6 git-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
12 'git bundle' create [-q | --quiet | --progress | --all-progress] [--all-progress-implied]
13 [--version=<version>] <file> <git-rev-list-args>
14 'git bundle' verify [-q | --quiet] <file>
15 'git bundle' list-heads <file> [<refname>...]
16 'git bundle' unbundle [--progress] <file> [<refname>...]
21 Create, unpack, and manipulate "bundle" files. Bundles are used for
22 the "offline" transfer of Git objects without an active "server"
23 sitting on the other side of the network connection.
25 They can be used to create both incremental and full backups of a
26 repository, and to relay the state of the references in one repository
29 Git commands that fetch or otherwise "read" via protocols such as
30 `ssh://` and `https://` can also operate on bundle files. It is
31 possible linkgit:git-clone[1] a new repository from a bundle, to use
32 linkgit:git-fetch[1] to fetch from one, and to list the references
33 contained within it with linkgit:git-ls-remote[1]. There's no
34 corresponding "write" support, i.e.a 'git push' into a bundle is not
37 See the "EXAMPLES" section below for examples of how to use bundles.
42 Bundles are `.pack` files (see linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]) with a
43 header indicating what references are contained within the bundle.
45 Like the the packed archive format itself bundles can either be
46 self-contained, or be created using exclusions.
47 See the "OBJECT PREREQUISITES" section below.
49 Bundles created using revision exclusions are "thin packs" created
50 using the `--thin` option to linkgit:git-pack-objects[1], and
51 unbundled using the `--fix-thin` option to linkgit:git-index-pack[1].
53 There is no option to create a "thick pack" when using revision
54 exclusions, and users should not be concerned about the difference. By
55 using "thin packs", bundles created using exclusions are smaller in
56 size. That they're "thin" under the hood is merely noted here as a
57 curiosity, and as a reference to other documentation.
59 See link:technical/bundle-format.html[the `bundle-format`
60 documentation] for more details and the discussion of "thin pack" in
61 link:technical/pack-format.html[the pack format documentation] for
67 create [options] <file> <git-rev-list-args>::
68 Used to create a bundle named 'file'. This requires the
69 '<git-rev-list-args>' arguments to define the bundle contents.
70 'options' contains the options specific to the 'git bundle create'
74 Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply
75 cleanly to the current repository. This includes checks on the
76 bundle format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite
77 commits exist and are fully linked in the current repository.
78 Then, 'git bundle' prints a list of missing commits, if any.
79 Finally, information about additional capabilities, such as "object
80 filter", is printed. See "Capabilities" in link:technical/bundle-format.html
81 for more information. The exit code is zero for success, but will
82 be nonzero if the bundle file is invalid.
85 Lists the references defined in the bundle. If followed by a
86 list of references, only references matching those given are
90 Passes the objects in the bundle to 'git index-pack'
91 for storage in the repository, then prints the names of all
92 defined references. If a list of references is given, only
93 references matching those in the list are printed. This command is
94 really plumbing, intended to be called only by 'git fetch'.
97 A list of arguments, acceptable to 'git rev-parse' and
98 'git rev-list' (and containing a named ref, see SPECIFYING REFERENCES
99 below), that specifies the specific objects and references
100 to transport. For example, `master~10..master` causes the
101 current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
102 added since its 10th ancestor commit. There is no explicit
103 limit to the number of references and objects that may be
108 A list of references used to limit the references reported as
109 available. This is principally of use to 'git fetch', which
110 expects to receive only those references asked for and not
111 necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, 'git bundle' acts
112 like 'git fetch-pack').
115 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
116 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
117 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if
118 the standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
121 When --stdout is specified then progress report is
122 displayed during the object count and compression phases
123 but inhibited during the write-out phase. The reason is
124 that in some cases the output stream is directly linked
125 to another command which may wish to display progress
126 status of its own as it processes incoming pack data.
127 This flag is like --progress except that it forces progress
128 report for the write-out phase as well even if --stdout is
131 --all-progress-implied::
132 This is used to imply --all-progress whenever progress display
133 is activated. Unlike --all-progress this flag doesn't actually
134 force any progress display by itself.
136 --version=<version>::
137 Specify the bundle version. Version 2 is the older format and can only be
138 used with SHA-1 repositories; the newer version 3 contains capabilities that
139 permit extensions. The default is the oldest supported format, based on the
140 hash algorithm in use.
144 This flag makes the command not to report its progress
145 on the standard error stream.
147 SPECIFYING REFERENCES
148 ---------------------
150 Revisions must be accompanied by reference names to be packaged in a
153 More than one reference may be packaged, and more than one set of prerequisite objects can
154 be specified. The objects packaged are those not contained in the
155 union of the prerequisites.
157 The 'git bundle create' command resolves the reference names for you
158 using the same rules as `git rev-parse --abbrev-ref=loose`. Each
159 prerequisite can be specified explicitly (e.g. `^master~10`), or implicitly
160 (e.g. `master~10..master`, `--since=10.days.ago master`).
162 All of these simple cases are OK (assuming we have a "master" and
166 $ git bundle create master.bundle master
167 $ echo master | git bundle create master.bundle --stdin
168 $ git bundle create master-and-next.bundle master next
169 $ (echo master; echo next) | git bundle create master-and-next.bundle --stdin
172 And so are these (and the same but omitted `--stdin` examples):
175 $ git bundle create recent-master.bundle master~10..master
176 $ git bundle create recent-updates.bundle master~10..master next~5..next
179 A revision name or a range whose right-hand-side cannot be resolved to
180 a reference is not accepted:
183 $ git bundle create HEAD.bundle $(git rev-parse HEAD)
184 fatal: Refusing to create empty bundle.
185 $ git bundle create master-yesterday.bundle master~10..master~5
186 fatal: Refusing to create empty bundle.
192 When creating bundles it is possible to create a self-contained bundle
193 that can be unbundled in a repository with no common history, as well
194 as providing negative revisions to exclude objects needed in the
195 earlier parts of the history.
197 Feeding a revision such as `new` to `git bundle create` will create a
198 bundle file that contains all the objects reachable from the revision
199 `new`. That bundle can be unbundled in any repository to obtain a full
200 history that leads to the revision `new`:
203 $ git bundle create full.bundle new
206 A revision range such as `old..new` will produce a bundle file that
207 will require the revision `old` (and any objects reachable from it)
208 to exist for the bundle to be "unbundle"-able:
211 $ git bundle create full.bundle old..new
214 A self-contained bundle without any prerequisites can be extracted
215 into anywhere, even into an empty repository, or be cloned from
216 (i.e., `new`, but not `old..new`).
218 It is okay to err on the side of caution, causing the bundle file
219 to contain objects already in the destination, as these are ignored
220 when unpacking at the destination.
222 If you want to match `git clone --mirror`, which would include your
223 refs such as `refs/remotes/*`, use `--all`.
224 If you want to provide the same set of refs that a clone directly
225 from the source repository would get, use `--branches --tags` for
226 the `<git-rev-list-args>`.
228 The 'git bundle verify' command can be used to check whether your
229 recipient repository has the required prerequisite commits for a
235 Assume you want to transfer the history from a repository R1 on machine A
236 to another repository R2 on machine B.
237 For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
238 but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc.).
239 We want to update R2 with development made on the branch master in R1.
241 To bootstrap the process, you can first create a bundle that does not have
242 any prerequisites. You can use a tag to remember up to what commit you last
243 processed, in order to make it easy to later update the other repository
244 with an incremental bundle:
248 machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle master
249 machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
252 Then you transfer file.bundle to the target machine B. Because this
253 bundle does not require any existing object to be extracted, you can
254 create a new repository on machine B by cloning from it:
257 machineB$ git clone -b master /home/me/tmp/file.bundle R2
260 This will define a remote called "origin" in the resulting repository that
261 lets you fetch and pull from the bundle. The $GIT_DIR/config file in R2 will
262 have an entry like this:
264 ------------------------
266 url = /home/me/tmp/file.bundle
267 fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
268 ------------------------
270 To update the resulting mine.git repository, you can fetch or pull after
271 replacing the bundle stored at /home/me/tmp/file.bundle with incremental
274 After working some more in the original repository, you can create an
275 incremental bundle to update the other repository:
279 machineA$ git bundle create file.bundle lastR2bundle..master
280 machineA$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
283 You then transfer the bundle to the other machine to replace
284 /home/me/tmp/file.bundle, and pull from it.
291 If you know up to what commit the intended recipient repository should
292 have the necessary objects, you can use that knowledge to specify the
293 prerequisites, giving a cut-off point to limit the revisions and objects that go
294 in the resulting bundle. The previous example used the lastR2bundle tag
295 for this purpose, but you can use any other options that you would give to
296 the linkgit:git-log[1] command. Here are more examples:
298 You can use a tag that is present in both:
301 $ git bundle create mybundle v1.0.0..master
304 You can use a prerequisite based on time:
307 $ git bundle create mybundle --since=10.days master
310 You can use the number of commits:
313 $ git bundle create mybundle -10 master
316 You can run `git-bundle verify` to see if you can extract from a bundle
317 that was created with a prerequisite:
320 $ git bundle verify mybundle
323 This will list what commits you must have in order to extract from the
324 bundle and will error out if you do not have them.
326 A bundle from a recipient repository's point of view is just like a
327 regular repository which it fetches or pulls from. You can, for example, map
328 references when fetching:
331 $ git fetch mybundle master:localRef
334 You can also see what references it offers:
337 $ git ls-remote mybundle
342 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite