1 gitrepository-layout(5)
2 =======================
6 gitrepository-layout - Git Repository Layout
15 A Git repository comes in two different flavours:
17 * a `.git` directory at the root of the working tree;
19 * a `<project>.git` directory that is a 'bare' repository
20 (i.e. without its own working tree), that is typically used for
21 exchanging histories with others by pushing into it and fetching
24 *Note*: Also you can have a plain text file `.git` at the root of
25 your working tree, containing `gitdir: <path>` to point at the real
26 directory that has the repository. This mechanism is often used for
27 a working tree of a submodule checkout, to allow you in the
28 containing superproject to `git checkout` a branch that does not
29 have the submodule. The `checkout` has to remove the entire
30 submodule working tree, without losing the submodule repository.
32 These things may exist in a Git repository.
35 Object store associated with this repository. Usually
36 an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
37 that are referred to by an object found in it are also
38 found in it), but there are a few ways to violate it.
40 . You could have an incomplete but locally usable repository
41 by creating a shallow clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
42 . You could be using the `objects/info/alternates` or
43 `$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanisms to 'borrow'
44 objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
45 of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
46 use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
47 `objects/info/alternates` points at the object stores it
50 This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
51 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/objects" will be used instead.
53 objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
54 A newly created object is stored in its own file.
55 The objects are splayed over 256 subdirectories using
56 the first two characters of the sha1 object name to
57 keep the number of directory entries in `objects`
58 itself to a manageable number. Objects found
59 here are often called 'unpacked' (or 'loose') objects.
62 Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
63 along with index files to allow them to be randomly
64 accessed) are found in this directory.
67 Additional information about the object store is
68 recorded in this directory.
71 This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
72 are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
73 added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
74 to keep this file up-to-date if the repository is
75 published for dumb transports. 'git repack' does this
78 objects/info/alternates::
79 This file records paths to alternate object stores that
80 this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
81 line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
82 but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
83 will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
84 to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
85 alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
86 paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
87 is the same. See also 'objects/info/http-alternates'.
89 objects/info/http-alternates::
90 This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
91 this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
92 the repository is fetched over HTTP.
95 References are stored in subdirectories of this
96 directory. The 'git prune' command knows to preserve
97 objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
98 its subdirectories. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
99 is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/refs" will be used instead.
102 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
105 records any object name (not necessarily a commit
106 object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
108 refs/remotes/`name`::
109 records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branches copied
110 from a remote repository.
112 refs/replace/`<obj-sha1>`::
113 records the SHA-1 of the object that replaces `<obj-sha1>`.
114 This is similar to info/grafts and is internally used and
115 maintained by linkgit:git-replace[1]. Such refs can be exchanged
116 between repositories while grafts are not.
119 records the same information as refs/heads/, refs/tags/,
120 and friends record in a more efficient way. See
121 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1]. This file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
122 is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/packed-refs" will be used instead.
125 A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
126 describing the currently active branch. It does not mean
127 much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
128 (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid Git repository
129 *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
130 guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
131 (usually 'master'). It is legal if the named branch
132 'name' does not (yet) exist. In some legacy setups, it is
133 a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
136 HEAD can also record a specific commit directly, instead of
137 being a symref to point at the current branch. Such a state
138 is often called 'detached HEAD.' See linkgit:git-checkout[1]
142 Repository specific configuration file. This file is ignored
143 $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/config" will be
147 A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
148 to specify a URL to 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push'.
149 A file can be stored as `branches/<name>` and then
150 'name' can be given to these commands in place of
151 'repository' argument. See the REMOTES section in
152 linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
153 and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
154 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
155 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/branches" will be used instead.
159 Hooks are customization scripts used by various Git
160 commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
161 'git init' is run, but all of them are disabled by
162 default. To enable, the `.sample` suffix has to be
163 removed from the filename by renaming.
164 Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about
165 each hook. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set
166 and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/hooks" will be used instead.
170 The current index file for the repository. It is
171 usually not found in a bare repository.
174 Additional information about the repository is recorded
175 in this directory. This directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR
176 is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/index" will be used instead.
179 This file helps dumb transports discover what refs are
180 available in this repository. If the repository is
181 published for dumb transports, this file should be
182 regenerated by 'git update-server-info' every time a tag
183 or branch is created or modified. This is normally done
184 from the `hooks/update` hook, which is run by the
185 'git-receive-pack' command when you 'git push' into the
189 This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
190 pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
191 from how the commit was actually created. One record
192 per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
193 listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
194 by a space and terminated by a newline.
196 Note that the grafts mechanism is outdated and can lead to problems
197 transferring objects between repositories; see linkgit:git-replace[1]
198 for a more flexible and robust system to do the same thing.
201 This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
202 exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
203 ignore file. 'git status', 'git add', 'git rm' and
204 'git clean' look at it but the core Git commands do not look
205 at it. See also: linkgit:gitignore[5].
207 info/sparse-checkout::
208 This file stores sparse checkout patterns.
209 See also: linkgit:git-read-tree[1].
212 Stores shorthands for URL and default refnames for use
213 when interacting with remote repositories via 'git fetch',
214 'git pull' and 'git push' commands. See the REMOTES section
215 in linkgit:git-fetch[1] for details. This mechanism is legacy
216 and not likely to be found in modern repositories. This
217 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
218 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/remotes" will be used instead.
221 Records of changes made to refs are stored in this
222 directory. See linkgit:git-update-ref[1]
223 for more information. This directory is ignored
224 $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/logs" will be used
227 logs/refs/heads/`name`::
228 Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
230 logs/refs/tags/`name`::
231 Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.
234 This is similar to `info/grafts` but is internally used
235 and maintained by shallow clone mechanism. See `--depth`
236 option to linkgit:git-clone[1] and linkgit:git-fetch[1]. This
237 file is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
238 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/shallow" will be used instead.
241 If this file exists, $GIT_COMMON_DIR (see linkgit:git[1]) will
242 be set to the path specified in this file if it is not
243 explicitly set. If the specified path is relative, it is
244 relative to $GIT_DIR. The repository with commondir is
245 incomplete without the repository pointed by "commondir".
248 Contains the git-repositories of the submodules. This
249 directory is ignored if $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and
250 "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/modules" will be used instead.
253 Contains worktree specific information of linked
254 checkouts. Each subdirectory contains the worktree-related
255 part of a linked checkout. This directory is ignored
256 $GIT_COMMON_DIR is set and "$GIT_COMMON_DIR/repos" will be
260 A text file containing the absolute path back to the .git file
261 that points to here. This is used to check if the linked
262 repository has been manually removed and there is no need to
263 keep this directory any more. mtime of this file should be
264 updated every time the linked repository is accessed.
267 If this file exists, the linked repository may be on a
268 portable device and not available. It does not mean that the
269 linked repository is gone and `repos/<id>` could be
270 removed. The file's content contains a reason string on why
271 the repository is locked.
274 If this file exists, it is a hard link to the linked .git
275 file. It is used to detect if the linked repository is
281 linkgit:git-clone[1],
282 linkgit:git-fetch[1],
283 linkgit:git-pack-refs[1],
285 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
286 linkgit:gitglossary[7],
287 link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual]
291 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite.