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 these options.
164 Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1].
167 Provide more progress information.
171 These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in
172 subsequent 'sync' operations.
175 Import changes into given branch. If the branch starts with
176 'refs/', it will be used as is, otherwise the path 'refs/heads/'
177 will be prepended. The default branch is 'p4/master'.
179 This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing
184 $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2
188 Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is
189 documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION".
191 --changesfile <file>::
192 Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per
193 line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository
194 state and detects the changes it should import.
197 Do not print any progress information.
200 Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add
201 them as tags in git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels
202 associated with new changelists. Deprecated.
205 Import labels from p4 into git.
208 By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/',
209 where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by
210 linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead
211 puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future
212 sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that
213 they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads.
216 Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to
217 limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision
221 The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to git, by
222 default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this
223 option, the full p4 depot path is retained in git. For example,
224 path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from
225 '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the
226 git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'.
229 Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4.
230 See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below.
234 These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync'
235 options described above.
237 --destination <directory>::
238 Where to create the git repository. If not provided, the last
239 component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new
243 Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
246 Exclude selected depot paths when cloning.
250 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior.
253 Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to
254 p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable
258 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be
259 represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There
260 is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are
261 variables for both moves and copies.
264 Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option
265 requires p4 admin privileges.
268 Export tags from git as p4 labels. Tags found in git are applied
269 to the perforce working directory.
272 Show just what commits would be submitted to p4; do not change
276 Apply a commit to the p4 workspace, opening, adding and deleting
277 files in p4 as for a normal submit operation. Do not issue the
278 final "p4 submit", but instead print a message about how to
279 submit manually or revert. This option always stops after the
280 first (oldest) commit. Git tags are not exported to p4.
282 --conflict=(ask|skip|quit)::
283 Conflicts can occur when applying a commit to p4. When this
284 happens, the default behavior ("ask") is to prompt whether to
285 skip this commit and continue, or quit. This option can be used
286 to bypass the prompt, causing conflicting commits to be automatically
287 skipped, or to quit trying to apply commits, without prompting.
291 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior.
298 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
299 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
300 p4 revision specifier on the end:
302 "//depot/my/project"::
303 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
305 "//depot/my/project@all"::
306 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
308 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
309 Import only changes 1 through 6.
311 "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
312 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
313 repository. Only files below these directories are included.
314 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
315 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
316 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified
317 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the
318 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
319 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
321 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
326 The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command
327 and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot
328 is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands
329 can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or
330 when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the
331 useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository
332 configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to
333 work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does
334 not have a command-line option.
336 The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4'
337 knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line
338 mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes
339 around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles
340 '...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain
341 if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.
343 Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot
344 paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository,
345 'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without
346 dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'.
348 The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The
349 variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise,
350 normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment
351 variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name.
356 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
357 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
358 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
359 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
360 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4'
361 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
363 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
364 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
365 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
366 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
368 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
374 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
376 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
379 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
381 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
383 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
384 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
386 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
387 them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
388 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
389 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
390 relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
391 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
392 the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the
393 presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
396 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
397 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
403 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
404 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
405 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
406 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
409 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
410 -----------------------
411 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
412 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
417 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
418 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
421 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
423 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
426 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
428 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
431 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
433 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
436 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
437 '-c <client>', including the client spec.
439 Clone and sync variables
440 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
441 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
442 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
443 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
444 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
445 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
446 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
449 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
450 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are
451 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned
452 by the single user named in the variable.
455 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
456 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
457 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and
458 branchB were created from main:
461 git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA
462 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
465 git-p4.ignoredP4Labels::
466 List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as
467 unimportable labels are discovered.
469 git-p4.importLabels::
470 Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels.
472 git-p4.labelImportRegexp::
473 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The
474 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
476 git-p4.useClientSpec::
477 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4
478 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the
479 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above.
480 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client.
484 git-p4.detectRenames::
485 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true,
486 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -M'.
488 git-p4.detectCopies::
489 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true,
490 false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -C'.
492 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
493 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. A boolean.
495 git-p4.preserveUser::
496 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
497 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
499 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
500 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
501 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting
502 submits the change regardless.
504 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
505 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
506 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing
509 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
510 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
511 the description really was changed by looking at the file
512 modification time. This option disables that test.
515 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
516 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only
517 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names
518 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be
519 separated by commas (","), with no spaces.
521 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
522 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
523 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force
524 submission regardless.
526 git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup::
527 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords
528 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent
529 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at
532 git-p4.exportLabels::
533 Export git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels.
535 git-p4.labelExportRegexp::
536 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The
537 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
540 Specify submit behavior when a conflict with p4 is found, as per
541 --conflict. The default behavior is 'ask'.
543 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
544 ----------------------
545 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
546 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
547 collected using 'p4 print'.
548 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
549 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
550 this p4 client and submitted from there.
551 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
552 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This
553 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4