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git(7)
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======
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May 2005
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NAME
----
git - the stupid content tracker


SYNOPSIS
--------
'git-<command>' <args>

DESCRIPTION
-----------

This is reference information for the core git commands.

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The Discussion section below contains much useful definition and
clarification info - read that first.  And of the commands, I suggest
reading link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache] and
link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree] first - I wish I had!
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David Greaves <david@dgreaves.com>
08/05/05

Updated by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> on 2005-05-05 to
reflect recent changes.

Commands Overview
-----------------
The git commands can helpfully be split into those that manipulate
the repository, the cache and the working fileset and those that
interrogate and compare them.

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There are also some ancilliary programs that can be viewed as useful
aids for using the core commands but which are unlikely to be used by
SCMs layered over git.

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Manipulation commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
link:git-checkout-cache.html[git-checkout-cache]::
	Copy files from the cache to the working directory

link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]::
	Creates a new commit object

link:git-init-db.html[git-init-db]::
	Creates an empty git object database

link:git-merge-base.html[git-merge-base]::
	Finds as good a common ancestor as possible for a merge

link:git-mktag.html[git-mktag]::
	Creates a tag object

link:git-read-tree.html[git-read-tree]::
	Reads tree information into the directory cache

link:git-update-cache.html[git-update-cache]::
	Modifies the index or directory cache

link:git-write-blob.html[git-write-blob]::
	Creates a blob from a file

link:git-write-tree.html[git-write-tree]::
	Creates a tree from the current cache

Interrogation commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
link:git-cat-file.html[git-cat-file]::
	Provide content or type information for repository objects

link:git-check-files.html[git-check-files]::
	Verify a list of files are up-to-date

link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache]::
	Compares content and mode of blobs between the cache and repository

link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files]::
	Compares files in the working tree and the cache

link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]::
	Compares the content and mode of blobs found via two tree objects

link:git-export.html[git-export]::
	Exports each commit and a diff against each of its parents

link:git-fsck-cache.html[git-fsck-cache]::
	Verifies the connectivity and validity of the objects in the database

link:git-ls-files.html[git-ls-files]::
	Information about files in the cache/working directory

link:git-ls-tree.html[git-ls-tree]::
	Displays a tree object in human readable form

link:git-merge-cache.html[git-merge-cache]::
	Runs a merge for files needing merging

link:git-rev-list.html[git-rev-list]::
	Lists commit objects in reverse chronological order

link:git-rev-tree.html[git-rev-tree]::
	Provides the revision tree for one or more commits

link:git-tar-tree.html[git-tar-tree]::
	Creates a tar archive of the files in the named tree

link:git-unpack-file.html[git-unpack-file]::
	Creates a temporary file with a blob's contents

The interrogate commands may create files - and you can force them to
touch the working file set - but in general they don't


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Ancilliary Commands
-------------------
Manipulators:

link:git-apply-patch-script.html[git-apply-patch-script]::
	Sample script to apply the diffs from git-diff-*

link:git-convert-cache.html[git-convert-cache]::
	Converts old-style GIT repository

link:git-http-pull.html[git-http-pull]::
	Downloads a remote GIT repository via HTTP

link:git-local-pull.html[git-local-pull]::
	Duplicates another GIT repository on a local system

link:git-merge-one-file-script.html[git-merge-one-file-script]::
	The standard helper program to use with "git-merge-cache"

link:git-pull-script.html[git-pull-script]::
	Script used by Linus to pull and merge a remote repository

link:git-prune-script.html[git-prune-script]::
	Prunes all unreachable objects from the object database

link:git-resolve-script.html[git-resolve-script]::
	Script used to merge two trees

link:git-tag-script.html[git-tag-script]::
	An example script to create a tag object signed with GPG

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link:git-ssh-pull.html[git-ssh-pull]::
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	Pulls from a remote repository over ssh connection

Interogators:

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link:git-diff-helper.html[git-diff-helper]::
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	Generates patch format output for git-diff-*

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link:git-ssh-push.html[git-ssh-push]::
	Helper "server-side" program used by git-ssh-pull
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Identifier Terminology
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----------------------
<object>::
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	Indicates the sha1 identifier for any type of object
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<blob>::
	Indicates a blob object sha1 identifier

<tree>::
	Indicates a tree object sha1 identifier

<commit>::
	Indicates a commit object sha1 identifier

<tree-ish>::
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	Indicates a tree, commit or tag object sha1 identifier.  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>.
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<type>::
	Indicates that an object type is required.
	Currently one of: blob/tree/commit/tag

<file>::
	Indicates a filename - always relative to the root of
	the tree structure GIT_INDEX_FILE describes.

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Symbolic Identifiers
--------------------
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Any git comand accepting any <object> can also use the following
symbolic notation:
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HEAD::
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	indicates the head of the repository (ie the contents of
	`$GIT_DIR/HEAD`)
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<tag>::
	a valid tag 'name'+
	(ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<tag>`)
<head>::
	a valid head 'name'+
	(ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<head>`)
<snap>::
	a valid snapshot 'name'+
	(ie the contents of `$GIT_DIR/refs/snap/<snap>`)


File/Directory Structure
------------------------
The git-core manipulates the following areas in the directory:

 .git/	       The base (overridden with $GIT_DIR)
   objects/    The object base (overridden with $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY)
     ??/       'First 2 chars of object' directories

It can interrogate (but never updates) the following areas:

   refs/       Directories containing symbolic names for objects
	       (each file contains the hex SHA1 + newline)
     heads/    Commits which are heads of various sorts
     tags/     Tags, by the tag name (or some local renaming of it)
     snap/     ????
   ...         Everything else isn't shared
   HEAD        Symlink to refs/heads/<something>

Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
GIT_DIR.

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Terminology
-----------
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Each line contains terms which you may see used interchangeably
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 object database, .git directory
 directory cache, index
 id, sha1, sha1-id, sha1 hash
 type, tag


Environment Variables
---------------------
Various git commands use the following environment variables:

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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
	cache/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 ":" seperated 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 `./.git` for the base of the
	repository.

git Commits
~~~~~~~~~~~
'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME'::
'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL'::
'GIT_AUTHOR_DATE'::
'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
	see link:git-commit-tree.html[git-commit-tree]

git Diffs
~~~~~~~~~
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'GIT_DIFF_OPTS'::
'GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'::
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	see the "generating patches" section in :
	link:git-diff-cache.html[git-diff-cache];
	link:git-diff-files.html[git-diff-files];
	link:git-diff-tree.html[git-diff-tree]
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Discussion
----------
include::../README[]

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Author
------
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Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
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Documentation
--------------
Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

GIT
---
Part of the link:git.html[git] suite