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 'master'. If used
178 with an initial clone, no HEAD will be checked out.
180 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.
273 These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior.
280 The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can
281 be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional
282 p4 revision specifier on the end:
284 "//depot/my/project"::
285 Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree.
287 "//depot/my/project@all"::
288 Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path.
290 "//depot/my/project@1,6"::
291 Import only changes 1 through 6.
293 "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all"::
294 Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single
295 repository. Only files below these directories are included.
296 There is not a subdirectory in git for each "proj1" and "proj2".
297 You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more
298 than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified
299 identically on each depot path. If there are files in the
300 depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently
301 updated version of the file is the one that appears in git.
303 See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers.
308 The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command
309 and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot
310 is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands
311 can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or
312 when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the
313 useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository
314 configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to
315 work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does
316 not have a command-line option.
318 The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'Git p4'
319 knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line
320 mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes
321 around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles
322 '...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'Git p4' will complain
323 if it encounters an unhandled wildcard.
325 Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot
326 paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository,
327 'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without
328 dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'.
330 The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The
331 variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise,
332 normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment
333 variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name.
338 P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as git. Instead,
339 p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention
340 different logical branches are in different locations in the tree.
341 The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between
342 different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4'
343 can use these mappings to determine branch relationships.
345 If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as
346 subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches'
347 when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find
348 subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in git.
350 For example, if the P4 repository structure is:
356 And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like:
358 //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/...
361 Then this 'git p4 clone' command:
363 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
365 produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main,
366 called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'.
368 However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use
369 them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch
370 relationships automatically, a git configuration setting
371 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch
372 relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a
373 simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are
374 the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the
375 presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will
378 git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1
379 git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all
385 The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for
386 each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, git garbage compression
387 (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files,
388 but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance.
391 CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
392 -----------------------
393 The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior.
394 They all are in the 'git-p4' section.
399 User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'.
400 The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead.
403 Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
405 The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead.
408 Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
410 The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead.
413 Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
415 The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead.
418 Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with
419 '-c <client>', including the client spec.
421 Clone and sync variables
422 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
423 git-p4.syncFromOrigin::
424 Because importing commits from other git repositories is much faster
425 than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes
426 first in git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4',
427 those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This
428 variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior.
431 One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches
432 to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are
433 inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned
434 by the single user named in the variable.
437 List of branches to be imported when branch detection is
438 enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated
439 by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and
440 branchB were created from main:
443 git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA
444 git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB
447 git-p4.ignoredP4Labels::
448 List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as
449 unimportable labels are discovered.
451 git-p4.importLabels::
452 Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels.
454 git-p4.labelImportRegexp::
455 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The
456 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
458 git-p4.useClientSpec::
459 Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4
460 depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the
461 option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above.
462 This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client.
466 git-p4.detectRenames::
467 Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
469 git-p4.detectCopies::
470 Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
472 git-p4.detectCopiesHarder::
473 Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1].
475 git-p4.preserveUser::
476 On submit, re-author changes to reflect the git author,
477 regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'.
479 git-p4.allowMissingP4Users::
480 When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it
481 cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting
482 submits the change regardless.
484 git-p4.skipSubmitEdit::
485 The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change
486 is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing
489 git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck::
490 After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that
491 the description really was changed by looking at the file
492 modification time. This option disables that test.
495 By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4
496 submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only
497 the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names
498 must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be
499 separated by commas (","), with no spaces.
501 git-p4.skipUserNameCheck::
502 If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4
503 user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force
504 submission regardless.
506 git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup:
507 If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords
508 ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent
509 the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at
512 git-p4.exportLabels::
513 Export git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels.
515 git-p4.labelExportRegexp::
516 Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The
517 default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'.
519 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
520 ----------------------
521 * Changesets from p4 are imported using git fast-import.
522 * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are
523 collected using 'p4 print'.
524 * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location
525 as the git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to
526 this p4 client and submitted from there.
527 * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log
528 message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This
529 line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4