1 =========================================
2 TopGit -- A different patch queue manager
3 =========================================
9 TopGit aims to make handling of large amounts of interdependent topic
10 branches easier. In fact, it is designed especially for the case where
11 you maintain a queue of third-party patches on top of another (perhaps
12 Git-controlled) project and want to easily organize, maintain and submit
13 them -- TopGit achieves that by keeping a separate topic branch for each
14 patch and providing some tools to maintain the branches.
18 :USAGE_: Command Line details
19 :`NO UNDO`_: Where's the undo!!!
20 :CONVENTIONS_: Suggestions for organizing your TopGit branches
21 :GLOSSARY_: All the TopGit vocabulary in one place
22 :TECHNICAL_: How it works behind the scenes
28 See the file ``INSTALL``.
34 The TopGit git repository can be found at <http://repo.or.cz/topgit/pro>.
40 Why not use something like StGIT or Guilt or ``rebase -i`` for maintaining
41 your patch queue? The advantage of these tools is their simplicity;
42 they work with patch *series* and defer to the reflog facility for
43 version control of patches (reordering of patches is not
44 version-controlled at all). But there are several disadvantages -- for
45 one, these tools (especially StGIT) do not actually fit well with plain
46 Git at all: it is basically impossible to take advantage of the index
47 effectively when using StGIT. But more importantly, these tools
48 horribly fail in the face of a distributed environment.
50 TopGit has been designed around three main tenets:
52 (i) TopGit is as thin a layer on top of Git as possible. You
53 still maintain your index and commit using Git; TopGit will only
54 automate a few indispensable tasks.
56 (ii) TopGit is anxious about *keeping* your history. It will
57 never rewrite your history, and all metadata is also tracked
58 by Git, smoothly and non-obnoxiously. It is good to have a
59 *single* point when the history is cleaned up, and that is at
60 the point of inclusion in the upstream project; locally, you
61 can see how your patch has evolved and easily return to older
64 (iii) TopGit is specifically designed to work in a
65 distributed environment. You can have several instances of
66 TopGit-aware repositories and smoothly keep them all
67 up-to-date and transfer your changes between them.
69 As mentioned above, the main intended use-case for TopGit is tracking
70 third-party patches, where each patch is effectively a single topic
71 branch. In order to flexibly accommodate even complex scenarios when
72 you track many patches where many are independent but some depend on
73 others, TopGit ignores the ancient Quilt heritage of patch series and
74 instead allows the patches to freely form graphs (DAGs just like Git
75 history itself, only "one level higher"). For now, you have to manually
76 specify which patches the current one depends on, but TopGit might help
77 you with that in the future in a darcs-like fashion.
79 A glossary_ plug: The union (i.e. merge) of patch dependencies is called
80 a *base* of the patch (topic branch).
82 Of course, TopGit is perhaps not the right tool for you:
84 (i) TopGit is not complicated, but StGIT et al. are somewhat
85 simpler, conceptually. If you just want to make a linear
86 purely-local patch queue, deferring to StGIT instead might
89 (ii) When using TopGit, your history can get a little hairy
90 over time, especially with all the merges rippling through.
99 ## Create and evolve a topic branch
100 $ tg create t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
101 tg: Automatically marking dependency on master
102 tg: Creating t/gitweb/pathinfo-action base from master...
108 ## Create another topic branch on top of the former one
109 $ tg create t/gitweb/nifty-links
110 tg: Automatically marking dependency on t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
111 tg: Creating t/gitweb/nifty-links base from t/gitweb/pathinfo-action...
115 ## Create another topic branch on top of master and submit
116 ## the resulting patch upstream
117 $ tg create t/revlist/author-fixed master
118 tg: Creating t/revlist/author-fixed base from master...
122 tg: Sent t/revlist/author-fixed
124 To: git@vger.kernel.org
125 Cc: gitster@pobox.com
126 Subject: [PATCH] Fix broken revlist --author when --fixed-string
128 ## Create another topic branch depending on two others non-trivially
129 $ tg create t/whatever t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
130 tg: Creating t/whatever base from t/revlist/author-fixed...
131 tg: Merging t/whatever base with t/gitweb/nifty-links...
133 tg: Please commit merge resolution and call: tg create
134 tg: It is also safe to abort this operation using `git reset --hard`
135 tg: but please remember you are on the base branch now;
136 tg: you will want to switch to a different branch.
140 tg: Resuming t/whatever setup...
144 ## Update a single topic branch and propagate the changes to
146 $ git checkout t/gitweb/nifty-links
149 $ git checkout t/whatever
151 Topic Branch: t/whatever (1 commit)
152 Subject: [PATCH] Whatever patch
154 Depends: t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
156 t/gitweb/nifty-links (1 commit)
158 tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/nifty-links changes...
160 tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update` again.
161 tg: It is also safe to abort this operation using `git reset --hard`,
162 tg: but please remember you are on the base branch now;
163 tg: you will want to switch to a different branch.
167 tg: Updating t/whatever against new base...
169 tg: Please resolve the merge and commit. No need to do anything else.
170 tg: You can abort this operation using `git reset --hard` now
171 tg: and retry this merge later using `tg update`.
175 ## Update a single topic branch and propagate the changes
176 ## further through the dependency chain
177 $ git checkout t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
180 $ git checkout t/whatever
182 Topic Branch: t/whatever (1/2 commits)
183 Subject: [PATCH] Whatever patch
185 Depends: t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
187 t/gitweb/pathinfo-action (<= t/gitweb/nifty-links) (1 commit)
189 tg: Recursing to t/gitweb/nifty-links...
190 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/pathinfo-action changes...
192 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update` again.
193 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: It is also safe to abort this operation using `git reset --hard`,
194 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: but please remember you are on the base branch now;
195 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: you will want to switch to a different branch.
196 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: You are in a subshell. If you abort the merge,
197 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: use `exit` to abort the recursive update altogether.
198 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ ..resolve..
199 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ git commit
200 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ tg update
201 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Updating t/gitweb/nifty-links against new base...
203 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Please resolve the merge and commit.
204 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: You can abort this operation using `git reset --hard`.
205 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: You are in a subshell. After you either commit or abort
206 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: your merge, use `exit` to proceed with the recursive update.
207 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ ..resolve..
208 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ git commit
209 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] $ exit
210 tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/nifty-links changes...
211 tg: Updating t/whatever against new base...
213 ## Clone a TopGit-controlled repository
216 $ tg remote --populate origin
221 ## Add a TopGit remote to a repository and push to it
222 $ git remote add foo URL
226 ## Update from a non-default TopGit remote
235 When using TopGit there are several common conventions used when working with
236 TopGit branches. None of them are enforced, they are only suggestions.
238 There are three typical uses for a TopGit branch:
241 Normal TopGit branches that represent a single patch. These are known
242 as "patch" TopGit branches.
244 Empty TopGit branches with no dependencies (an empty ``.topdeps`` file)
245 that represent a base upon which other "normal" TopGit branches depend.
246 These are known as "base" TopGit branches (not to be confused with
247 the refs/top-bases/... refs).
249 Empty TopGit branches that serve as a staging area to bring together
250 several other TopGit branches into one place so they can be used/tested
251 all together. These are known as "stage" TopGit branches.
253 An "empty" TopGit branch is one that does not have any changes of its own --
254 it may still have dependencies though ("stage" branches do, "base" branches do
255 not). The ``tg summary`` output shows empty branches with a ``0`` in the
256 listing. Normal "patch" branches that have not been annihilated, "base" and
257 "stage" branches fall into this category. (Annihilated branches are normally
258 omitted from the ``tg summary`` output but can be shown if given explicitly as
259 an argument to the ``tg summary`` command. However, the message line will be
260 incorrect since an annihilated branch has no ``.topmsg`` file of its own.)
262 A "patch" branch name typically starts with ``t/`` whereas "base" and "stage"
263 branch names often do not.
265 A "base" branch is created by using the ``--no-deps`` option of ``tg create``
266 which will automatically suggest a "[BASE]" message prefix rather than
267 "[PATCH]". A "stage" branch is created like a normal patch branch except that
268 the only changes that will ever be made to it are typically to add/remove
269 dependencies. Its subject prefix must be manually changed to "[STAGE]" to
272 Since both "base" and "stage" branches typically only have a use for the
273 "Subject:" ilne from their ``.topmsg`` file, they are quite easily created
274 using the ``--topmsg`` option of ``tg create``.
276 Use of "stage" and "base" branches is completely optional. However, without
277 use of a "stage" branch it will be difficult to test multiple independent
278 patches together all at once. A "base" branch is merely a convenience that
279 provides more explicit control over when a common base for a set of patches
280 gets updated as well as providing a branch that shows in ``tg summary`` output
281 and participates in ``tg remote --populate`` setup.
283 When using the ``tg tag`` command to create tags that record the current state
284 of one or more TopGit branches, the tags are often created with a name that
287 One last thing, you have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
293 Beware, there is no "undo" after running a ``tg update``!
295 Well, that's not entirely correct. Since ``tg update`` never discards commits
296 an "undo" operation is technically feasible provided the old values of all the
297 refs that were affected by the ``tg update`` operation can be determined and
298 then they are simply changed back to their previous values.
300 In practice though, it can be extremely tedious and error prone looking through
301 log information to try and determine what the correct previous values were.
302 Although, since TopGit tries to make sure reflogs are enabled for top-bases
303 refs, using Git's ``@{date}`` notation on all the refs dumped out by a
304 ``tg tag --refs foo``, where "foo" is the branch that was updated whose update
305 needs to be undone, may work.
307 Alternatively, ``tg tag --stash`` can be used prior to the update and then
308 ``tg revert`` used after the update to restore the previous state. This
309 assumes, of course, that you remember to run ``tg tag --stash`` first.
311 The ``tg update`` command understands a ``--stash`` option that tells it to
312 automatically run ``tg tag --stash`` before it starts making changes (if
313 everything is up-to-date it won't run the stash command at all).
315 The ``--stash`` option is the default nowadays when running ``tg update``,
316 add the ``--no-stash`` option to turn it off.
318 There is a preference for this. Setting the config value ``topgit.autostash``
319 to ``false`` will implicitly add the ``--no-stash`` option to any ``tg update``
320 command unless an explicit ``--stash`` option is given.
322 If you are likely to ever want to undo a ``tg update``, setting
323 ``topgit.autostash`` to ``false`` is highly discouraged!
325 Note that the tags saved by ``tg tag --stash`` are stored in the
326 ``refs/tgstash`` ref and its reflog. Unfortunately, while Git is happy to
327 maintain the reflog (once it's been enabled which ``tg tag`` guarantees for
328 ``refs/tgstash``), Git is unable to view an annotated/signed tag's reflog!
329 Instead Git dereferences the tag and shows the wrong thing. Use the
330 ``tg tag -g`` command to view the ``refs/tgstash`` reflog instead.
336 No, this is not a section about budget nonsense. ;)
338 TopGit keeps its metadata in ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` files. In an effort
339 to facilitate cherry-picking and other Git activities on the patch changes
340 themselves while ignoring the TopGit metadata, TopGit attempts to keep all
341 changes to ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` files limited to commits that do NOT
342 contain changes to any other files.
344 This is a departure from previous TopGit versions that made no such effort.
346 Primarily this affects ``tg create`` and ``tg import`` (which makes use of
347 ``tg create``) as ``tg create`` will commit the initial versions of
348 ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` for a new TopGit-controlled branch in their own
349 commit instead of mixing them in with changes to other files.
351 The ``pre-commit`` hook will also attempt to separate out any ``.topdeps`` and
352 ``.topmsg`` changes from commits that include changes to other files.
354 It is possible to defeat these checks without much effort (``pre-commit`` hooks
355 can easily be bypassed, ``tg create`` has a ``--no-commit`` option, many Git
356 commands simply do not run the ``pre-commit`` hook, etc.).
358 If you really, really, really, really want to change the default back to the
359 old behavior of previous TopGit versions where no such sequestration took
360 place, then set the ``topgit.sequester`` config variable explicitly to the
361 value ``false``. But this is not recommended.
364 AMENDING AND REBASING AND UPDATE-REF'ING
365 ----------------------------------------
369 It is okay to manually update a top-bases/... ref when a) it has no depedencies
370 (i.e. it was created with the ``tg create`` ``--no-deps`` option) and b) the
371 old top-bases/... ref value can be fast-forwarded to the new top-bases/...
372 value OR the new value contains ALL of the changes in the old value through
373 some other mechanism (perhaps they were cherry-picked or otherwise applied to
374 the new top-bases/... ref). The same rules apply to non-TopGit-controlled
377 Ignoring this rule and proceeding anyway with a non-fast-forward update to a
378 top-bases/... ref will result in changes present in the new value being merged
379 into the branch (at ``tg update`` time) as expected (possibly with conflicts),
380 but any changes that were contained in the old version of the top-bases/... ref
381 which have been dropped (i.e. are NOT contained in the new version of the
382 top-bases/... ref) will continue to be present in the branch! To get rid of
383 the dropped commits, one or more "revert" commits will have to be manually
384 applied to the tip of the new top-bases/... value (which will then be merged
385 into the branch at next ``tg update`` time).
387 The only time it's safe to amend, rebase, filter or otherwise rewrite commits
388 contained in a TopGit controlled branch or non-TopGit branch is when those
389 commits are NOT reachable via any other ref!
391 Furthermore, while it is safe to rewrite merge commits (provided they meet the
392 same conditions) the merge commits themselves and the branches they are merging
393 in must be preserved during the rewrite and that can be rather tricky to get
394 right so it's not recommended.
396 For example, if, while working on a TopGit-controlled branch ``foo``, a bad
397 typo is noticed, it's okay to ammend/rebase to fix that provided neither
398 ``tg update`` nor ``tg create`` has already been used to cause some other ref
399 to be able to reach the commit with the typo.
401 If an amend or rerwite is done anyway even though the commit with the typo is
402 reachable from some other ref, the typo won't really be removed. What will
403 happen instead is that the new version without the typo will ultimately be
404 merged into the other ref(s) (at ``tg update`` time) likely causing a conflict
405 that will have to be manually resolved and the commit with the typo will
406 continue to be reachable from those other refs!
408 Instead just make a new commit to fix the typo. The end result will end up
409 being the same but without the merge conflicts.
411 See also the discussion in the `NO UNDO`_ section.
417 TopGit needs to check many thing to determine whether a TopGit branch is
418 up-to-date or not. This can involve a LOT of git commands for a complex
419 dependency tree. In order to speed things up, TopGit keeps a cache of results
420 in a ``tg-cache`` subdirectory in the ``.git`` directory.
422 Results are tagged with the original hash values used to get that result so
423 that items which have not been changed return their results quickly and items
424 which have been changed compute their new result and cache it for future use.
426 The ``.git/tg-cache`` directory may be removed at any time and the cache will
427 simply be recreated in an on-demand fashion as needed, at some speed penalty,
428 until it's fully rebuilt.
430 To force the cache to be fully pre-loaded, run the ``tg summary`` command
431 without any arguments. Otherwise, normal day-to-day TopGit operations should
432 keep it more-or-less up-to-date.
434 While each TopGit command is running, it uses a temporary subdirectory also
435 located in the ``.git`` directory. These directories are named
436 ``tg-tmp.XXXXXX`` where the ``XXXXXX`` part will be random letters and digits.
438 These temporary directories should always be removed automatically after each
439 TopGit command finishes running. As long as you are not in a subshell as a
440 result of a TopGit command stopping and waiting for a manual merge resolution,
441 it's safe to remove any of these directories that may have somehow accidentally
442 been left behind as a result of some failure that occurred while running a
443 TopGit command (provided, of course, it's not actually being used by a TopGit
444 command currently running in another terminal window or by another user on the
450 ``tg [-C <dir>] [-r <remote> | -u] [-c <name>=<val>] <subcommand> [<subcommand option/argument>...]``
452 -C <dir> Change directory to <dir> before doing anything
453 -r <remote> Pretend ``topgit.remote`` is set to <remote>
454 -u Pretend ``topgit.remote`` is not set
455 -c <name=val> Pass config option to git, may be repeated
457 The ``tg`` tool has several subcommands:
459 :`tg annihilate`_: Mark a TopGit-controlled branch as defunct
460 :`tg base`_: Show base commit for one or more TopGit branches
461 :`tg checkout`_: Shortcut for git checkout with name matching
462 :`tg create`_: Create a new TopGit-controlled branch
463 :`tg delete`_: Delete a TopGit-controlled branch cleanly
464 :`tg depend`_: Add a new dependency to a TopGit-controlled branch
465 :`tg export`_: Export TopGit branch patches to files or a branch
466 :`tg files`_: Show files changed by a TopGit branch
467 :`tg help`_: Show TopGit help optionally using a browser
468 :`tg import`_: Import commit(s) to separate TopGit branches
469 :`tg info`_: Show status information about a TopGit branch
470 :`tg log`_: Run git log limiting revisions to a TopGit branch
471 :`tg mail`_: Shortcut for git send-email with ``tg patch`` output
472 :`tg next`_: Show branches directly depending on a TopGit branch
473 :`tg patch`_: Generate a patch file for a TopGit branch
474 :`tg prev`_: Show non-annihilated TopGit dependencies for a branch
475 :`tg push`_: Run git push on TopGit branch(es) and depedencies
476 :`tg rebase`_: Auto continue git rebase if rerere resolves conflicts
477 :`tg remote`_: Set up remote for fetching/pushing TopGit branches
478 :`tg revert`_: Revert ref(s) to a state stored in a ``tg tag``
479 :`tg status`_: Show current TopGit status (e.g. in-progress update)
480 :`tg summary`_: Show various information about TopGit branches
481 :`tg tag`_: Create tag that records current TopGit branch state
482 :`tg update`_: Update TopGit branch(es) with respect to dependencies
486 Our sophisticated integrated help facility. Mostly duplicates
491 # to get help for a particular command:
493 # to get help for a particular command in a browser window:
494 $ tg help -w <command>
495 # to get help on TopGit itself
497 # to get help on TopGit itself in a browser
502 Our sophisticated status facility. Similar to Git's status command
503 but shows any in-progress update that's awaiting a merge resolution
504 or any other on-going TopGit activity (such as a branch creation).
508 Create a new TopGit-controlled topic branch of the given name
509 (required argument) and switch to it. If no dependencies are
510 specified (by extra arguments passed after the first one), the
511 current branch is assumed to be the only dependency.
513 By default ``tg create`` opens an editor on the new ``.topmsg`` file
514 and then commits the new ``.topmsg`` and ``.topdeps`` files
515 automatically with a suitable default commit message.
517 The commit message can be changed with the ``-m`` (or ``--message``) or
518 ``-F`` (or ``--file``) option. The automatic commit can be suppressed
519 by using the ``--no-ccmmit`` option. Running the editor on the new
520 ``.topmsg`` file can be suppressed by using ``-n`` (or ``--no-edit``)
521 (which also suppresses the automatic commit) or by providing an
522 explicit value for the new ``.topmsg`` file using the ``--topmsg`` or
523 ``--topmsg-file`` option. In any case the ``.topmsg`` content will be
524 automatically reformated to have a ``Subject:`` header line if needed.
526 If more than one dependency is listed, the automatic commit will not
527 take place until AFTER all the listed dependencies have been merged
528 into a base commit which will require some manual merge resolutions if
529 conflicts occur during the merge operations.
531 Previous versions of TopGit behaved as though the ``--no-edit`` option
532 was always given on the command line.
534 The default behavior has been changed to promote a separation between
535 commits that modify ``.topmsg`` and/or ``.topdeps`` and commits that
536 modify other files. This facilitates cleaner cherry picking and other
537 patch maintenance activities.
539 You should edit the patch description (contained in the ``.topmsg``
540 file) as appropriate. It will already contain some prefilled bits.
541 You can set the ``topgit.to``, ``topgit.cc`` and ``topgit.bcc``
542 git configuration variables (see ``man git-config``) in order to
543 have ``tg create`` add these headers with the given default values
544 to ``.topmsg`` before invoking the editor.
546 The main task of ``tg create`` is to set up the topic branch base
547 from the dependencies. This may fail due to merge conflicts if more
548 than one dependencie is given. In that case, after you commit the
549 conflict resolution, you should call ``tg create`` again (without any
550 arguments or with the single argument ``--continue``); it will then
551 detect that you are on a topic branch base ref and resume the topic
552 branch creation operation.
554 With the ``--no-deps`` option at most one dependency may be listed
555 which may be any valid committish (instead of just refs/heads/...) and
556 the newly created TopGit-controlled branch will have an empty
557 ``.topdeps`` file. This may be desirable in order to create a TopGit-
558 controlled branch that has no changes of its own and serves merely to
559 mark the common dependency that all other TopGit-controlled branches
560 in some set of TopGit-controlled branches depend on. A plain,
561 non-TopGit-controlled branch can be used for the same purpose, but the
562 advantage of a TopGit-controlled branch with no dependencies is that it
563 will be pushed with ``tg push``, it will show up in the ``tg summary``
564 and ``tg info`` output with the subject from its ``.topmsg`` file
565 thereby documenting what it's for and finally it can be set up with
566 ``tg create -r`` and/or ``tg remote --populate`` to facilitate sharing.
568 For example, ``tg create --no-deps release v2.1`` will create a TopGit-
569 controlled ``release`` branch based off the ``v2.1`` tag that can then
570 be used as a base for creation of other TopGit-controlled branches.
571 Then when the time comes to move the base for an entire set of changes
572 up to ``v2.2`` the command ``git update-ref top-bases/release v2.2^0``
573 can be used followed by ``tg update --all``. Note that it's only safe
574 to update ``top-bases/release`` directly in this manner because a) it
575 has no depedencies since it was created with the ``--no-deps`` option
576 and b) the old ``top-bases/release`` value can be fast-forwarded to the
577 new ``top-bases/release`` value.
579 Using ``--no-deps`` it's also possible to use ``tg create`` on an
580 unborn branch (omit the dependency name or specify ``HEAD``). The
581 unborn branch itself can be made into the new TopGit branch (rather
582 than being born empty and then having the new TopGit branch based off
583 that) by specifying ``HEAD`` as the new branch's name (which is
584 probably what you normally want to do in this case anyway so you can
585 just run ``tg create --no-deps HEAD`` to accomplish that).
587 In an alternative use case, if ``-r <branch>`` is given instead of a
588 dependency list, the topic branch is created based on the given
589 remote branch. With just ``-r`` the remote branch name is assumed
590 to be the same as the local topic branch being created. Since no
591 new commits are created in this mode (only two refs will be updated)
592 the editor will never be run for this use case. Note that no other
593 options may be combined with ``-r``.
595 The ``--quiet`` (or ``-q``) option suppresses most informational
600 Remove a TopGit-controlled topic branch of the given name
601 (required argument). Normally, this command will remove only an
602 empty branch (base == head) without dependendents; use ``-f`` to
603 remove a non-empty branch or a branch that is depended upon by
606 The ``-f`` option is also useful to force removal of a branch's
607 base, if you used ``git branch -D B`` to remove branch B, and then
608 certain TopGit commands complain, because the base of branch B
611 Normally ``tg delete`` will refuse to delete the current branch.
612 However, giving ``-f`` twice (or more) will force it to do so but it
613 will first detach your HEAD.
615 IMPORTANT: Currently, this command will *NOT* remove the branch
616 from the dependency list in other branches. You need to take
617 care of this *manually*. This is even more complicated in
618 combination with ``-f`` -- in that case, you need to manually
619 unmerge the removed branch's changes from the branches depending
622 See also ``tg annihilate``.
624 | TODO: ``-a`` to delete all empty branches, depfix, revert
628 Make a commit on the current TopGit-controlled topic branch
629 that makes it equal to its base, including the presence or
630 absence of .topmsg and .topdeps. Annihilated branches are not
631 displayed by ``tg summary``, so they effectively get out of your
632 way. However, the branch still exists, and ``tg push`` will
633 push it (except if given the ``-a`` option). This way, you can
634 communicate that the branch is no longer wanted.
636 When annihilating a branch that has dependents (i.e. branches
637 that depend on it), those dependents have the dependencies of
638 the branch being annihilated added to them if they do not already
639 have them as dependencies. Essentially the DAG is repaired to
640 skip over the annihilated branch.
642 Normally, this command will remove only an empty branch
643 (base == head, except for changes to the .top* files); use
644 ``-f`` to annihilate a non-empty branch.
646 After completing the annihilation itself, normally ``tg update``
647 is run on any modified dependents. Use the ``--no-update`` option
648 to suppress running ``tg update``.
652 Change the dependencies of a TopGit-controlled topic branch.
653 This should have several subcommands, but only ``add`` is
656 The ``add`` subcommand takes an argument naming a topic branch to
657 be added, adds it to ``.topdeps``, performs a commit and then
658 updates your topic branch accordingly. If you want to do other
659 things related to the dependency addition, like adjusting
660 ``.topmsg``, use the option ``--no-commit``. Adding the
661 ``--no-update`` (or ``--no-commit``) option will suppress the
662 ``tg update`` normally performed after committing the change.
664 It is safe to run ``tg depend add`` in a dirty worktree, but the
665 normally performed ``tg update`` will be suppressed in that case
666 (even if neither ``--no-update`` nor ``--no-commit`` is given).
668 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
670 | TODO: Subcommand for removing dependencies, obviously
674 List files changed by the current or specified topic branch.
677 -i list files based on index instead of branch
678 -w list files based on working tree instead of branch
682 Show summary information about the current or specified topic
685 Numbers in parenthesis after a branch name such as "(11/3 commits)"
686 indicate how many commits on the branch (11) and how many of those
687 are non-merge commits (3).
689 Alternatively, if ``--heads`` is used then which of the independent
690 TopGit branch heads (as output by ``tg summary --tgish-only --heads)``
691 contains the specified commit (which may be any committish -- defaults
692 to ``HEAD`` if not given). Zero or more results will be output.
696 Generate a patch from the current or specified topic branch.
697 This means that the diff between the topic branch base and head
698 (latest commit) is shown, appended to the description found in
699 the ``.topmsg`` file.
701 The patch is simply dumped to stdout. In the future, ``tg patch``
702 will be able to automatically send the patches by mail or save
703 them to files. (TODO)
706 -i base patch generation on index instead of branch
707 -w base patch generation on working tree instead of branch
708 --binary pass --binary to ``git diff-tree`` to enable generation
710 --diff-opt options after the branch name (and an optional ``--``)
711 are passed directly to ``git diff-tree``
713 In order to pass a sole explicit ``-w`` through to ``git diff-tree`` it
714 must be separated from the ``tg`` options by an explicit ``--``.
715 Or it can be spelled as ``--ignore-all-space`` to distinguuish it from
716 ``tg``'s ``-w`` option.
718 If additional non-``tg`` options are passed through to
719 ``git diff-tree`` (other than ``--binary`` which is fully supported)
720 the resulting ``tg patch`` output may not be appliable.
724 Send a patch from the current or specified topic branch as
727 Takes the patch given on the command line and emails it out.
728 Destination addresses such as To, Cc and Bcc are taken from the
731 Since it actually boils down to ``git send-email``, please refer
732 to the documentation for that for details on how to setup email
733 for git. You can pass arbitrary options to this command through
734 the ``-s`` parameter, but you must double-quote everything. The
735 ``-r`` parameter with a msgid can be used to generate in-reply-to
736 and reference headers to an earlier mail.
738 WARNING: be careful when using this command. It easily sends
739 out several mails. You might want to run::
741 git config sendemail.confirm always
743 to let ``git send-email`` ask for confirmation before sending any
747 -i base patch generation on index instead of branch
748 -w base patch generation on working tree instead of branch
750 | TODO: ``tg mail patchfile`` to mail an already exported patch
751 | TODO: mailing patch series
752 | TODO: specifying additional options and addresses on command line
756 Register the given remote as TopGit-controlled. This will create
757 the namespace for the remote branch bases and teach ``git fetch``
758 to operate on them. However, from TopGit 0.8 onwards you need to
759 use ``tg push``, or ``git push --mirror``, for pushing
760 TopGit-controlled branches.
762 ``tg remote`` takes an optional remote name argument, and an
763 optional ``--populate`` switch. Use ``--populate`` for your
764 origin-style remotes: it will seed the local topic branch system
765 based on the remote topic branches. ``--populate`` will also make
766 ``tg remote`` automatically fetch the remote, and ``tg update`` look
767 at branches of this remote for updates by default.
769 Using ``--populate`` with a remote name causes the ``topgit.remote``
770 git configuration variable to be set to the given remote name.
774 Show overview of all TopGit-tracked topic branches and their
775 up-to-date status. With a branch name limit output to that branch.
776 Using ``--deps-only`` or ``--rdeps`` changes the default from all
777 branches to just the current ``HEAD`` branch but using ``--all`` as
778 the branch name will show results for all branches instead of ``HEAD``.
781 marks the current topic branch
784 indicates that it introduces no changes of its own
787 indicates respectively whether it is local-only
791 indicates respectively if it is ahead or out-of-date
792 with respect to its remote mate
795 indicates that it is out-of-date with respect to its
799 indicates that it has missing dependencies [even if
800 they are recursive ones]
803 indicates that it is out-of-date with respect to
806 This can take a longish time to accurately determine all the
807 relevant information about each branch; you can pass ``-t`` (or ``-l``
808 or ``--list``) to get just a terse list of topic branch names quickly.
810 Passing ``--heads`` shows independent topic branch names and when
811 combined with ``--rdeps`` behaves as though ``--rdeps`` were run with
812 the output of ``--heads``.
814 Alternatively, you can pass ``--graphviz`` to get a dot-suitable output
815 for drawing a dependency graph between the topic branches.
817 You can also use the ``--sort`` option to sort the branches using
818 a topological sort. This is especially useful if each
819 TopGit-tracked topic branch depends on a single parent branch,
820 since it will then print the branches in the dependency order.
821 In more complex scenarios, a text graph view would be much more
822 useful, but that has not yet been implemented.
824 The ``--deps`` option outputs dependency information between
825 branches in a machine-readable format. Feed this to ``tsort`` to
826 get the output from --sort.
828 The ``--deps-only`` option outputs a sorted list of the unique branch
829 names given on the command line plus all of their recursive
830 dependencies (subject to ``--exclude`` of course). When
831 ``--deps-only`` is given the default is to just display information for
832 ``HEAD``, but that can be changed by using ``--all`` as the branch
833 name. Each branch name will appear only once in the output no matter
834 how many times it's visited while tracing the dependency graph or how
835 many branch names are given on the command line to process.
837 The ``--rdeps`` option outputs dependency information in an indented
838 text format that clearly shows all the dependencies and their
839 relationships to one another. When ``--rdeps`` is given the default is
840 to just display information for ``HEAD``, but that can be changed by
841 using ``--all`` as the branch name or by adding the ``--heads`` option.
842 Note that ``tg summary --rdeps --heads`` can be particularly helpful in
843 seeing all the TopGit-controlled branches in the repository and their
844 relationships to one another.
846 Adding ``--with-deps`` replaces the given list of branches (which will
847 default to ``HEAD`` if none are given) with the result of running
848 ``tg summary --deps-only --tgish`` on the list of branches. This can
849 be helpful in limiting ``tg summary`` output to only the list of given
850 branches and their dependencies when many TopGit-controlled branches
851 are present in the repository. When it would be allowed,
852 ``--with-deps`` is now the default. Use ``--without-deps`` to switch
853 back to the old behavior.
855 With ``--exclude branch``, branch can be excluded from the output
856 meaning it will be skipped and its name will be omitted from any
857 dependency output. The ``--exclude`` option may be repeated to omit
858 more than one branch from the output. Limiting the output to a single
859 branch that has been excluded will result in no output at all.
861 The ``--tgish-only`` option behaves as though any non-TopGit-controlled
862 dependencies encountered during processing had been listed after an
863 ``--exclude`` option.
865 Note that the branch name can be specified as ``HEAD`` or ``@`` as a
866 shortcut for the TopGit-controlled branch that ``HEAD`` is a
867 symbolic ref to. The ``tg summary @`` command can be quite useful.
870 -i Use TopGit metadata from the index instead of the branch
871 -w Use TopGit metadata from the working tree instead of the branch
876 Switch to a topic branch. You can use ``git checkout <branch>``
877 to get the same effect, but this command helps you navigate
878 the dependency graph, or allows you to match the topic branch
879 name using a regular expression, so it can be more convenient.
881 There following subcommands are available:
884 Check out a branch that directly
885 depends on your current branch.
888 Check out a branch that this branch
891 ``tg checkout [goto] [--] <pattern>``
892 Check out a topic branch that
893 matches ``<pattern>``. ``<pattern>``
894 is used as a sed pattern to filter
895 all the topic branches. Both ``goto`` and
896 ``--`` may be omitted provided ``<pattern>``
897 is not ``push``, ``pop``, ``-a``, ``--all``,
898 ``goto``, ``..``, ``--``, ``next``, ``child``,
899 ``prev``, ``parent``, ``-h`` or ``--help``.
902 An alias for ``push``.
904 ``tg checkout child``
905 An alias for ``push``.
908 An alias for ``push``.
911 An alias for ``pop``.
913 ``tg checkout parent``
914 An alias for ``pop``.
917 An alias for ``pop``.
919 If any of the above commands can find more than one possible
920 branch to switch to, you will be presented with the matches
921 and asked to select one of them.
923 The ``<pattern>`` of ``tg checkout goto`` is optional. If you don't
924 supply it, all the available topic branches are listed and you
925 can select one of them.
927 Normally, the ``push`` and ``pop`` commands moves one step in
928 the dependency graph of the topic branches. The ``-a`` option
929 causes them (and their aliases) to move as far as possible.
930 That is, ``tg checkout push -a`` moves to a topic branch that
931 depends (directly or indirectly) on the current branch and
932 that no other branch depends on. ``tg checkout pop -a``
933 moves to a regular branch that the current topic branch
934 depends on (directly or indirectly). If there is more than
935 one possibility, you will be prompted for your selection.
939 Export a tidied-up history of the current topic branch and its
940 dependencies, suitable for feeding upstream. Each topic branch
941 corresponds to a single commit or patch in the cleaned up
942 history (corresponding basically exactly to ``tg patch`` output
943 for the topic branch).
945 The command has three possible outputs now -- either a Git branch
946 with the collapsed history, a Git branch with a linearized
947 history, or a quilt series in new directory.
949 In the case where you are producing collapsed history in a new
950 branch, you can use this collapsed structure either for
951 providing a pull source for upstream, or for further
952 linearization e.g. for creation of a quilt series using git log::
954 git log --pretty=email -p --topo-order origin..exported
956 To better understand the function of ``tg export``, consider this
957 dependency structure::
959 origin/master - t/foo/blue - t/foo/red - master
960 `- t/bar/good <,----------'
961 `- t/baz ------------'
963 (where each of the branches may have a hefty history). Then::
965 master$ tg export for-linus
967 will create this commit structure on the branch ``for-linus``::
969 origin/master - t/foo/blue -. merge - t/foo/red -.. merge - master
970 `- t/bar/good <,-------------------'/
971 `- t/baz ---------------------'
973 In this mode, ``tg export`` works on the current topic branch, and
974 can be called either without an option (in that case,
975 ``--collapse`` is assumed), or with the ``--collapse`` option, and
976 with one mandatory argument: the name of the branch where the
977 exported result will be stored.
979 When using the linearize mode::
981 master$ tg export --linearize for-linus
983 you get a linear history respecting the dependencies of your
984 patches in a new branch ``for-linus``. The result should be more
985 or less the same as using quilt mode and then reimporting it
986 into a Git branch. (More or less because the topological order
987 can usually be extended in more than one way into a total order,
988 and the two methods may choose different ones.) The result
989 might be more appropriate for merging upstream, as it contains
992 Note that you might get conflicts during linearization because
993 the patches are reordered to get a linear history. If linearization
994 would produce conflicts then using ``--quilt`` will also likely result
995 in conflicts when the exported quilt series is applied. Since the
996 ``--quilt`` mode simply runs a series of ``tg patch`` commands to
997 generate the patches in the exported quilt series and those patches
998 will end up being applied linearly, the same conflicts that would be
999 produced by the ``--linearize`` option will then occur at that time.
1001 To avoid conflicts produced by ``--linearize`` (or by applying the
1002 ``--quilt`` output), use the default ``--collapse`` mode and then use
1003 ``tg rebase`` (or ``git rebase -m`` directly) on the collapsed branch
1004 (with a suitable <upstream>) followed by ``git format-patch`` on the
1005 rebased result to produce a conflict-free patch set.
1007 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1009 When using the quilt mode::
1011 master$ tg export --quilt for-linus
1013 would create the following directory ``for-linus``::
1015 for-linus/t/foo/blue.diff
1016 for-linus/t/foo/red.diff
1017 for-linus/t/bar/good.diff
1018 for-linus/t/baz.diff
1025 With ``--quilt``, you can also pass the ``-b`` parameter followed
1026 by a comma-separated explicit list of branches to export, or
1027 the ``--all`` parameter (which can be shortened to ``-a``) to
1028 export them all. The ``--binary`` option enables producing Git
1029 binary patches. These options are currently only supported
1032 In ``--quilt`` mode the patches are named like the originating
1033 topgit branch. So usually they end up in subdirectories of the
1034 output directory. With the ``--flatten`` option the names are
1035 mangled so that they end up directly in the output dir (slashes
1036 are replaced with underscores). With the ``--strip[=N]`` option
1037 the first ``N`` subdirectories (all if no ``N`` is given) get
1038 stripped off. Names are always ``--strip``'d before being
1039 ``--flatten``'d. With the option ``--numbered`` (which implies
1040 ``--flatten``) the patch names get a number as prefix to allow
1041 getting the order without consulting the series file, which
1042 eases sending out the patches.
1044 | TODO: Make stripping of non-essential headers configurable
1045 | TODO: Make stripping of [PATCH] and other prefixes configurable
1046 | TODO: ``--mbox`` option to export instead as an mbox file
1047 | TODO: support ``--all`` option in other modes of operation
1048 | TODO: For quilt exporting, export the linearized history created in
1049 a temporary branch--this would allow producing conflict-less
1054 Import commits within the given revision range into TopGit,
1055 creating one topic branch per commit. The dependencies are set
1056 up to form a linear sequence starting on your current branch --
1057 or a branch specified by the ``-d`` parameter, if present.
1059 The branch names are auto-guessed from the commit messages and
1060 prefixed by ``t/`` by default; use ``-p <prefix>`` to specify an
1061 alternative prefix (even an empty one).
1063 Alternatively, you can use the ``-s NAME`` parameter to specify
1064 the name of the target branch; the command will then take one
1065 more argument describing a *single* commit to import.
1069 Update the current, specified or all topic branches with respect
1070 to changes in the branches they depend on and remote branches.
1071 This is performed in two phases -- first, changes within the
1072 dependencies are merged to the base, then the base is merged
1073 into the topic branch. The output will guide you on what to do
1074 next in case of conflicts.
1076 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1078 When ``-a`` (or ``--all``) is specifed, updates all topic branches
1079 matched by ``<pattern>``'s (see ``git-for-each-ref(1)`` for details),
1080 or all if no ``<pattern>`` is given. Any topic branches with missing
1081 dependencies will be skipped entirely unless ``--skip-missing`` is
1084 When ``--skip-missing`` is specifed, an attempt is made to update topic
1085 branches with missing dependencies by skipping only the dependencies
1086 that are missing. Caveat utilitor.
1088 When ``--stash`` is specified (or the ``topgit.autostash`` config
1089 value is set to ``true``), a ref stash will be automatically created
1090 just before beginning updates if any are needed. The ``--no-stash``
1091 option may be used to disable a ``topgit.autostash=true`` setting.
1092 See the ``tg tag`` ``--stash`` option for details.
1094 After the update, if a single topic branch was specified, it is
1095 left as the current one; if ``-a`` was specified, it returns to
1096 the branch which was current at the beginning.
1098 If your dependencies are not up-to-date, ``tg update`` will first
1099 recurse into them and update them.
1101 If a remote branch update brings in dependencies on branches
1102 that are not yet instantiated locally, you can either bring in
1103 all the new branches from the remote using ``tg remote
1104 --populate``, or only pick out the missing ones using ``tg create
1105 -r`` (``tg summary`` will point out branches with incomplete
1106 dependencies by showing an ``!`` next to them).
1108 | TODO: ``tg update -a -c`` to autoremove (clean) up-to-date branches
1112 If ``-a`` or ``--all`` was specified, pushes all non-annihilated
1113 TopGit-controlled topic branches, to a remote repository.
1114 Otherwise, pushes the specified topic branches -- or the
1115 current branch, if you don't specify which. By default, the
1116 remote gets all the dependencies (both TopGit-controlled and
1117 non-TopGit-controlled) and bases pushed to it too. If
1118 ``--tgish-only`` was specified, only TopGit-controlled
1119 dependencies will be pushed, and if ``--no-deps`` was specified,
1120 no dependencies at all will be pushed.
1122 The ``--dry-run`` and ``--force`` options are passed directly to
1123 ``git push`` if given.
1125 The remote may be specified with the ``-r`` option. If no remote
1126 was specified, the configured default TopGit remote will be
1131 Prints the base commit of each of the named topic branches, or
1132 the current branch if no branches are named. Prints an error
1133 message and exits with exit code 1 if the named branch is not
1138 Prints the git log of the named topgit branch -- or the current
1139 branch, if you don't specify a name.
1141 NOTE: if you have merged changes from a different repository, this
1142 command might not list all interesting commits.
1146 Creates a TopGit annotated/signed tag or lists the reflog of one.
1148 A TopGit annotated tag records the current state of one or more TopGit
1149 branches and their dependencies and may be used to revert to the tagged
1150 state at any point in the future.
1152 When reflogs are enabled (the default in a non-bare repository) and
1153 combined with the ``--force`` option a single tag name may be used as a
1154 sort of TopGit branch state stash. The special branch name ``--all``
1155 may be used to tag the state of all current TopGit branches to
1156 facilitate this function and has the side-effect of suppressing the
1157 out-of-date check allowing out-of-date branches to be included.
1159 As a special feature, ``--stash`` may be used as the tag name in which
1160 case ``--all`` is implied if no branch name is listed (instead of the
1161 normal default of ``HEAD``), ``--force`` and ``--no-edit`` (use
1162 ``--edit`` to change that) are automatically activated and the tag will
1163 be saved to ``refs/tgstash`` instead of ``refs/tags/<tagname>``.
1164 The ``--stash`` tag name may also be used with the ``-g``/``--reflog``
1167 The mostly undocumented option ``--allow-outdated`` will bypass the
1168 out-of-date check and is implied when ``--stash`` or ``--all`` is used.
1170 A TopGit annotated/signed tag is simply a Git annotated/signed tag with
1171 a "TOPGIT REFS" section appended to the end of the tag message (and
1172 preceding the signature for signed tags). PEM-style begin and end
1173 lines surround one line per ref where the format of each line is
1174 full-hash SP ref-name. A line will be included for each branch given
1175 on the command line and each ref they depend on either directly or
1178 If more than one TopGit branch is given on the command line, a new
1179 commit will be created that has an empty tree and all of the given
1180 TopGit branches as parents and that commit will be tagged. If a single
1181 TopGit branch is given, then it will be tagged.
1183 All the options for creating a tag serve the same purpose as their Git
1184 equivalents except for two. The ``--refs`` option suppresses tag
1185 creation entirely and emits the "TOPGIT REFS" section that would have
1186 been included with the tag. If the ``--no-edit`` option is given and
1187 no message is supplied (via the ``-m`` or ``-F`` option) then the
1188 default message created by TopGit will be used without running the
1191 With ``-g`` or ``--reflog`` show the reflog for a tag. With the
1192 ``--reflog-message`` option the message from the reflog is shown.
1193 With the ``--commit-message`` option the first line of the tag's
1194 message (if the object is a tag) or the commit message (if the object
1195 is a commit) falling back to the reflog message for tree and blob
1196 objects is shown. The default is ``--reflog-message`` unless the
1197 ``--stash`` (``refs/tgstash``) is being shown in which case the default
1198 is then ``--commit-message``. Just add either option explicitly to
1199 override the default.
1201 When showing reflogs, non-tag entries are annotated with their type
1202 unless ``--no-type`` is given.
1204 TopGit tags are created with a reflog if core.logallrefupdates is
1205 enabled (the default for non-bare repositories). Unfortunately Git
1206 is incapable of showing an annotated/signed tag's reflog
1207 (using git log -g) as it will first resolve the tag before checking to
1208 see if it has a reflog. Git can, however, show reflogs for lightweight
1209 tags (using git log -g) just fine but that's not helpful here. Use
1210 ``tg tag`` with the ``-g`` or ``--reflog`` option to see the reflog for
1211 an actual tag object. This also works on non-TopGit annotated/signed
1212 tags as well provided they have a reflog.
1214 The number of entries shown may be limited with the ``-n`` option. If
1215 the tagname is omitted then ``--stash`` is assumed.
1217 The ``--delete`` option is a convenience option that runs the
1218 ``git update-ref -d`` command on the specified tag removing it and its
1219 reflog (if it has one).
1221 The ``--clear`` option clears all but the most recent (the ``@{0}``)
1222 reflog entries from the reflog for the specified tag. It's equivalent
1223 to dropping all the higher numbered reflog entries.
1225 The ``--drop`` option drops the specified reflog entry and requires the
1226 given tagname to have an ``@{n}`` suffix where ``n`` is the reflog
1227 entry number to be dropped. This is really just a convenience option
1228 that runs the appropriate ``git reflog delete`` command.
1230 Note that when combined with ``tg revert``, a tag created by ``tg tag``
1231 can be used to transfer TopGit branches. Simply create the tag, push
1232 it somewhere and then have the recipient run ``tg revert`` to recreate
1233 the TopGit branches. This may be helpful in situations where it's not
1234 feasible to push all the refs corresponding to the TopGit-controlled
1235 branches and their top-bases.
1239 Provides a ``git rebase`` rerere auto continue function. It may be
1240 used as a drop-in replacement front-end for ``git rebase -m`` that
1241 automatically continues the rebase when ``git rerere`` information is
1242 sufficient to resolve all conflicts.
1244 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1246 If the ``-m`` or ``--merge`` option is not present then ``tg rebase``
1247 will complain and not do anything.
1249 When ``git rerere`` is enabled, previously resolved conflicts are
1250 remembered and can be automatically staged (see ``rerere.autoUpdate``).
1252 However, even with auto staging, ``git rebase`` still stops and
1253 requires an explicit ``git rebase --continue`` to keep going.
1255 In the case where ``git rebase -m`` is being used to flatten history
1256 (such as after a ``tg export --collapse`` prior to a
1257 ``git format-patch``), there's a good chance all conflicts have already
1258 been resolved during normal merge maintenance operations so there's no
1259 reason ``git rebase`` could not automatically continue, but there's no
1260 option to make it do so.
1262 The ``tg rebase`` command provides a ``git rebase --auto-continue``
1265 All the same rebase options can be used (they are simply passed through
1266 to Git unchanged). However, the ``rerere.autoUpdate`` option is
1267 automatically temporarily enabled while running ``git rebase`` and
1268 should ``git rebase`` stop asking one to resolve and continue, but all
1269 conflicts have already been resolved and staged using rerere
1270 information, then ``git rebase --continue`` will be automatically run.
1274 Provides the ability to revert one or more TopGit branches and their
1275 dependencies to a previous state contained within a tag created using
1276 the ``tg tag`` command. In addition to the actual revert mode
1277 operation a list mode operation is also provided to examine a tag's ref
1280 The default mode (``-l`` or ``--list``) shows the state of one or more
1281 of the refs/branches stored in the tag data. When no refs are given on
1282 the command line, all refs in the tag data are shown. With the special
1283 ref name ``--heads`` then the indepedent heads contained in the tag
1284 data are shown. The ``--deps`` option shows the specified refs and all
1285 of their dependencies in a single list with no duplicates. The
1286 ``--rdeps`` option shows a display similar to ``tg summary --rdeps``
1287 for each ref or all independent heads if no ref is given on the command
1288 line. The standard ``--no-short``, ``--short=n`` etc. options may be
1289 used to override the default ``--short`` output. With ``--hash`` (or
1290 ``--hash-only``) show only the hash in ``--list`` mode in which case
1291 the default is ``--no-short``. The ``--hash`` option can be used much
1292 like the ``git rev-parse --verify`` command to extract a specific hash
1293 value out of a TopGit tag.
1295 The revert mode has three submodes, dry-run mode (``-n`` or
1296 ``--dry-run``), force mode (``-f`` or ``--force``) and interactive mode
1297 (``-i`` or ``--interactive``). If ``--dry-run`` (or ``-n``) is given
1298 no ref updates will actually be performed but what would have been
1299 updated is shown instead. If ``--interactive`` (or ``-i``) is given
1300 then the editor is invoked on an instruction sheet allowing manual
1301 selection of the refs to be updated before proceeding. Since revert is
1302 potentially a destructive operation, at least one of the submodes must
1303 be specified explicitly. If no refs are listed on the command line
1304 then all refs in the tag data are reverted. Otherwise the listed refs
1305 and all of their dependencies (unless ``--no-deps`` is given) are
1306 reverted. Unless ``--no-stash`` is given a new stash will be created
1307 using ``tg tag --stash`` (except, of course, in dry-run mode) just
1308 before actually performing the updates to facilitate recovery from
1311 Both modes accept fully-qualified (i.e. starts with ``refs/``) ref
1312 names as well as unqualified names (which will be assumed to be located
1313 under ``refs/heads/``). In revert mode a tgish ref will always have
1314 both its ``refs/heads/`` and ``refs/top-bases/`` values included no
1315 matter how it's listed unless ``--no-deps`` is given and the ref is
1316 fully qualified (i.e. starts with ``refs/``) or one or the other of its
1317 values was removed from the instruction sheet in interactive mode. In
1318 list mode a tgish ref will always have both its ``refs/heads/`` and
1319 ``refs/top-bases/`` values included only when using the ``--deps`` or
1320 ``--rdeps`` options.
1322 The ``--tgish-only`` option excludes non-tgish refs (i.e. refs that do
1323 not have a ``refs/heads/<name>``, ``refs/top-bases/<name>`` pair).
1325 The ``--exclude`` option (which can be repeated) excludes specific
1326 refs. If the name given to ``--exclude`` is not fully-qualified (i.e.
1327 starts with ``refs/``) then it will exclude both members of a tgish ref
1330 The ``--quiet`` (or ``-q``) option may be used in revert mode to
1331 suppress non-dry-run ref change status messages.
1333 The special tag name ``--stash`` (as well as with ``@{n}`` suffixes)
1334 can be used to refer to ``refs/tgstash``.
1336 The ``tg revert`` command supports tags of tags that contains TopGit
1337 refs. So, for example, if you do this::
1340 git tag -f -a -m "tag the tag" newtag newtag
1342 Then ``newtag`` will be a tag of a tag containing a ``TOPGIT REFS``
1343 section. ``tg revert`` knows how to dereference the outermost
1344 tag to get to the next (and the next etc.) tag to find the
1345 ``TOPGIT REFS`` section so after the above sequence, the tag ``newtag``
1346 can still be used successfully with ``tg revert``.
1348 NOTE: If HEAD points to a ref that is updated by a revert operation
1349 then NO WARNING whatsoever will be issued, but the index and working
1350 tree will always be left completely untouched (and the reflog for
1351 the pointed-to ref can always be used to find the previous value).
1355 Outputs the direct dependencies for the current or named branch.
1358 -i show dependencies based on index instead of branch
1359 -w show dependencies based on working tree instead of branch
1363 Outputs all branches which directly depend on the current or
1367 -i show dependencies based on index instead of branch
1368 -w show dependencies based on working tree instead of branch
1376 TopGit stores all the topic branches in the regular ``refs/heads/``
1377 namespace (so we recommend distinguishing them with the ``t/`` prefix).
1378 Apart from that, TopGit also maintains a set of auxiliary refs in
1379 ``refs/top-*``. Currently, only ``refs/top-bases/`` is used, containing the
1380 current *base* of the given topic branch -- this is basically a merge of
1381 all the branches the topic branch depends on; it is updated during ``tg
1382 update`` and then merged to the topic branch, and it is the base of a
1383 patch generated from the topic branch by ``tg patch``.
1385 All the metadata is tracked within the source tree and history of the
1386 topic branch itself, in ``.top*`` files; these files are kept isolated
1387 within the topic branches during TopGit-controlled merges and are of
1388 course omitted during ``tg patch``. The state of these files in base
1389 commits is undefined; look at them only in the topic branches
1390 themselves. Currently, two files are defined:
1393 Contains the description of the topic branch in a
1394 mail-like format, plus the author information, whatever
1395 Cc headers you choose or the post-three-dashes message.
1396 When mailing out your patch, basically only a few extra
1397 mail headers are inserted and then the patch itself is
1398 appended. Thus, as your patches evolve, you can record
1399 nuances like whether the particular patch should have
1400 To-list / Cc-maintainer or vice-versa and similar
1401 nuances, if your project is into that. ``From`` is
1402 prefilled from your current ``GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT``; other
1403 headers can be prefilled from various optional
1404 ``topgit.*`` git config options.
1407 Contains the one-per-line list of branches this branch
1408 depends on, pre-seeded by ``tg create``. A (continuously
1409 updated) merge of these branches will be the *base* of
1412 IMPORTANT: DO NOT EDIT ``.topdeps`` MANUALLY!!! If you do so, you need to
1413 know exactly what you are doing, since this file must stay in sync with
1414 the Git history information, otherwise very bad things will happen.
1416 TopGit also automagically installs a bunch of custom commit-related
1417 hooks that will verify whether you are committing the ``.top*`` files in a
1418 sane state. It will add the hooks to separate files within the ``hooks/``
1419 subdirectory, and merely insert calls to them to the appropriate hooks
1420 and make them executable (but will make sure the original hook's code is
1421 not called if the hook was not executable beforehand).
1423 Another automagically installed piece is a ``.git/info/attributes``
1424 specifier for an ``ours`` merge strategy for the files ``.topmsg`` and
1425 ``.topdeps``, and the (intuitive) ``ours`` merge strategy definition in
1432 There are two remaining issues with accessing topic branches in remote
1435 (i) Referring to remote topic branches from your local repository
1436 (ii) Developing some of the remote topic branches locally
1438 There are two somewhat contradictory design considerations here:
1440 (a) Hacking on multiple independent TopGit remotes in a single
1442 (b) Having a self-contained topic system in local refs space
1444 To us, (a) does not appear to be very convincing, while (b) is quite
1445 desirable for ``git-log topic`` etc. working, and increased conceptual
1448 Thus, we choose to instantiate all the topic branches of given remote
1449 locally; this is performed by ``tg remote --populate``. ``tg update``
1450 will also check if a branch can be updated from its corresponding remote
1451 branch. The logic needs to be somewhat involved if we are to "do the
1452 right thing". First, we update the base, handling the remote branch as
1453 if it was the first dependency; thus, conflict resolutions made in the
1454 remote branch will be carried over to our local base automagically.
1455 Then, the base is merged into the remote branch and the result is merged
1456 to the local branch -- again, to carry over remote conflict resolutions.
1457 In the future, this order might be adjustable on a per-update basis, in
1458 case local changes happen to be diverging more than the remote ones.
1459 (Actually this description seems to be a bit out of date, see the details
1460 in `The Update Process`_ instead for something a bit more current.)
1462 All commands by default refer to the remote that ``tg remote --populate``
1463 was called on the last time (stored in the ``topgit.remote`` git
1464 configuration variable). You can manually run any command with a
1465 different base remote by passing ``-r REMOTE`` *before* the subcommand
1472 A familiarity with the terms in the GLOSSARY_ is helpful for understanding the
1473 content of this sections. See also the IMPLEMENTATION_ section.
1478 When a branch is "updated" using the ``tg update`` command the following steps
1481 1) The branch and all of its dependencies (and theirs recursively)
1482 are checked to see which ones are *out-of-date*. See glossary_.
1484 2) Each of the branch's direct dependencies (i.e. they are listed in
1485 the branch's ``.topdeps`` file) which is out of date is updated
1486 before proceeding (yup, this is a recursive process).
1488 3) Each of the branch's direct dependencies (i.e. they are listed in
1489 the branch's ``.topdes`` file) that was updated in the previous
1490 step is now merged into the branch's corresponding base.
1492 4) If the branch has a corresponding remote branch and the branch
1493 does not already contain it, it's merged into the branch's base
1494 (which was possibly updated in step (3)) on a detached HEAD.
1495 Yup, this step can be a bit confusing and no, the updated base from
1496 step (3) has not yet been merged into the branch itself yet either.
1497 If there is no remote branch this step does not apply. Using a
1498 detached HEAD allows the remote branch to be merged into the
1499 contents of the base without actually perturbing the base's ref.
1501 5) If there is a remote branch present then use the result of step (4)
1502 otherwise use the branch's base and merge that into the branch
1505 That's it! Simple, right? ;)
1507 Unless the auto stash option has been disabled (see `no undo`_, `tg update`_
1508 and `tg tag`_), a copy of all the old refs values will be stashed away
1509 immediately after step (1) before starting step (2), but only if anything is
1510 actually found to be out-of-date.
1517 Version-controlled file stored at the root level of each
1518 TopGit branch that contains the patch header for a TopGit
1519 branch. See also IMPLEMENTATION_;
1522 Version-controlled file stored at the root level of each
1523 TopGit branch that lists the branch's dependencies one per
1524 line omitting the leading ``refs/heads/`` part. See also
1528 Given two Git commit identifiers (e.g. hashes) C1 and C2,
1529 commit C1 "contains" commit C2 if either they are the same
1530 commit or C2 can be reached from C1 by following one or more
1531 parent links from C1 (perhaps via one or more intermediate
1532 commits along the way). In other words, if C1 contains C2
1533 then C2 is an ancestor of C1 or conversely C1 is a descendant
1534 of C2. Since a TopGit branch name is also the name of a Git
1535 branch (something located under the ``refs/heads`` Git
1536 namespace) and similarly for a TopGit base, they can both be
1537 resolved to a Git commit identifier and then participate in
1538 a branch containment test. An easy mnemonic for this is
1539 "children contain the genes of their parents."
1542 See branch containment.
1545 Excellent system for managing a history of changes to one
1546 or more possibly interrelated patches.
1549 A Git branch that has an associated TopGit base. Conceptually
1550 it represents a single patch that is the difference between
1551 the associated TopGit base and the TopGit branch. In other
1552 words ``git diff-tree <TopGit base> <TopGit branch>`` except
1553 that any ``.topdeps`` and/or ``.topmsg`` files are excluded
1554 from the result and the contents of the ``.topmsg`` file from
1555 the TopGit branch is prefixed to the result.
1558 A Git branch that records the base upon which a TopGit branch's
1559 single conceptual "patch" is built. The name of the Git branch
1560 is derived from the TopGit branch name by stripping off the
1561 leading ``refs/heads/`` and appending the correct prefix where
1562 all TopGit bases are stored (typically either
1563 ``refs/top-bases/`` or ``refs/heads/{top-bases}/`` -- the
1564 prefix for any given repository can be shown by using the
1565 ``tg --top-bases`` command).
1567 All of a TopGit branch's dependencies are merged into the
1568 corresponding TopGit base during a ``tg update`` of a branch.
1573 TopGit ``[PATCH]`` branch
1574 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[PATCH]``. By
1575 convention these TopGit branches contain a single patch
1576 (equivalent to a single patch file) and have at least one
1577 dependency (i.e. their ``.topdeps`` files are never empty).
1579 TopGit ``[BASE]`` branch
1580 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[BASE]``. By
1581 convention these TopGit branches do not actually contain
1582 any changes and their ``.topdeps`` files are empty. They
1583 are used to control a base dependency that another set of
1584 branches depends on.
1586 TopGit ``[STAGE]`` branch
1587 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[STAGE]``. By
1588 convention these TopGit branches do not actually contain any
1589 changes of their own but do have one or (typically) more
1590 dependencies in their ``.topdeps`` file. These branches are
1591 used to bring together one or (typically) more independent
1592 TopGit ``[PATCH]`` branches into a single branch so that
1593 testing and/or evaluation can be performed on the result.
1596 A TopGit branch is considered to be "out-of-date" when ANY of
1597 the following are true:
1599 a) The TopGit branch does NOT contain its
1602 b) The TopGit branch does NOT contain its
1603 corresponding remote branch (there may not be
1604 a remote branch in which case this does not apply)
1606 c) Any of the TopGit branches listed in the branch's
1607 ``.topdeps`` file are NOT contained by the branch.
1608 (See "branch containment" above.)
1610 d) Any of the TopGit branches listed in the branch's
1611 ``.topdeps`` file are out-of-date.
1613 remote TopGit branch
1614 A Git branch with the same branch name as a TopGit branch
1615 but living under ``refs/remotes/```<some remote>```/`` instead
1616 of just ``refs/heads/``.
1619 The TopGit base branch corresponding to a remote TopGit branch,
1620 which lives under ``refs/remotes/`` somewhere (depending on
1621 what the output of ``tg --top-bases`` is for that remote).
1622 Note that the ``tg update`` process itself is not concerned
1623 with remote TopGit bases, only remote TopGit branches.
1629 The following references are useful to understand the development of
1630 topgit and its subcommands.
1633 http://public-inbox.org/git/36ca99e90904091034m4d4d31dct78acb333612e678@mail.gmail.com/T/#u
1636 THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE
1637 --------------------
1639 The following software understands TopGit branches:
1641 * `magit <http://magit.github.io/>`_ -- a git mode for emacs
1643 IMPORTANT: Magit requires its topgit mode to be enabled first, as
1644 described in its documentation, in the "Activating extensions"
1645 subsection. If this is not done, it will not push TopGit branches
1646 correctly, so it's important to enable it even if you plan to mostly use
1647 TopGit from the command line.