6 git - the stupid content tracker
12 'git' [-v | --version] [-h | --help] [-C <path>] [-c <name>=<value>]
13 [--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path]
14 [-p|--paginate|-P|--no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare]
15 [--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]
16 [--config-env=<name>=<envvar>] <command> [<args>]
20 Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an
21 unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations
22 and full access to internals.
24 See linkgit:gittutorial[7] to get started, then see
25 linkgit:giteveryday[7] for a useful minimum set of
26 commands. The link:user-manual.html[Git User's Manual] has a more
27 in-depth introduction.
29 After you mastered the basic concepts, you can come back to this
30 page to learn what commands Git offers. You can learn more about
31 individual Git commands with "git help command". linkgit:gitcli[7]
32 manual page gives you an overview of the command-line command syntax.
34 A formatted and hyperlinked copy of the latest Git documentation
35 can be viewed at https://git.github.io/htmldocs/git.html
36 or https://git-scm.com/docs.
43 Prints the Git suite version that the 'git' program came from.
45 This option is internally converted to `git version ...` and accepts
46 the same options as the linkgit:git-version[1] command. If `--help` is
47 also given, it takes precedence over `--version`.
51 Prints the synopsis and a list of the most commonly used
52 commands. If the option `--all` or `-a` is given then all
53 available commands are printed. If a Git command is named this
54 option will bring up the manual page for that command.
56 Other options are available to control how the manual page is
57 displayed. See linkgit:git-help[1] for more information,
58 because `git --help ...` is converted internally into `git
62 Run as if git was started in '<path>' instead of the current working
63 directory. When multiple `-C` options are given, each subsequent
64 non-absolute `-C <path>` is interpreted relative to the preceding `-C
65 <path>`. If '<path>' is present but empty, e.g. `-C ""`, then the
66 current working directory is left unchanged.
68 This option affects options that expect path name like `--git-dir` and
69 `--work-tree` in that their interpretations of the path names would be
70 made relative to the working directory caused by the `-C` option. For
71 example the following invocations are equivalent:
73 git --git-dir=a.git --work-tree=b -C c status
74 git --git-dir=c/a.git --work-tree=c/b status
77 Pass a configuration parameter to the command. The value
78 given will override values from configuration files.
79 The <name> is expected in the same format as listed by
80 'git config' (subkeys separated by dots).
82 Note that omitting the `=` in `git -c foo.bar ...` is allowed and sets
83 `foo.bar` to the boolean true value (just like `[foo]bar` would in a
84 config file). Including the equals but with an empty value (like `git -c
85 foo.bar= ...`) sets `foo.bar` to the empty string which `git config
86 --type=bool` will convert to `false`.
88 --config-env=<name>=<envvar>::
89 Like `-c <name>=<value>`, give configuration variable
90 '<name>' a value, where <envvar> is the name of an
91 environment variable from which to retrieve the value. Unlike
92 `-c` there is no shortcut for directly setting the value to an
93 empty string, instead the environment variable itself must be
94 set to the empty string. It is an error if the `<envvar>` does not exist
95 in the environment. `<envvar>` may not contain an equals sign
96 to avoid ambiguity with `<name>` containing one.
98 This is useful for cases where you want to pass transitory
99 configuration options to git, but are doing so on OS's where
100 other processes might be able to read your cmdline
101 (e.g. `/proc/self/cmdline`), but not your environ
102 (e.g. `/proc/self/environ`). That behavior is the default on
103 Linux, but may not be on your system.
105 Note that this might add security for variables such as
106 `http.extraHeader` where the sensitive information is part of
107 the value, but not e.g. `url.<base>.insteadOf` where the
108 sensitive information can be part of the key.
110 --exec-path[=<path>]::
111 Path to wherever your core Git programs are installed.
112 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_EXEC_PATH
113 environment variable. If no path is given, 'git' will print
114 the current setting and then exit.
117 Print the path, without trailing slash, where Git's HTML
118 documentation is installed and exit.
121 Print the manpath (see `man(1)`) for the man pages for
122 this version of Git and exit.
125 Print the path where the Info files documenting this
126 version of Git are installed and exit.
130 Pipe all output into 'less' (or if set, $PAGER) if standard
131 output is a terminal. This overrides the `pager.<cmd>`
132 configuration options (see the "Configuration Mechanism" section
137 Do not pipe Git output into a pager.
140 Set the path to the repository (".git" directory). This can also be
141 controlled by setting the `GIT_DIR` environment variable. It can be
142 an absolute path or relative path to current working directory.
144 Specifying the location of the ".git" directory using this
145 option (or `GIT_DIR` environment variable) turns off the
146 repository discovery that tries to find a directory with
147 ".git" subdirectory (which is how the repository and the
148 top-level of the working tree are discovered), and tells Git
149 that you are at the top level of the working tree. If you
150 are not at the top-level directory of the working tree, you
151 should tell Git where the top-level of the working tree is,
152 with the `--work-tree=<path>` option (or `GIT_WORK_TREE`
153 environment variable)
155 If you just want to run git as if it was started in `<path>` then use
159 Set the path to the working tree. It can be an absolute path
160 or a path relative to the current working directory.
161 This can also be controlled by setting the GIT_WORK_TREE
162 environment variable and the core.worktree configuration
163 variable (see core.worktree in linkgit:git-config[1] for a
164 more detailed discussion).
167 Set the Git namespace. See linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for more
168 details. Equivalent to setting the `GIT_NAMESPACE` environment
172 Treat the repository as a bare repository. If GIT_DIR
173 environment is not set, it is set to the current working
176 --no-replace-objects::
177 Do not use replacement refs to replace Git objects. See
178 linkgit:git-replace[1] for more information.
180 --literal-pathspecs::
181 Treat pathspecs literally (i.e. no globbing, no pathspec magic).
182 This is equivalent to setting the `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS` environment
186 Add "glob" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
187 the `GIT_GLOB_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`. Disabling
188 globbing on individual pathspecs can be done using pathspec
192 Add "literal" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
193 the `GIT_NOGLOB_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`. Enabling
194 globbing on individual pathspecs can be done using pathspec
198 Add "icase" magic to all pathspec. This is equivalent to setting
199 the `GIT_ICASE_PATHSPECS` environment variable to `1`.
201 --no-optional-locks::
202 Do not perform optional operations that require locks. This is
203 equivalent to setting the `GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS` to `0`.
205 --list-cmds=group[,group...]::
206 List commands by group. This is an internal/experimental
207 option and may change or be removed in the future. Supported
208 groups are: builtins, parseopt (builtin commands that use
209 parse-options), main (all commands in libexec directory),
210 others (all other commands in `$PATH` that have git- prefix),
211 list-<category> (see categories in command-list.txt),
212 nohelpers (exclude helper commands), alias and config
213 (retrieve command list from config variable completion.commands)
215 --attr-source=<tree-ish>::
216 Read gitattributes from <tree-ish> instead of the worktree. See
217 linkgit:gitattributes[5]. This is equivalent to setting the
218 `GIT_ATTR_SOURCE` environment variable.
223 We divide Git into high level ("porcelain") commands and low level
224 ("plumbing") commands.
226 High-level commands (porcelain)
227 -------------------------------
229 We separate the porcelain commands into the main commands and some
230 ancillary user utilities.
232 Main porcelain commands
233 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
235 include::cmds-mainporcelain.txt[]
241 include::cmds-ancillarymanipulators.txt[]
245 include::cmds-ancillaryinterrogators.txt[]
248 Interacting with Others
249 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
251 These commands are to interact with foreign SCM and with other
252 people via patch over e-mail.
254 include::cmds-foreignscminterface.txt[]
256 Reset, restore and revert
257 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
258 There are three commands with similar names: `git reset`,
259 `git restore` and `git revert`.
261 * linkgit:git-revert[1] is about making a new commit that reverts the
262 changes made by other commits.
264 * linkgit:git-restore[1] is about restoring files in the working tree
265 from either the index or another commit. This command does not
266 update your branch. The command can also be used to restore files in
267 the index from another commit.
269 * linkgit:git-reset[1] is about updating your branch, moving the tip
270 in order to add or remove commits from the branch. This operation
271 changes the commit history.
273 `git reset` can also be used to restore the index, overlapping with
277 Low-level commands (plumbing)
278 -----------------------------
280 Although Git includes its
281 own porcelain layer, its low-level commands are sufficient to support
282 development of alternative porcelains. Developers of such porcelains
283 might start by reading about linkgit:git-update-index[1] and
284 linkgit:git-read-tree[1].
286 The interface (input, output, set of options and the semantics)
287 to these low-level commands are meant to be a lot more stable
288 than Porcelain level commands, because these commands are
289 primarily for scripted use. The interface to Porcelain commands
290 on the other hand are subject to change in order to improve the
293 The following description divides
294 the low-level commands into commands that manipulate objects (in
295 the repository, index, and working tree), commands that interrogate and
296 compare objects, and commands that move objects and references between
300 Manipulation commands
301 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
303 include::cmds-plumbingmanipulators.txt[]
306 Interrogation commands
307 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
309 include::cmds-plumbinginterrogators.txt[]
311 In general, the interrogate commands do not touch the files in
318 include::cmds-synchingrepositories.txt[]
320 The following are helper commands used by the above; end users
321 typically do not use them directly.
323 include::cmds-synchelpers.txt[]
326 Internal helper commands
327 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
329 These are internal helper commands used by other commands; end
330 users typically do not use them directly.
332 include::cmds-purehelpers.txt[]
337 The following documentation pages are guides about Git concepts.
339 include::cmds-guide.txt[]
341 Repository, command and file interfaces
342 ---------------------------------------
344 This documentation discusses repository and command interfaces which
345 users are expected to interact with directly. See `--user-formats` in
346 linkgit:git-help[1] for more details on the criteria.
348 include::cmds-userinterfaces.txt[]
350 File formats, protocols and other developer interfaces
351 ------------------------------------------------------
353 This documentation discusses file formats, over-the-wire protocols and
354 other git developer interfaces. See `--developer-interfaces` in
357 include::cmds-developerinterfaces.txt[]
359 Configuration Mechanism
360 -----------------------
362 Git uses a simple text format to store customizations that are per
363 repository and are per user. Such a configuration file may look
368 # A '#' or ';' character indicates a comment.
373 ; Don't trust file modes
378 name = "Junio C Hamano"
379 email = "gitster@pobox.com"
383 Various commands read from the configuration file and adjust
384 their operation accordingly. See linkgit:git-config[1] for a
385 list and more details about the configuration mechanism.
388 Identifier Terminology
389 ----------------------
391 Indicates the object name for any type of object.
394 Indicates a blob object name.
397 Indicates a tree object name.
400 Indicates a commit object name.
403 Indicates a tree, commit or tag object name. A
404 command that takes a <tree-ish> argument ultimately wants to
405 operate on a <tree> object but automatically dereferences
406 <commit> and <tag> objects that point at a <tree>.
409 Indicates a commit or tag object name. A
410 command that takes a <commit-ish> argument ultimately wants to
411 operate on a <commit> object but automatically dereferences
412 <tag> objects that point at a <commit>.
415 Indicates that an object type is required.
416 Currently one of: `blob`, `tree`, `commit`, or `tag`.
419 Indicates a filename - almost always relative to the
420 root of the tree structure `GIT_INDEX_FILE` describes.
424 Any Git command accepting any <object> can also use the following
428 indicates the head of the current branch.
432 (i.e. a `refs/tags/<tag>` reference).
436 (i.e. a `refs/heads/<head>` reference).
438 For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
439 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
442 File/Directory Structure
443 ------------------------
445 Please see the linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5] document.
447 Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about each hook.
449 Higher level SCMs may provide and manage additional information in the
455 Please see linkgit:gitglossary[7].
458 Environment Variables
459 ---------------------
460 Various Git commands pay attention to environment variables and change
461 their behavior. The environment variables marked as "Boolean" take
462 their values the same way as Boolean valued configuration variables, e.g.
463 "true", "yes", "on" and positive numbers are taken as "yes".
465 Here are the variables:
469 These environment variables apply to 'all' core Git commands. Nb: it
470 is worth noting that they may be used/overridden by SCMS sitting above
471 Git so take care if using a foreign front-end.
474 This environment variable specifies an alternate
475 index file. If not specified, the default of `$GIT_DIR/index`
478 `GIT_INDEX_VERSION`::
479 This environment variable specifies what index version is used
480 when writing the index file out. It won't affect existing index
481 files. By default index file version 2 or 3 is used. See
482 linkgit:git-update-index[1] for more information.
484 `GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY`::
485 If the object storage directory is specified via this
486 environment variable then the sha1 directories are created
487 underneath - otherwise the default `$GIT_DIR/objects`
490 `GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES`::
491 Due to the immutable nature of Git objects, old objects can be
492 archived into shared, read-only directories. This variable
493 specifies a ":" separated (on Windows ";" separated) list
494 of Git object directories which can be used to search for Git
495 objects. New objects will not be written to these directories.
497 Entries that begin with `"` (double-quote) will be interpreted
498 as C-style quoted paths, removing leading and trailing
499 double-quotes and respecting backslash escapes. E.g., the value
500 `"path-with-\"-and-:-in-it":vanilla-path` has two paths:
501 `path-with-"-and-:-in-it` and `vanilla-path`.
504 If the `GIT_DIR` environment variable is set then it
505 specifies a path to use instead of the default `.git`
506 for the base of the repository.
507 The `--git-dir` command-line option also sets this value.
510 Set the path to the root of the working tree.
511 This can also be controlled by the `--work-tree` command-line
512 option and the core.worktree configuration variable.
515 Set the Git namespace; see linkgit:gitnamespaces[7] for details.
516 The `--namespace` command-line option also sets this value.
518 `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES`::
519 This should be a colon-separated list of absolute paths. If
520 set, it is a list of directories that Git should not chdir up
521 into while looking for a repository directory (useful for
522 excluding slow-loading network directories). It will not
523 exclude the current working directory or a GIT_DIR set on the
524 command line or in the environment. Normally, Git has to read
525 the entries in this list and resolve any symlink that
526 might be present in order to compare them with the current
527 directory. However, if even this access is slow, you
528 can add an empty entry to the list to tell Git that the
529 subsequent entries are not symlinks and needn't be resolved;
531 `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=/maybe/symlink::/very/slow/non/symlink`.
533 `GIT_DISCOVERY_ACROSS_FILESYSTEM`::
534 When run in a directory that does not have ".git" repository
535 directory, Git tries to find such a directory in the parent
536 directories to find the top of the working tree, but by default it
537 does not cross filesystem boundaries. This Boolean environment variable
538 can be set to true to tell Git not to stop at filesystem
539 boundaries. Like `GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES`, this will not affect
540 an explicit repository directory set via `GIT_DIR` or on the
544 If this variable is set to a path, non-worktree files that are
545 normally in $GIT_DIR will be taken from this path
546 instead. Worktree-specific files such as HEAD or index are
547 taken from $GIT_DIR. See linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5] and
548 linkgit:git-worktree[1] for
549 details. This variable has lower precedence than other path
550 variables such as GIT_INDEX_FILE, GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY...
553 If this variable is set, the default hash algorithm for new
554 repositories will be set to this value. This value is
555 ignored when cloning and the setting of the remote repository
556 is always used. The default is "sha1".
557 See `--object-format` in linkgit:git-init[1].
562 The human-readable name used in the author identity when creating commit or
563 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.name` and
564 `author.name` configuration settings.
567 The email address used in the author identity when creating commit or
568 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.email` and
569 `author.email` configuration settings.
572 The date used for the author identity when creating commit or tag objects, or
573 when writing reflogs. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for valid formats.
575 `GIT_COMMITTER_NAME`::
576 The human-readable name used in the committer identity when creating commit or
577 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.name` and
578 `committer.name` configuration settings.
580 `GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL`::
581 The email address used in the author identity when creating commit or
582 tag objects, or when writing reflogs. Overrides the `user.email` and
583 `committer.email` configuration settings.
585 `GIT_COMMITTER_DATE`::
586 The date used for the committer identity when creating commit or tag objects, or
587 when writing reflogs. See linkgit:git-commit[1] for valid formats.
590 The email address used in the author and committer identities if no other
591 relevant environment variable or configuration setting has been set.
596 Only valid setting is "--unified=??" or "-u??" to set the
597 number of context lines shown when a unified diff is created.
598 This takes precedence over any "-U" or "--unified" option
599 value passed on the Git diff command line.
601 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF`::
602 When the environment variable `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is set, the
603 program named by it is called to generate diffs, and Git
604 does not use its builtin diff machinery.
605 For a path that is added, removed, or modified,
606 `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called with 7 parameters:
608 path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode
612 <old|new>-file:: are files GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF can use to read the
613 contents of <old|new>,
614 <old|new>-hex:: are the 40-hexdigit SHA-1 hashes,
615 <old|new>-mode:: are the octal representation of the file modes.
617 The file parameters can point at the user's working file
618 (e.g. `new-file` in "git-diff-files"), `/dev/null` (e.g. `old-file`
619 when a new file is added), or a temporary file (e.g. `old-file` in the
620 index). `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` should not worry about unlinking the
621 temporary file -- it is removed when `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` exits.
623 For a path that is unmerged, `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called with 1
626 For each path `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF` is called, two environment variables,
627 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_COUNTER` and `GIT_DIFF_PATH_TOTAL` are set.
629 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_COUNTER`::
630 A 1-based counter incremented by one for every path.
632 `GIT_DIFF_PATH_TOTAL`::
633 The total number of paths.
637 `GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY`::
638 A number controlling the amount of output shown by
639 the recursive merge strategy. Overrides merge.verbosity.
640 See linkgit:git-merge[1]
643 This environment variable overrides `$PAGER`. If it is set
644 to an empty string or to the value "cat", Git will not launch
645 a pager. See also the `core.pager` option in
646 linkgit:git-config[1].
648 `GIT_PROGRESS_DELAY`::
649 A number controlling how many seconds to delay before showing
650 optional progress indicators. Defaults to 2.
653 This environment variable overrides `$EDITOR` and `$VISUAL`.
654 It is used by several Git commands when, on interactive mode,
655 an editor is to be launched. See also linkgit:git-var[1]
656 and the `core.editor` option in linkgit:git-config[1].
658 `GIT_SEQUENCE_EDITOR`::
659 This environment variable overrides the configured Git editor
660 when editing the todo list of an interactive rebase. See also
661 linkgit:git-rebase[1] and the `sequence.editor` option in
662 linkgit:git-config[1].
666 If either of these environment variables is set then 'git fetch'
667 and 'git push' will use the specified command instead of 'ssh'
668 when they need to connect to a remote system.
669 The command-line parameters passed to the configured command are
670 determined by the ssh variant. See `ssh.variant` option in
671 linkgit:git-config[1] for details.
673 `$GIT_SSH_COMMAND` takes precedence over `$GIT_SSH`, and is interpreted
674 by the shell, which allows additional arguments to be included.
675 `$GIT_SSH` on the other hand must be just the path to a program
676 (which can be a wrapper shell script, if additional arguments are
679 Usually it is easier to configure any desired options through your
680 personal `.ssh/config` file. Please consult your ssh documentation
684 If this environment variable is set, it overrides Git's autodetection
685 whether `GIT_SSH`/`GIT_SSH_COMMAND`/`core.sshCommand` refer to OpenSSH,
686 plink or tortoiseplink. This variable overrides the config setting
687 `ssh.variant` that serves the same purpose.
689 `GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY`::
690 Setting and exporting this environment variable to any value
691 tells Git not to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or
695 Sets the treeish that gitattributes will be read from.
698 If this environment variable is set, then Git commands which need to
699 acquire passwords or passphrases (e.g. for HTTP or IMAP authentication)
700 will call this program with a suitable prompt as command-line argument
701 and read the password from its STDOUT. See also the `core.askPass`
702 option in linkgit:git-config[1].
704 `GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT`::
705 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, git will not prompt
706 on the terminal (e.g., when asking for HTTP authentication).
708 `GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL`::
709 `GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM`::
710 Take the configuration from the given files instead from global or
711 system-level configuration files. If `GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM` is set, the
712 system config file defined at build time (usually `/etc/gitconfig`)
713 will not be read. Likewise, if `GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL` is set, neither
714 `$HOME/.gitconfig` nor `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` will be read. Can
715 be set to `/dev/null` to skip reading configuration files of the
718 `GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM`::
719 Whether to skip reading settings from the system-wide
720 `$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig` file. This Boolean environment variable can
721 be used along with `$HOME` and `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` to create a
722 predictable environment for a picky script, or you can set it
723 to true to temporarily avoid using a buggy `/etc/gitconfig` file while
724 waiting for someone with sufficient permissions to fix it.
727 // NEEDSWORK: make it into a usual Boolean environment variable
728 If this environment variable is set to "1", then commands such
729 as 'git blame' (in incremental mode), 'git rev-list', 'git log',
730 'git check-attr' and 'git check-ignore' will
731 force a flush of the output stream after each record have been
733 variable is set to "0", the output of these commands will be done
734 using completely buffered I/O. If this environment variable is
735 not set, Git will choose buffered or record-oriented flushing
736 based on whether stdout appears to be redirected to a file or not.
739 Enables general trace messages, e.g. alias expansion, built-in
740 command execution and external command execution.
742 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
743 is case insensitive), trace messages will be printed to
746 If the variable is set to an integer value greater than 2
747 and lower than 10 (strictly) then Git will interpret this
748 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
749 trace messages into this file descriptor.
751 Alternatively, if the variable is set to an absolute path
752 (starting with a '/' character), Git will interpret this
753 as a file path and will try to append the trace messages
756 Unsetting the variable, or setting it to empty, "0" or
757 "false" (case insensitive) disables trace messages.
759 `GIT_TRACE_FSMONITOR`::
760 Enables trace messages for the filesystem monitor extension.
761 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
763 `GIT_TRACE_PACK_ACCESS`::
764 Enables trace messages for all accesses to any packs. For each
765 access, the pack file name and an offset in the pack is
766 recorded. This may be helpful for troubleshooting some
767 pack-related performance problems.
768 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
771 Enables trace messages for all packets coming in or out of a
772 given program. This can help with debugging object negotiation
773 or other protocol issues. Tracing is turned off at a packet
774 starting with "PACK" (but see `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE` below).
775 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
777 `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE`::
778 Enables tracing of packfiles sent or received by a
779 given program. Unlike other trace output, this trace is
780 verbatim: no headers, and no quoting of binary data. You almost
781 certainly want to direct into a file (e.g.,
782 `GIT_TRACE_PACKFILE=/tmp/my.pack`) rather than displaying it on
783 the terminal or mixing it with other trace output.
785 Note that this is currently only implemented for the client side
786 of clones and fetches.
788 `GIT_TRACE_PERFORMANCE`::
789 Enables performance related trace messages, e.g. total execution
790 time of each Git command.
791 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
794 Enables trace messages for operations on the ref database.
795 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
798 Enables trace messages printing the .git, working tree and current
799 working directory after Git has completed its setup phase.
800 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
802 `GIT_TRACE_SHALLOW`::
803 Enables trace messages that can help debugging fetching /
804 cloning of shallow repositories.
805 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
808 Enables a curl full trace dump of all incoming and outgoing data,
809 including descriptive information, of the git transport protocol.
810 This is similar to doing curl `--trace-ascii` on the command line.
811 See `GIT_TRACE` for available trace output options.
813 `GIT_TRACE_CURL_NO_DATA`::
814 When a curl trace is enabled (see `GIT_TRACE_CURL` above), do not dump
815 data (that is, only dump info lines and headers).
818 Enables more detailed trace messages from the "trace2" library.
819 Output from `GIT_TRACE2` is a simple text-based format for human
822 If this variable is set to "1", "2" or "true" (comparison
823 is case insensitive), trace messages will be printed to
826 If the variable is set to an integer value greater than 2
827 and lower than 10 (strictly) then Git will interpret this
828 value as an open file descriptor and will try to write the
829 trace messages into this file descriptor.
831 Alternatively, if the variable is set to an absolute path
832 (starting with a '/' character), Git will interpret this
833 as a file path and will try to append the trace messages
834 to it. If the path already exists and is a directory, the
835 trace messages will be written to files (one per process)
836 in that directory, named according to the last component
837 of the SID and an optional counter (to avoid filename
840 In addition, if the variable is set to
841 `af_unix:[<socket_type>:]<absolute-pathname>`, Git will try
842 to open the path as a Unix Domain Socket. The socket type
843 can be either `stream` or `dgram`.
845 Unsetting the variable, or setting it to empty, "0" or
846 "false" (case insensitive) disables trace messages.
848 See link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation]
853 This setting writes a JSON-based format that is suited for machine
855 See `GIT_TRACE2` for available trace output options and
856 link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation] for full details.
859 In addition to the text-based messages available in `GIT_TRACE2`, this
860 setting writes a column-based format for understanding nesting
862 See `GIT_TRACE2` for available trace output options and
863 link:technical/api-trace2.html[Trace2 documentation] for full details.
866 By default, when tracing is activated, Git redacts the values of
867 cookies, the "Authorization:" header, the "Proxy-Authorization:"
868 header and packfile URIs. Set this Boolean environment variable to false to prevent this
871 `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS`::
872 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
873 pathspecs literally, rather than as glob patterns. For example,
874 running `GIT_LITERAL_PATHSPECS=1 git log -- '*.c'` will search
875 for commits that touch the path `*.c`, not any paths that the
876 glob `*.c` matches. You might want this if you are feeding
877 literal paths to Git (e.g., paths previously given to you by
878 `git ls-tree`, `--raw` diff output, etc).
880 `GIT_GLOB_PATHSPECS`::
881 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
882 pathspecs as glob patterns (aka "glob" magic).
884 `GIT_NOGLOB_PATHSPECS`::
885 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
886 pathspecs as literal (aka "literal" magic).
888 `GIT_ICASE_PATHSPECS`::
889 Setting this Boolean environment variable to true will cause Git to treat all
890 pathspecs as case-insensitive.
892 `GIT_REFLOG_ACTION`::
893 When a ref is updated, reflog entries are created to keep
894 track of the reason why the ref was updated (which is
895 typically the name of the high-level command that updated
896 the ref), in addition to the old and new values of the ref.
897 A scripted Porcelain command can use set_reflog_action
898 helper function in `git-sh-setup` to set its name to this
899 variable when it is invoked as the top level command by the
900 end user, to be recorded in the body of the reflog.
903 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, ignore broken or badly named refs when iterating
904 over lists of refs. Normally Git will try to include any such
905 refs, which may cause some operations to fail. This is usually
906 preferable, as potentially destructive operations (e.g.,
907 linkgit:git-prune[1]) are better off aborting rather than
908 ignoring broken refs (and thus considering the history they
909 point to as not worth saving). The default value is `1` (i.e.,
910 be paranoid about detecting and aborting all operations). You
911 should not normally need to set this to `0`, but it may be
912 useful when trying to salvage data from a corrupted repository.
914 `GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL`::
915 If set to a colon-separated list of protocols, behave as if
916 `protocol.allow` is set to `never`, and each of the listed
917 protocols has `protocol.<name>.allow` set to `always`
918 (overriding any existing configuration). See the description of
919 `protocol.allow` in linkgit:git-config[1] for more details.
921 `GIT_PROTOCOL_FROM_USER`::
922 Set this Boolean environment variable to false to prevent protocols used by fetch/push/clone which are
923 configured to the `user` state. This is useful to restrict recursive
924 submodule initialization from an untrusted repository or for programs
925 which feed potentially-untrusted URLS to git commands. See
926 linkgit:git-config[1] for more details.
929 For internal use only. Used in handshaking the wire protocol.
930 Contains a colon ':' separated list of keys with optional values
931 'key[=value]'. Presence of unknown keys and values must be
934 Note that servers may need to be configured to allow this variable to
935 pass over some transports. It will be propagated automatically when
936 accessing local repositories (i.e., `file://` or a filesystem path), as
937 well as over the `git://` protocol. For git-over-http, it should work
938 automatically in most configurations, but see the discussion in
939 linkgit:git-http-backend[1]. For git-over-ssh, the ssh server may need
940 to be configured to allow clients to pass this variable (e.g., by using
941 `AcceptEnv GIT_PROTOCOL` with OpenSSH).
943 This configuration is optional. If the variable is not propagated, then
944 clients will fall back to the original "v0" protocol (but may miss out
945 on some performance improvements or features). This variable currently
946 only affects clones and fetches; it is not yet used for pushes (but may
949 `GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS`::
950 If this Boolean environment variable is set to false, Git will complete any requested operation without
951 performing any optional sub-operations that require taking a lock.
952 For example, this will prevent `git status` from refreshing the
953 index as a side effect. This is useful for processes running in
954 the background which do not want to cause lock contention with
955 other operations on the repository. Defaults to `1`.
957 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDIN`::
958 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDOUT`::
959 `GIT_REDIRECT_STDERR`::
960 Windows-only: allow redirecting the standard input/output/error
961 handles to paths specified by the environment variables. This is
962 particularly useful in multi-threaded applications where the
963 canonical way to pass standard handles via `CreateProcess()` is
964 not an option because it would require the handles to be marked
965 inheritable (and consequently *every* spawned process would
966 inherit them, possibly blocking regular Git operations). The
967 primary intended use case is to use named pipes for communication
968 (e.g. `\\.\pipe\my-git-stdin-123`).
970 Two special values are supported: `off` will simply close the
971 corresponding standard handle, and if `GIT_REDIRECT_STDERR` is
972 `2>&1`, standard error will be redirected to the same handle as
975 `GIT_PRINT_SHA1_ELLIPSIS` (deprecated)::
976 If set to `yes`, print an ellipsis following an
977 (abbreviated) SHA-1 value. This affects indications of
978 detached HEADs (linkgit:git-checkout[1]) and the raw
979 diff output (linkgit:git-diff[1]). Printing an
980 ellipsis in the cases mentioned is no longer considered
981 adequate and support for it is likely to be removed in the
982 foreseeable future (along with the variable).
984 Discussion[[Discussion]]
985 ------------------------
987 More detail on the following is available from the
988 link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
989 user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7].
991 A Git project normally consists of a working directory with a ".git"
992 subdirectory at the top level. The .git directory contains, among other
993 things, a compressed object database representing the complete history
994 of the project, an "index" file which links that history to the current
995 contents of the working tree, and named pointers into that history such
996 as tags and branch heads.
998 The object database contains objects of three main types: blobs, which
999 hold file data; trees, which point to blobs and other trees to build up
1000 directory hierarchies; and commits, which each reference a single tree
1001 and some number of parent commits.
1003 The commit, equivalent to what other systems call a "changeset" or
1004 "version", represents a step in the project's history, and each parent
1005 represents an immediately preceding step. Commits with more than one
1006 parent represent merges of independent lines of development.
1008 All objects are named by the SHA-1 hash of their contents, normally
1009 written as a string of 40 hex digits. Such names are globally unique.
1010 The entire history leading up to a commit can be vouched for by signing
1011 just that commit. A fourth object type, the tag, is provided for this
1014 When first created, objects are stored in individual files, but for
1015 efficiency may later be compressed together into "pack files".
1017 Named pointers called refs mark interesting points in history. A ref
1018 may contain the SHA-1 name of an object or the name of another ref. Refs
1019 with names beginning `ref/head/` contain the SHA-1 name of the most
1020 recent commit (or "head") of a branch under development. SHA-1 names of
1021 tags of interest are stored under `ref/tags/`. A special ref named
1022 `HEAD` contains the name of the currently checked-out branch.
1024 The index file is initialized with a list of all paths and, for each
1025 path, a blob object and a set of attributes. The blob object represents
1026 the contents of the file as of the head of the current branch. The
1027 attributes (last modified time, size, etc.) are taken from the
1028 corresponding file in the working tree. Subsequent changes to the
1029 working tree can be found by comparing these attributes. The index may
1030 be updated with new content, and new commits may be created from the
1031 content stored in the index.
1033 The index is also capable of storing multiple entries (called "stages")
1034 for a given pathname. These stages are used to hold the various
1035 unmerged version of a file when a merge is in progress.
1037 FURTHER DOCUMENTATION
1038 ---------------------
1040 See the references in the "description" section to get started
1041 using Git. The following is probably more detail than necessary
1042 for a first-time user.
1044 The link:user-manual.html#git-concepts[Git concepts chapter of the
1045 user-manual] and linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7] both provide
1046 introductions to the underlying Git architecture.
1048 See linkgit:gitworkflows[7] for an overview of recommended workflows.
1050 See also the link:howto-index.html[howto] documents for some useful
1053 The internals are documented in the
1054 link:technical/api-index.html[Git API documentation].
1056 Users migrating from CVS may also want to
1057 read linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
1062 Git was started by Linus Torvalds, and is currently maintained by Junio
1063 C Hamano. Numerous contributions have come from the Git mailing list
1064 <git@vger.kernel.org>. http://www.openhub.net/p/git/contributors/summary
1065 gives you a more complete list of contributors.
1067 If you have a clone of git.git itself, the
1068 output of linkgit:git-shortlog[1] and linkgit:git-blame[1] can show you
1069 the authors for specific parts of the project.
1074 Report bugs to the Git mailing list <git@vger.kernel.org> where the
1075 development and maintenance is primarily done. You do not have to be
1076 subscribed to the list to send a message there. See the list archive
1077 at https://lore.kernel.org/git for previous bug reports and other
1080 Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to
1081 the Git Security mailing list <git-security@googlegroups.com>.
1085 linkgit:gittutorial[7], linkgit:gittutorial-2[7],
1086 linkgit:giteveryday[7], linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7],
1087 linkgit:gitglossary[7], linkgit:gitcore-tutorial[7],
1088 linkgit:gitcli[7], link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual],
1089 linkgit:gitworkflows[7]
1093 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite