DIR/HEAD).
<tag>
a valid tag name (i.e. the contents of $GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>).
<head>
a valid head name (i.e. the contents of
$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>).
For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see "SPECIFYING
REVISIONS" section in git-rev-parse(1).
FILE/DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
Please see the gitrepository-layout(5) document.
Read githooks(5) for more details about each hook.
Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
$GIT_DIR.
TERMINOLOGY
Please see gitglossary(7).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Various git commands use the following environment variables:
The git Repository
These environment variables apply to all core git commands. Nb: it is
worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above git
so take care if using Cogito etc.
GIT_INDEX_FILE
This environment allows the specification of an alternate index
file. If not specified, the default of $GIT_DIR/index is used.
GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY
If the object storage directory is specified via this environment
variable then the sha1 directories are created underneath -
otherwise the default $GIT_DIR/objects directory is used.
GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES
Due to the immutable nature of git objects, old objects can be
archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
specifies a ":" separated (on Windows ";" separated) list of git
object directories which can be used to search for git objects. New
objects will not be written to these directories.
GIT_DIR
If the GIT_DIR environment variable is set then it specifies a path
to use instead of the default .git for the base of the repository.
GIT_WORK_TREE
Set the path to the working tree. The value will not be used in
combination with repositories found automatically in a .git
directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set). This can also be controlled
by the --work-tree command line option and the core.worktree
configuration variable.
GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES
This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths. If set, it
is a list of directories that git should not chdir up into while
looking for a repository directory. It will not exclude the current
working directory or a GIT_DIR set on the command line or in the
environment. (Useful for excluding slow-loading network
directories.)
git Commits
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL, GIT_AUTHOR_DATE, GIT_COMMITTER_NAME,
GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL, GIT_COMMITTER_DATE, EMAIL
see git-commit-tree(1)
git Diffs
GIT_DIFF_OPTS
Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the number of
context lines shown when a unified diff is created. This takes
precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option value passed on the
git diff command line.
GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF
When the environment variable GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF is set, the program
named by it is called, instead of the diff invocation described
above. For a path that is added, removed, or modified,
GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF is called with 7 parameters:
path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode
where:
<old|new>-file
are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the contents of
<old|new>,
<old|new>-hex
are the 40-hexdigit SHA1 hashes,
<old|new>-mode
are the octal representation of the file modes.
+ The file parameters can point at the user's working file (e.g.
new-file in "git-diff-files"), /dev/null (e.g. old-file when a new file
is added), or a temporary file (e.g. old-file in the index).
GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF should not worry about unlinking the temporary file
--- it is removed when GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF exits.
+ For a path that is unmerged, GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF is called with 1
parameter, <path>.
other
GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY
A number controlling the amount of output shown by the recursive
merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity. See git-merge(1)
GIT_PAGER
This environment variable overrides $PAGER. If it is set to an
empty string or to the value "cat", git will not launch a pager.
See also the core.pager option in git-config(1).
GIT_SSH
If this environment variable is set then git fetch and git push
will use this command instead of ssh when they need to connect to a
remote system. The $GIT_SSH command will be given exactly two
arguments: the username@host (or just host) from the URL and the
shell command to execute on that remote system.
To pass options to the program that you want to list in GIT_SSH you
will need to wrap the program and options into a shell script, then
set GIT_SSH to refer to the shell script.
Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your
personal .ssh/config file. Please consult your ssh documentation
for further details.
GIT_FLUSH
If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such as
git blame (in incremental mode), git rev-list, git log, and git
whatchanged will force a flush of the output stream after each
commit-oriented record have been flushed. If this variable is set
to "0", the output of these commands will be done using completely
buffered I/O. If this environment variable is not set, git will
choose buffered or record-oriented flushing based on whether stdout
appears to be redirected to a file or not.
GIT_TRACE
If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison is case
insensitive), git will print trace: messages on stderr telling
about alias expansion, built-in command execution and external
command execution. If this variable is set to an integer value
greater than 1 and lower than 10 (strictly) then git will interpret
this value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
trace messages into this file descriptor. Alternatively, if this
variable is set to an absolute path (starting with a / character),
git will interpret this as a file path and will try to write the
trace messages into it.
DISCUSSION
More detail on the following is available from the git concepts chapter
of the user-manual[3] and gitcore-tutorial(7).
A git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git"
subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other
things, a compressed object database representing the complete history
of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current
contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such
as tags and branch heads.
The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which
hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up
directory hierarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree
and some number of parent commits.
The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or
"version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent
represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one
parent represent merges of independent lines of development.
All objects are named by the SHA1 hash of their contents, normally
written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique.
The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing
just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this
purpose.
When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for
efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files".
Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref
may contain the SHA1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs
with names beginning ref/head/ contain the SHA1 name of the most recent
commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA1 names of tags of
interest are stored under ref/tags/. A special ref named HEAD contains
the name of the currently checked-out branch.
The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each
path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents
the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The
attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the
corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the
working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may
be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the
content stored in the index.
The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages")
for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various
unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress.
AUTHORS
o git's founding father is Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org[6]>.
o The current git nurse is Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com[7]>.
o The git potty was written by Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5.se[8]>.
o General upbringing is handled by the git-list
<git@vger.kernel.org[9]>.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation for git suite was started by David Greaves
<david@dgreaves.com[10]>, and later enhanced greatly by the
contributors on the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org[9]>.
SEE ALSO
gittutorial(7), gittutorial-2(7), Everyday Git[1], gitcvs-migration(7),
gitglossary(7), gitcore-tutorial(7), gitcli(7), The Git User's
Manual[2], gitworkflows(7)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
NOTES
1. Everyday Git
file:///usr/share/doc/git-doc/everyday.html
2. Git User's Manual
file:///usr/share/doc/git-doc/user-manual.html
3. git concepts chapter of the user-manual
file:///usr/share/doc/git-doc/user-manual.html#git-concepts
4. howto
file:///usr/share/doc/git-doc/howto-index.html
5. GIT API documentation
file:///usr/share/doc/git-doc/technical/api-index.html
6. torvalds@osdl.org
mailto:torvalds@osdl.org
7. gitster@pobox.com
mailto:gitster@pobox.com
8. ae@op5.se
mailto:ae@op5.se
9. git@vger.kernel.org
mailto:git@vger.kernel.org
10. david@dgreaves.com
mailto:david@dgreaves.com