6 git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories
12 'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>...
13 'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...]
15 'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>]
20 This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories
23 Create a new git repository from an existing p4 repository using
24 'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate
25 new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command
26 is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths.
27 Submit git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command
28 'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto
29 the updated p4 remote branch.
37 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
40 * Do some work in the newly created git repository:
45 $ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h"
48 * Update the git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your
55 * Submit your commits back to p4:
67 Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new git directory
68 from an existing p4 repository:
70 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project
74 1. Creates an empty git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'.
76 2. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4
77 depot path into a single commit in the git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'.
79 3. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out.
81 To reproduce the entire p4 history in git, use the '@all' modifier on
84 $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all
90 As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can
91 be included in the git repository using:
95 This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as git commits.
97 P4 repositories can be added to an existing git repository using
103 $ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot
105 This imports the specified depot into
106 'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing git repository. The
107 '--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to
108 be used for the p4 content.
110 If a git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these
111 will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since
112 importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes
113 from a git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment.
118 A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot
119 and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository
120 is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes
121 sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move
122 local commits on top of updated p4 changes.
130 Submitting changes from a git repository back to the p4 repository
131 requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified
132 using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the git configuration
133 variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root
134 will be created and populated if it does not already exist.
136 To submit all changes that are in the current git branch but not in
137 the 'p4/master' branch, use:
142 To specify a branch other than the current one, use:
144 $ git p4 submit topicbranch
147 The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can
148 be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option.
150 The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The
151 '--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified
152 according to the author of the git commit. This option requires admin
153 privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'.
161 All commands except clone accept this option.
164 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1].
168 These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in
169 subsequent 'sync' operations.
172 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with
173 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
174 will be prepended. The default branch is 'master'. If used
175 with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out.
177 This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing
181 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2
185 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is
186 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION".
188 --changesfile <file>::
189 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per
190 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository
191 state and detects the changes it should import.
194 Do not print any progress information.
197 Provide more progress information.
200 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
204 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
205 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by
206 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead
207 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future
208 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that
209 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads.
212 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to
213 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision
217 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
218 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this
219 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example,
220 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
221 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the
222 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
225 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
226 See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below.
230 These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync'
231 options described above.
233 --destination <directory>::
234 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last
235 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
239 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
242 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning.
246 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior.
249 Provide more progress information.
252 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to
253 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable
257 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be
258 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There
259 is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are
260 variables for both moves and copies.
263 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option
264 requires p4 admin privileges.
269 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
270 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
271 p4 revision specifier on the end:
273 "//depot/my/project"::
274 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
276 "//depot/my/project@all"::
277 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
279 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
280 Import only changes 1 through 6.
282 "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
283 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
284 repository. Only files below these directories are included.
285 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
286 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
287 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified
288 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the
289 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
290 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
292 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
297 The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command
298 and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot
299 is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands
300 can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or
301 when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the
302 useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository
303 configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to
304 work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does
305 not have a command-line option.
307 The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4'
308 knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line
309 mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes
310 around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles
311 '...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain
312 if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.
314 Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot
315 paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository,
316 'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without
317 dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'.
319 The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The
320 variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise,
321 normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment
322 variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name.
327 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
328 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
329 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
330 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
331 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4'
332 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
334 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
335 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
336 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
337 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
339 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
345 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
347 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
350 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
352 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
354 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
355 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
357 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
358 them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
359 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
360 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
361 relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
362 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
363 the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the
364 presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
367 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
368 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
374 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
375 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
376 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
377 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
380 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
381 -----------------------
382 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
383 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
388 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
389 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
392 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
394 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
397 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
399 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
402 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
404 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
407 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
408 '-c <client>', including the client spec.
410 Clone and sync variables
411 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
412 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
413 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
414 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
415 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
416 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
417 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
420 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
421 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are
422 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned
423 by the single user named in the variable.
426 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
427 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
428 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and
429 branchB were created from main:
431 git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA
432 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
435 git-p4.useClientSpec::
436 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4
437 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the
438 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above.
439 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client.
443 git-p4.detectRenames::
444 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
446 git-p4.detectCopies::
447 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
449 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
450 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
452 git-p4.preserveUser::
453 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
454 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
456 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
457 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
458 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting
459 submits the change regardless.
461 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
462 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
463 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing
466 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
467 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
468 the description really was changed by looking at the file
469 modification time. This option disables that test.
472 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
473 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only
474 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names
475 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be
476 separated by commas (","), with no spaces.
478 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
479 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
480 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force
481 submission regardless.
483 git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup:
484 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords
485 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent
486 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at
489 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
490 ----------------------
491 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
492 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
493 collected using 'p4 print'.
494 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
495 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
496 this p4 client and submitted from there.
497 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
498 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This
499 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4