6 git-notes - Add or inspect object notes
11 'git notes' [list [<object>]]
12 'git notes' add [-f] [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
13 'git notes' copy [-f] ( --stdin | <from-object> <to-object> )
14 'git notes' append [-F <file> | -m <msg> | (-c | -C) <object>] [<object>]
15 'git notes' edit [<object>]
16 'git notes' show [<object>]
17 'git notes' merge [-v | -q] [-s <strategy> ] <notes_ref>
18 'git notes' remove [<object>]
19 'git notes' prune [-n | -v]
24 Adds, removes, or reads notes attached to objects, without touching
25 the objects themselves.
27 By default, notes are saved to and read from `refs/notes/commits`, but
28 this default can be overridden. See the OPTIONS, CONFIGURATION, and
29 ENVIRONMENT sections below. If this ref does not exist, it will be
30 quietly created when it is first needed to store a note.
32 A typical use of notes is to supplement a commit message without
33 changing the commit itself. Notes can be shown by 'git log' along with
34 the original commit message. To distinguish these notes from the
35 message stored in the commit object, the notes are indented like the
36 message, after an unindented line saying "Notes (<refname>):" (or
37 "Notes:" for `refs/notes/commits`).
39 To change which notes are shown by 'git log', see the
40 "notes.displayRef" configuration in linkgit:git-log[1].
42 See the "notes.rewrite.<command>" configuration for a way to carry
43 notes across commands that rewrite commits.
50 List the notes object for a given object. If no object is
51 given, show a list of all note objects and the objects they
52 annotate (in the format "<note object> <annotated object>").
53 This is the default subcommand if no subcommand is given.
56 Add notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD). Abort if the
57 object already has notes (use `-f` to overwrite an
61 Copy the notes for the first object onto the second object.
62 Abort if the second object already has notes, or if the first
63 object has none (use -f to overwrite existing notes to the
64 second object). This subcommand is equivalent to:
65 `git notes add [-f] -C $(git notes list <from-object>) <to-object>`
67 In `\--stdin` mode, take lines in the format
70 <from-object> SP <to-object> [ SP <rest> ] LF
73 on standard input, and copy the notes from each <from-object> to its
74 corresponding <to-object>. (The optional `<rest>` is ignored so that
75 the command can read the input given to the `post-rewrite` hook.)
78 Append to the notes of an existing object (defaults to HEAD).
79 Creates a new notes object if needed.
82 Edit the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
85 Show the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
88 Merge the given notes ref into the current notes ref.
89 This will try to merge the changes made by the given
90 notes ref (called "remote") since the merge-base (if
91 any) into the current notes ref (called "local").
93 If conflicts arise and a strategy for automatically resolving
94 conflicting notes (see the -s/--strategy option) is not given,
95 the "manual" resolver is used. This resolver checks out the
96 conflicting notes in a special worktree (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`),
97 and instructs the user to manually resolve the conflicts there.
100 Remove the notes for a given object (defaults to HEAD).
101 This is equivalent to specifying an empty note message to
102 the `edit` subcommand.
105 Remove all notes for non-existing/unreachable objects.
111 When adding notes to an object that already has notes,
112 overwrite the existing notes (instead of aborting).
116 Use the given note message (instead of prompting).
117 If multiple `-m` options are given, their values
118 are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
119 Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
120 single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
124 Take the note message from the given file. Use '-' to
125 read the note message from the standard input.
126 Lines starting with `#` and empty lines other than a
127 single line between paragraphs will be stripped out.
130 --reuse-message=<object>::
131 Take the note message from the given blob object (for
132 example, another note).
135 --reedit-message=<object>::
136 Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
137 the user can further edit the note message.
140 Manipulate the notes tree in <ref>. This overrides
141 'GIT_NOTES_REF' and the "core.notesRef" configuration. The ref
142 is taken to be in `refs/notes/` if it is not qualified.
146 Do not remove anything; just report the object names whose notes
150 --strategy=<strategy>::
151 When merging notes, resolve notes conflicts using the given
152 strategy. The following strategies are recognized: "manual"
153 (default), "ours", "theirs" and "union".
154 See the "NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES" section below for more
155 information on each notes merge strategy.
159 When merging notes, operate quietly.
163 When merging notes, be more verbose.
164 When pruning notes, report all object names whose notes are
171 Commit notes are blobs containing extra information about an object
172 (usually information to supplement a commit's message). These blobs
173 are taken from notes refs. A notes ref is usually a branch which
174 contains "files" whose paths are the object names for the objects
175 they describe, with some directory separators included for performance
176 reasons footnote:[Permitted pathnames have the form
177 'ab'`/`'cd'`/`'ef'`/`'...'`/`'abcdef...': a sequence of directory
178 names of two hexadecimal digits each followed by a filename with the
179 rest of the object ID.].
181 Every notes change creates a new commit at the specified notes ref.
182 You can therefore inspect the history of the notes by invoking, e.g.,
183 `git log -p notes/commits`. Currently the commit message only records
184 which operation triggered the update, and the commit authorship is
185 determined according to the usual rules (see linkgit:git-commit[1]).
186 These details may change in the future.
188 It is also permitted for a notes ref to point directly to a tree
189 object, in which case the history of the notes can be read with
190 `git log -p -g <refname>`.
193 NOTES MERGE STRATEGIES
194 ----------------------
196 The default notes merge strategy is "manual", which checks out
197 conflicting notes in a special work tree for resolving notes conflicts
198 (`.git/NOTES_MERGE_WORKTREE`), and instructs the user to resolve the
199 conflicts in that work tree.
201 "ours" automatically resolves conflicting notes in favor of the local
202 version (i.e. the current notes ref).
204 "theirs" automatically resolves notes conflicts in favor of the remote
205 version (i.e. the given notes ref being merged into the current notes
208 "union" automatically resolves notes conflicts by concatenating the
209 local and remote versions.
215 You can use notes to add annotations with information that was not
216 available at the time a commit was written.
219 $ git notes add -m 'Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>' 72a144e2
220 $ git show -s 72a144e
222 Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
225 Tested-by: Johannes Sixt <j6t@kdbg.org>
228 In principle, a note is a regular Git blob, and any kind of
229 (non-)format is accepted. You can binary-safely create notes from
230 arbitrary files using 'git hash-object':
234 $ blob=$(git hash-object -w a.out)
235 $ git notes --ref=built add -C "$blob" HEAD
238 Of course, it doesn't make much sense to display non-text-format notes
239 with 'git log', so if you use such notes, you'll probably need to write
240 some special-purpose tools to do something useful with them.
247 Notes ref to read and manipulate instead of
248 `refs/notes/commits`. Must be an unabbreviated ref name.
249 This setting can be overridden through the environment and
253 Which ref (or refs, if a glob or specified more than once), in
254 addition to the default set by `core.notesRef` or
255 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
256 messages with the 'git log' family of commands.
257 This setting can be overridden on the command line or by the
258 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF' environment variable.
259 See linkgit:git-log[1].
261 notes.rewrite.<command>::
262 When rewriting commits with <command> (currently `amend` or
263 `rebase`), if this variable is `false`, git will not copy
264 notes from the original to the rewritten commit. Defaults to
265 `true`. See also "`notes.rewriteRef`" below.
267 This setting can be overridden by the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'
268 environment variable.
271 When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
272 commit already has a note. Must be one of `overwrite`,
273 `concatenate`, and `ignore`. Defaults to `concatenate`.
275 This setting can be overridden with the `GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE`
276 environment variable.
279 When copying notes during a rewrite, specifies the (fully
280 qualified) ref whose notes should be copied. May be a glob,
281 in which case notes in all matching refs will be copied. You
282 may also specify this configuration several times.
284 Does not have a default value; you must configure this variable to
285 enable note rewriting.
287 Can be overridden with the 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF' environment variable.
294 Which ref to manipulate notes from, instead of `refs/notes/commits`.
295 This overrides the `core.notesRef` setting.
297 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF'::
298 Colon-delimited list of refs or globs indicating which refs,
299 in addition to the default from `core.notesRef` or
300 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
302 This overrides the `notes.displayRef` setting.
304 A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist, but a glob that
305 does not match any refs is silently ignored.
307 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_MODE'::
308 When copying notes during a rewrite, what to do if the target
309 commit already has a note.
310 Must be one of `overwrite`, `concatenate`, and `ignore`.
311 This overrides the `core.rewriteMode` setting.
313 'GIT_NOTES_REWRITE_REF'::
314 When rewriting commits, which notes to copy from the original
315 to the rewritten commit. Must be a colon-delimited list of
318 If not set in the environment, the list of notes to copy depends
319 on the `notes.rewrite.<command>` and `notes.rewriteRef` settings.
324 Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de> and
325 Johan Herland <johan@herland.net>
329 Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and Johan Herland
333 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite