1 gitrepository-layout(5)
2 =======================
6 gitrepository-layout - Git Repository Layout
15 You may find these things in your git repository (`.git`
16 directory for a repository associated with your working tree, or
17 `<project>.git` directory for a public 'bare' repository. It is
18 also possible to have a working tree where `.git` is a plain
19 ASCII file containing `gitdir: <path>`, i.e. the path to the
23 Object store associated with this repository. Usually
24 an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
25 that are referred to by an object found in it are also
26 found in it), but there are a few ways to violate it.
28 . You could have an incomplete but locally usable repository
29 by creating a shallow clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
30 . You could be using the `objects/info/alternates` or
31 `$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanisms to 'borrow'
32 objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
33 of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
34 use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
35 `objects/info/alternates` points at the object stores it
38 objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
39 A newly created object is stored in its own file.
40 The objects are splayed over 256 subdirectories using
41 the first two characters of the sha1 object name to
42 keep the number of directory entries in `objects`
43 itself to a manageable number. Objects found
44 here are often called 'unpacked' (or 'loose') objects.
47 Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
48 along with index files to allow them to be randomly
49 accessed) are found in this directory.
52 Additional information about the object store is
53 recorded in this directory.
56 This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
57 are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
58 added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
59 to keep this file up-to-date if the repository is
60 published for dumb transports. 'git repack' does this
63 objects/info/alternates::
64 This file records paths to alternate object stores that
65 this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
66 line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
67 but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
68 will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
69 to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
70 alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
71 paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
72 is the same. See also 'objects/info/http-alternates'.
74 objects/info/http-alternates::
75 This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
76 this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
77 the repository is fetched over HTTP.
80 References are stored in subdirectories of this
81 directory. The 'git prune' command knows to preserve
82 objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
86 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
89 records any object name (not necessarily a commit
90 object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
93 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branches copied
94 from a remote repository.
97 records the same information as refs/heads/, refs/tags/,
98 and friends record in a more efficient way. See
99 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1].
102 A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
103 describing the currently active branch. It does not mean
104 much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
105 (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid git repository
106 *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
107 guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
108 (usually 'master'). It is legal if the named branch
109 'name' does not (yet) exist. In some legacy setups, it is
110 a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
113 HEAD can also record a specific commit directly, instead of
114 being a symref to point at the current branch. Such a state
115 is often called 'detached HEAD.' See linkgit:git-checkout[1]
119 A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
120 to specify a URL to 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push'.
121 A file can be stored as `branches/<name>` and then
122 'name' can be given to these commands in place of
123 'repository' argument. See the REMOTES section in
124 linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
125 and not likely to be found in modern repositories.
128 Hooks are customization scripts used by various git
129 commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
130 'git init' is run, but all of them are disabled by
131 default. To enable, the `.sample` suffix has to be
132 removed from the filename by renaming.
133 Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about
137 The current index file for the repository. It is
138 usually not found in a bare repository.
141 Additional information about the repository is recorded
145 This file helps dumb transports discover what refs are
146 available in this repository. If the repository is
147 published for dumb transports, this file should be
148 regenerated by 'git update-server-info' every time a tag
149 or branch is created or modified. This is normally done
150 from the `hooks/update` hook, which is run by the
151 'git-receive-pack' command when you 'git push' into the
155 This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
156 pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
157 from how the commit was actually created. One record
158 per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
159 listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
160 by a space and terminated by a newline.
163 This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
164 exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
165 ignore file. 'git status', 'git add', 'git rm' and
166 'git clean' look at it but the core git commands do not look
167 at it. See also: linkgit:gitignore[5].
170 Stores shorthands for URL and default refnames for use
171 when interacting with remote repositories via 'git fetch',
172 'git pull' and 'git push' commands. See the REMOTES section
173 in linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
174 and not likely to be found in modern repositories.
177 Records of changes made to refs are stored in this
178 directory. See linkgit:git-update-ref[1]
179 for more information.
181 logs/refs/heads/`name`::
182 Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
184 logs/refs/tags/`name`::
185 Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.
188 This is similar to `info/grafts` but is internally used
189 and maintained by shallow clone mechanism. See `--depth`
190 option to linkgit:git-clone[1] and linkgit:git-fetch[1].
195 linkgit:git-clone[1],
196 linkgit:git-fetch[1],
197 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1],
199 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
200 linkgit:gitglossary[7],
201 link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual]
205 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite.