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 :REQUIREMENTS_: Installation requirements
19 :SYNOPSIS_: Command line example session
20 :USAGE_: Command line details
21 :`NO UNDO`_: Where's the undo!!!
22 :CONVENTIONS_: Suggestions for organizing your TopGit branches
23 :`EXTRA SETTINGS`_: Various possible "topgit.*" config settings
24 :ALIASES_: Git-like TopGit command aliases
25 :NAVIGATION_: Getting around with "next" and "prev"
26 :GLOSSARY_: All the TopGit vocabulary in one place
27 :TECHNICAL_: How it works behind the scenes
33 TopGit is a collection of POSIX shell scripts so a POSIX-compliant shell is
34 required along with some standard POSIX-compliant utilities (e.g. sed, awk,
35 cat, etc.). Git version 1.8.5 or later is also required.
37 To use TopGit with linked working trees (the ``git worktree add`` command),
38 at least Git version 2.5.0 (obviously, since that's when the ``git worktree``
39 command first appeared) is needed in which case linked working trees are then
40 fully supported for use with TopGit.
42 The scripts need to be preprocessed and installed and currently the Makefile
43 that does this requires GNU make, but that's an install-time-only requirement.
45 It is possible, however, to use the DESTDIR functionality to install TopGit to
46 a staging area on one machine, archive that and then unarchive it on another
47 machine to perform an install (provided the build prefix and other options are
48 compatible with the final installed location).
54 See the file ``INSTALL``.
60 The TopGit git repository can be found at <http://repo.or.cz/topgit/pro>.
66 Why not use something like StGIT or Guilt or ``rebase -i`` for maintaining
67 your patch queue? The advantage of these tools is their simplicity;
68 they work with patch *series* and defer to the reflog facility for
69 version control of patches (reordering of patches is not
70 version-controlled at all). But there are several disadvantages -- for
71 one, these tools (especially StGIT) do not actually fit well with plain
72 Git at all: it is basically impossible to take advantage of the index
73 effectively when using StGIT. But more importantly, these tools
74 horribly fail in the face of a distributed environment.
76 TopGit has been designed around three main tenets:
78 (i) TopGit is as thin a layer on top of Git as possible. You
79 still maintain your index and commit using Git; TopGit will only
80 automate a few indispensable tasks.
82 (ii) TopGit is anxious about *keeping* your history. It will
83 never rewrite your history, and all metadata is also tracked
84 by Git, smoothly and non-obnoxiously. It is good to have a
85 *single* point when the history is cleaned up, and that is at
86 the point of inclusion in the upstream project; locally, you
87 can see how your patch has evolved and easily return to older
90 (iii) TopGit is specifically designed to work in a
91 distributed environment. You can have several instances of
92 TopGit-aware repositories and smoothly keep them all
93 up-to-date and transfer your changes between them.
95 As mentioned above, the main intended use-case for TopGit is tracking
96 third-party patches, where each patch is effectively a single topic
97 branch. In order to flexibly accommodate even complex scenarios when
98 you track many patches where many are independent but some depend on
99 others, TopGit ignores the ancient Quilt heritage of patch series and
100 instead allows the patches to freely form graphs (DAGs just like Git
101 history itself, only "one level higher"). For now, you have to manually
102 specify which patches the current one depends on, but TopGit might help
103 you with that in the future in a darcs-like fashion.
105 A glossary_ plug: The union (i.e. merge) of patch dependencies is called
106 a *base* of the patch (topic branch).
108 Of course, TopGit is perhaps not the right tool for you:
110 (i) TopGit is not complicated, but StGIT et al. are somewhat
111 simpler, conceptually. If you just want to make a linear
112 purely-local patch queue, deferring to StGIT instead might
115 (ii) When using TopGit, your history can get a little hairy
116 over time, especially with all the merges rippling through.
125 ## Create and evolve a topic branch
126 $ tg create t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
127 tg: Automatically marking dependency on master
128 tg: Creating t/gitweb/pathinfo-action base from master...
134 ## Create another topic branch on top of the former one
135 $ tg create t/gitweb/nifty-links
136 tg: Automatically marking dependency on t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
137 tg: Creating t/gitweb/nifty-links base from t/gitweb/pathinfo-action...
141 ## Create another topic branch on top of master and submit
142 ## the resulting patch upstream
143 $ tg create t/revlist/author-fixed master
144 tg: Creating t/revlist/author-fixed base from master...
148 tg: Sent t/revlist/author-fixed
150 To: git@vger.kernel.org
151 Cc: gitster@pobox.com
152 Subject: [PATCH] Fix broken revlist --author when --fixed-string
154 ## Create another topic branch depending on two others non-trivially
155 $ tg create t/whatever t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
156 tg: Creating t/whatever base from t/revlist/author-fixed...
157 tg: Merging t/whatever base with t/gitweb/nifty-links...
159 tg: Please commit merge resolution and call: tg update --continue
160 tg: It is also safe to abort this operation using `git reset --hard`
161 tg: but please remember you are on the base branch now;
162 tg: you will want to switch to a different branch.
165 $ tg update --continue
169 ## Update a single topic branch and propagate the changes to
171 $ git checkout t/gitweb/nifty-links
174 $ git checkout t/whatever
176 Topic Branch: t/whatever (1 commit)
177 Subject: [PATCH] Whatever patch
179 Depends: t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
181 t/gitweb/nifty-links (1 commit)
183 tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/nifty-links changes...
185 tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update --continue`
186 tg: (use `tg status` to see more options)
189 $ tg update --continue
190 tg: Updating t/whatever against new base...
192 tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update --continue`
193 tg: (use `tg status` to see more options)
196 $ tg update --continue
198 ## Update a single topic branch and propagate the changes
199 ## further through the dependency chain
200 $ git checkout t/gitweb/pathinfo-action
203 $ git checkout t/whatever
205 Topic Branch: t/whatever (1/2 commits)
206 Subject: [PATCH] Whatever patch
208 Depends: t/revlist/author-fixed t/gitweb/nifty-links
210 t/gitweb/pathinfo-action (<= t/gitweb/nifty-links) (1 commit)
212 tg: Recursing to t/gitweb/nifty-links...
213 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/pathinfo-action changes...
215 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update --continue`
216 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: (use `tg status` to see more options)
219 $ tg update --continue
220 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Updating t/gitweb/nifty-links against new base...
222 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: Please commit merge resolution and call `tg update --continue`
223 [t/gitweb/nifty-links] tg: (use `tg status` to see more options)
226 $ tg update --continue
227 tg: Updating base with t/gitweb/nifty-links changes...
228 tg: Updating t/whatever against new base...
230 ## Clone a TopGit-controlled repository
233 $ tg remote --populate origin
238 ## Add a TopGit remote to a repository and push to it
239 $ git remote add foo URL
243 ## Update from a non-default TopGit remote
252 When using TopGit there are several common conventions used when working with
253 TopGit branches. None of them are enforced, they are only suggestions.
255 There are three typical uses for a TopGit branch:
258 Normal TopGit branches that represent a single patch. These are known
259 as "patch" TopGit branches.
261 Empty TopGit branches with no dependencies (an empty ``.topdeps`` file)
262 that represent a base upon which other "normal" TopGit branches depend.
263 These are known as "base" TopGit branches (not to be confused with
264 the refs/top-bases/... refs).
266 Empty TopGit branches that serve as a staging area to bring together
267 several other TopGit branches into one place so they can be used/tested
268 all together. These are known as "stage" TopGit branches.
270 An "empty" TopGit branch is one that does not have any changes of its own --
271 it may still have dependencies though ("stage" branches do, "base" branches do
272 not). The ``tg summary`` output shows empty branches with a ``0`` in the
273 listing. Normal "patch" branches that have not been annihilated, "base" and
274 "stage" branches fall into this category. (Annihilated branches are normally
275 omitted from the ``tg summary`` output but can be shown if given explicitly as
276 an argument to the ``tg summary`` command. However, the message line will be
277 incorrect since an annihilated branch has no ``.topmsg`` file of its own.)
279 A "patch" branch name typically starts with ``t/`` whereas "base" and "stage"
280 branch names often do not.
282 A "base" branch is created by using the ``--base`` option of ``tg create``
283 (aka ``--no-deps``) which will automatically suggest a "[BASE]" message prefix
284 rather than "[PATCH]". A "stage" branch is created like a normal patch branch
285 except that the only changes that will ever be made to it are typically to
286 add/remove dependencies. Its subject prefix must be manually changed to
287 "[STAGE]" to reflect its purpose.
289 Since both "base" and "stage" branches typically only have a use for the
290 "Subject:" line from their ``.topmsg`` file, they are quite easily created
291 using the ``--topmsg`` option of ``tg create``.
293 Use of "stage" and "base" branches is completely optional. However, without
294 use of a "stage" branch it will be difficult to test multiple independent
295 patches together all at once. A "base" branch is merely a convenience that
296 provides more explicit control over when a common base for a set of patches
297 gets updated as well as providing a branch that shows in ``tg summary`` output
298 and participates in ``tg remote --populate`` setup.
300 Another advantage to using a "stage" branch is that if a new "patch" branch
301 is created remotely and that new branch is added to a pre-existing "stage"
302 branch on the remote then when the local version of the "stage" branch is
303 updated (after fetching remote updates of course), that new dependency will
304 be merged into the local "stage" branch and the local version of the new remote
305 "patch" branch will be automatically set up at "tg update" time.
307 When using the ``tg tag`` command to create tags that record the current state
308 of one or more TopGit branches, the tags are often created with a name that
311 One last thing, you have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
317 Beware, there is no "undo" after running a ``tg update``!
319 Well, that's not entirely correct. Since ``tg update`` never discards commits
320 an "undo" operation is technically feasible provided the old values of all the
321 refs that were affected by the ``tg update`` operation can be determined and
322 then they are simply changed back to their previous values.
324 In practice though, it can be extremely tedious and error prone looking through
325 log information to try and determine what the correct previous values were.
326 Although, since TopGit tries to make sure reflogs are enabled for top-bases
327 refs, using Git's ``@{date}`` notation on all the refs dumped out by a
328 ``tg tag --refs foo``, where "foo" is the branch that was updated whose update
329 needs to be undone, may work.
331 Alternatively, ``tg tag --stash`` can be used prior to the update and then
332 ``tg revert`` used after the update to restore the previous state. This
333 assumes, of course, that you remember to run ``tg tag --stash`` first.
335 The ``tg update`` command understands a ``--stash`` option that tells it to
336 automatically run ``tg tag --stash`` before it starts making changes (if
337 everything is up-to-date it won't run the stash command at all).
339 The ``--stash`` option is the default nowadays when running ``tg update``,
340 add the ``--no-stash`` option to turn it off.
342 There is a preference for this. Setting the config value ``topgit.autostash``
343 to ``false`` will implicitly add the ``--no-stash`` option to any ``tg update``
344 command unless an explicit ``--stash`` option is given.
346 If you are likely to ever want to undo a ``tg update``, setting
347 ``topgit.autostash`` to ``false`` is highly discouraged!
349 Note that the tags saved by ``tg tag --stash`` are stored in the
350 ``refs/tgstash`` ref and its reflog. Unfortunately, while Git is happy to
351 maintain the reflog (once it's been enabled which ``tg tag`` guarantees for
352 ``refs/tgstash``), Git is unable to view an annotated/signed tag's reflog!
353 Instead Git dereferences the tag and shows the wrong thing. Use the
354 ``tg tag -g`` command to view the ``refs/tgstash`` reflog instead.
360 TopGit supports various config settings:
362 :ALIASES_: ``topgit.alias.*`` for Git-like command aliases
363 :SEQUESTRATION_: ``topgit.sequester`` for sequestration control
364 :`tg migrate-bases`_: ``topgit.top-bases`` for refs bases location
365 :`tg update`_: ``topgit.autostash`` automatic stash control
366 :`tg patch`_: ``topgit.from`` From: fixups by ``tg patch``
367 :`REMOTE HANDLING`_: ``topgit.remote`` TopGit's default remote
373 These work exactly like Git's aliases except they are stored under
374 ``topgit.alias.*`` instead. See the ``git help config`` output under
375 the ``alias.*`` section for details. Do note that while alias nesting is
376 explicitly permitted, a maximum nesting depth of 10 is enforced to help
377 detect accidental aliasing loops from wedging the machine.
379 For example, to create an ``lc`` alias for the ``tg log --compact`` command
380 this command may be used:
384 git config --global topgit.alias.lc "log --compact"
386 To make it specific to a particular repository just omit the ``--global``
387 option from the command.
392 From Previous to Next
393 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
395 For this section, consider the following patch series, to be applied
396 in numerical order as shown:
400 0001-F_first-patch.diff
401 0002-G_second-builds-on-F.diff
402 0003-H_third-builds-on-G.diff
403 0004-I_fourth-builds-on-H.diff
404 0005-J_fifth-builds-on-I.diff
405 0006-K_sixth-builds-on-J.diff
406 0007-L_last-patch-needs-K.diff
408 If these were applied to some commit in a Git repository, say commit "A"
409 then a history that looks like this would be created:
413 A---F---G---H---I---J---K---L
415 Where the parent of commit "F" is "A" and so on to where the parent of
416 commit "L" is commit "K".
418 If that commit history, from A through L, was then imported into TopGit, one
419 TopGit branch would be created corresponding to each of the commits F
420 through L. This way, for example, if the fourth patch in the series
421 (``0004-I_...diff``) needs work, the TopGit branch corresponding to its patch
422 can be checked out and changes made and then a new version of its patch
423 created (using ``tg patch``) without disturbing the other patches in the series
424 and when ``tg update`` is run, the patches that "follow" the fourth patch
425 (i.e. 5, 6 and 7) will have their corresponding TopGit branches automatically
426 updated to take into account the changes made to the fourth patch.
428 Okay, enough with the review of TopGit systemology
429 ``````````````````````````````````````````````````
431 Imagine then that you are working on the fourth patch (i.e. you have its
432 branch checked out into the working tree) and you want to move to the following
433 patch in the series because you have a nit to pick with it too.
435 If you can't remember the exact name you might have to fumble around or, you
436 can display the name of the following or "next" patch's branch with the, you
437 guessed it, ``tg next`` command. Think of "next" as the "next" logical patch
438 in the series or the next following patch. If the patches are numbered as in
439 the list above, "next" corresponds to the "+1" (plus one) patch.
441 You might have already guessed there's a corresponding ``tg prev`` command
442 which displays the "-1" (minus one) patch. If these commands (``tg next``
443 and ``tg prev``) are not given a branch name to start at they start at the
444 patch corresponding to the current ``HEAD``.
446 Displaying, however, is not so helpful as actually going there. That's where
447 the ``tg checkout`` command comes in. ``tg checkout next`` does a
448 ``git checkout`` of the ``tg next`` branch and, not surprisingly,
449 ``tg checkout prev`` does a ``git checkout`` of the ``tg prev`` branch. For
450 the lazy a single ``n`` or ``p`` can be used with ``tg checkout`` instead of
451 typing out the entire ``next`` or ``prev``. Or, for the anal, ``previous``
452 will also be accepted for ``prev``.
454 Referring to the A...L commit graph shown above, I is the parent of J and,
455 conversely, J is the child of I. (Git only explicitly records the child to
456 parent links, in other words a "child" points to zero or more "parents", but
457 parents are completely clueless about their own children.)
459 For historical reasons, the ``tg checkout`` command accepts ``child`` as a
460 synonym for ``next`` and ``parent`` as a synonym for ``prev``. However, this
461 terminology can be confusing since Git has "parent" links but ``tg checkout``
462 is referring to the TopGit DAG, not Git's. Best to just avoid using ``child``
463 or ``parent`` to talk about navigating the TopGit DAG and reserve them
464 strictly for discussing the Git DAG.
466 There may be more than one
467 ``````````````````````````
469 In a simple linear history as shown above there's always only one "next" or
470 "prev" patch. However, TopGit does not restrict one to only a linear
471 history (although that can make patch exports just a bushel of fun).
473 Suffice it to say that there is always a single linearized ordering for any
474 TopGit patch series since it's always a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph), but it
475 may not be immediately obvious to the casual observer what that is.
477 The ``tg checkout`` command will display a list to choose from if ``next``
478 or ``prev`` would be ambiguous.
480 Use the ``tg info --series`` command
481 ````````````````````````````````````
483 To see the full, linearized, list of patches with their summary displayed in
484 order from first to last patch in the series, just run the ``tg info --series``
485 command. It takes the name of any patch in the series automatically using
486 ``HEAD`` if none is given. It even provides a nice "YOU ARE HERE" mark in
487 the output list helpful to those who have been absent for a time engaging in
488 otherwise distracting activities and need to be reminded where they are.
490 Don't get pushy, there's just one more thing
491 ````````````````````````````````````````````
493 For historical reasons, ``tg checkout`` with no arguments whatsoever behaves
494 like ``tg checkout next``. For the same historical reasons, ``tg checkout ..``
495 behaves like ``tg checkout prev`` (think of ``..`` as the "parent" directory
496 and since "parent" means "prev" in this context it will then make sense).
498 Now, for that one more thing. Consider that you have a pristine "upstream"
499 tarball, repository, source dump or otherwise obtained set of unmodified
500 source files that need to be patched. View them like so:
504 +-------------------------------+
505 | Unmodified "upstream" source |
506 | files represented with "A" |
507 +-------------------------------+
509 Now, add the first patch, 0001, to them and view the result like so:
513 +--------------------------+----+
514 | Patch 0001 represented by "F" |
515 +-------------------------------+
516 | Unmodified "upstream" source |
517 | files represented with "A" |
518 +-------------------------------+
520 Not stopping there, "push" patches 2, 3 and 4 onto the stack as well like so:
524 +--------------------------+----+
525 | Patch 0004 represented by "I" |
526 +--------------------------+----+
527 | Patch 0003 represented by "H" |
528 +--------------------------+----+
529 | Patch 0002 represented by "G" |
530 +--------------------------+----+
531 | Patch 0001 represented by "F" |
532 +-------------------------------+
533 | Unmodified "upstream" source |
534 | files represented with "A" |
535 +-------------------------------+
537 In other words, to go to the "next" patch in the series it needs to be "push"ed
538 onto the stack. ``tg checkout`` accepts ``push`` as an alias for ``next``.
540 Similarly to go to the "previous" patch in the series the current one needs
541 to be "pop"ped off the stack. ``tg checkout`` accepts ``pop`` as an alias
544 Unfortunately for these aliases, in Git terminology a "push" has quite a
545 different meaning and the ``tg push`` command does something quite different
546 from ``tg checkout push``. Then there's the matter of using a single letter
547 abbreviation for the lazy -- ``p`` would mean what exactly?
549 ``tg checkout`` continues to accept the ``push`` and ``pop`` aliases for
550 ``next`` and ``prev`` respectively, but it's best to avoid them since
551 ``push`` has an alternate meaning everywhere else in TopGit and Git and that
552 leaves ``pop`` all alone in the dark.
558 No, this is not a section about budget nonsense. ;)
560 TopGit keeps its metadata in ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` files. In an effort
561 to facilitate cherry-picking and other Git activities on the patch changes
562 themselves while ignoring the TopGit metadata, TopGit attempts to keep all
563 changes to ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` files limited to commits that do NOT
564 contain changes to any other files.
566 This is a departure from previous TopGit versions that made no such effort.
568 Primarily this affects ``tg create`` and ``tg import`` (which makes use of
569 ``tg create``) as ``tg create`` will commit the initial versions of
570 ``.topdeps`` and ``.topmsg`` for a new TopGit-controlled branch in their own
571 commit instead of mixing them in with changes to other files.
573 The ``pre-commit`` hook will also attempt to separate out any ``.topdeps`` and
574 ``.topmsg`` changes from commits that include changes to other files.
576 It is possible to defeat these checks without much effort (``pre-commit`` hooks
577 can easily be bypassed, ``tg create`` has a ``--no-commit`` option, many Git
578 commands simply do not run the ``pre-commit`` hook, etc.).
580 If you really, really, really, really want to change the default back to the
581 old behavior of previous TopGit versions where no such sequestration took
582 place, then set the ``topgit.sequester`` config variable explicitly to the
583 value ``false``. But this is not recommended.
586 AMENDING AND REBASING AND UPDATE-REF'ING
587 ----------------------------------------
591 It is okay to manually update a top-bases/... ref when a) it has no depedencies
592 (i.e. it was created with the ``tg create`` ``--base`` option) and b) the
593 old top-bases/... ref value can be fast-forwarded to the new top-bases/...
594 value OR the new value contains ALL of the changes in the old value through
595 some other mechanism (perhaps they were cherry-picked or otherwise applied to
596 the new top-bases/... ref). The same rules apply to non-TopGit-controlled
597 dependencies. Use the ``tg update --base <branch> <new-ref>`` command to
598 safely make such an update while making it easy to set the merge commit
599 message at the same time.
601 Ignoring this rule and proceeding anyway with a non-fast-forward update to a
602 top-bases/... ref will result in changes present in the new value being merged
603 into the branch (at ``tg update`` time) as expected (possibly with conflicts),
604 but any changes that were contained in the old version of the top-bases/... ref
605 which have been dropped (i.e. are NOT contained in the new version of the
606 top-bases/... ref) will continue to be present in the branch! To get rid of
607 the dropped commits, one or more "revert" commits will have to be manually
608 applied to the tip of the new top-bases/... value (which will then be merged
609 into the branch at next ``tg update`` time).
611 The only time it's safe to amend, rebase, filter or otherwise rewrite commits
612 contained in a TopGit controlled branch or non-TopGit branch is when those
613 commits are NOT reachable via any other ref!
615 Furthermore, while it is safe to rewrite merge commits (provided they meet the
616 same conditions) the merge commits themselves and the branches they are merging
617 in must be preserved during the rewrite and that can be rather tricky to get
618 right so it's not recommended.
620 For example, if, while working on a TopGit-controlled branch ``foo``, a bad
621 typo is noticed, it's okay to ammend/rebase to fix that provided neither
622 ``tg update`` nor ``tg create`` has already been used to cause some other ref
623 to be able to reach the commit with the typo.
625 If an amend or rerwite is done anyway even though the commit with the typo is
626 reachable from some other ref, the typo won't really be removed. What will
627 happen instead is that the new version without the typo will ultimately be
628 merged into the other ref(s) (at ``tg update`` time) likely causing a conflict
629 that will have to be manually resolved and the commit with the typo will
630 continue to be reachable from those other refs!
632 Instead just make a new commit to fix the typo. The end result will end up
633 being the same but without the merge conflicts.
635 See also the discussion in the `NO UNDO`_ section.
641 TopGit needs to check many things to determine whether a TopGit branch is
642 up-to-date or not. This can involve a LOT of git commands for a complex
643 dependency tree. In order to speed things up, TopGit keeps a cache of results
644 in a ``tg-cache`` subdirectory in the ``.git`` directory.
646 Results are tagged with the original hash values used to get that result so
647 that items which have not been changed return their results quickly and items
648 which have been changed compute their new result and cache it for future use.
650 The ``.git/tg-cache`` directory may be removed at any time and the cache will
651 simply be recreated in an on-demand fashion as needed, at some speed penalty,
652 until it's fully rebuilt.
654 To force the cache to be fully pre-loaded, run the ``tg summary`` command
655 without any arguments. Otherwise, normal day-to-day TopGit operations should
656 keep it more-or-less up-to-date.
658 While each TopGit command is running, it uses a temporary subdirectory also
659 located in the ``.git`` directory. These directories are named
660 ``tg-tmp.XXXXXX`` where the ``XXXXXX`` part will be random letters and digits.
662 These temporary directories should always be removed automatically after each
663 TopGit command finishes running. As long as you are not in a subshell as a
664 result of a TopGit command stopping and waiting for a manual merge resolution,
665 it's safe to remove any of these directories that may have somehow accidentally
666 been left behind as a result of some failure that occurred while running a
667 TopGit command (provided, of course, it's not actually being used by a TopGit
668 command currently running in another terminal window or by another user on the
674 ``tg [global options] <subcommand> [<subcommand option/argument>...]``
678 ``[-C <dir>]... [-r <remote> | -u] [-c <name>=<val>]... [--no-pager]``
680 -C <dir> Change directory to <dir> before doing anything more
681 -r <remote> Pretend ``topgit.remote`` is set to <remote>
682 -u Pretend ``topgit.remote`` is not set
683 -c <name=val> Pass config option to git, may be repeated
684 --no-pager Disable use of any pager (by both TopGit and Git)
685 --top-bases Show full ``top-bases`` ref prefix and exit
686 --exec-path Show path to subcommand scripts location and exit
687 --help Show brief usage help and exit (aka ``-h``)
689 The ``tg`` tool has several subcommands:
691 :`tg annihilate`_: Mark a TopGit-controlled branch as defunct
692 :`tg base`_: Show base commit for one or more TopGit branches
693 :`tg checkout`_: Shortcut for git checkout with name matching
694 :`tg contains`_: Which TopGit-controlled branch contains the commit
695 :`tg create`_: Create a new TopGit-controlled branch
696 :`tg delete`_: Delete a TopGit-controlled branch cleanly
697 :`tg depend`_: Add a new dependency to a TopGit-controlled branch
698 :`tg export`_: Export TopGit branch patches to files or a branch
699 :`tg files`_: Show files changed by a TopGit branch
700 :`tg help`_: Show TopGit help optionally using a browser
701 :`tg import`_: Import commit(s) to separate TopGit branches
702 :`tg info`_: Show status information about a TopGit branch
703 :`tg log`_: Run git log limiting revisions to a TopGit branch
704 :`tg mail`_: Shortcut for git send-email with ``tg patch`` output
705 :`tg migrate-bases`_: Transition top-bases to new location
706 :`tg next`_: Show branches directly depending on a TopGit branch
707 :`tg patch`_: Generate a patch file for a TopGit branch
708 :`tg prev`_: Show non-annihilated TopGit dependencies for a branch
709 :`tg push`_: Run git push on TopGit branch(es) and depedencies
710 :`tg rebase`_: Auto continue git rebase if rerere resolves conflicts
711 :`tg remote`_: Set up remote for fetching/pushing TopGit branches
712 :`tg revert`_: Revert ref(s) to a state stored in a ``tg tag``
713 :`tg status`_: Show current TopGit status (e.g. in-progress update)
714 :`tg summary`_: Show various information about TopGit branches
715 :`tg tag`_: Create tag that records current TopGit branch state
716 :`tg update`_: Update TopGit branch(es) with respect to dependencies
720 Our sophisticated integrated help facility. Mostly duplicates
725 # to get help for a particular command:
727 # to get help for a particular command in a browser window:
728 $ tg help -w <command>
729 # to get help on TopGit itself
731 # to get help on TopGit itself in a browser
736 Our sophisticated status facility. Similar to Git's status command
737 but shows any in-progress update that's awaiting a merge resolution
738 or any other on-going TopGit activity (such as a branch creation).
740 With a single ``--verbose`` (or ``-v``) option include a short status
741 display for any dirty (but not untracked) files. This also causes all
742 non file status lines to be prefixed with "## ".
744 With two (or more) ``--verbose`` (or ``-v``) options, additionally
745 show full symbolic ref names and unabbreviated hash values.
747 With the ``--exit-code`` option the exit code will be non-zero if any
748 TopGit or Git operation is currently in progress or the working
753 Create a new TopGit-controlled topic branch of the given name
754 (required argument) and switch to it. If no dependencies are
755 specified (by extra arguments passed after the first one), the
756 current branch is assumed to be the only dependency.
758 By default ``tg create`` opens an editor on the new ``.topmsg`` file
759 and then commits the new ``.topmsg`` and ``.topdeps`` files
760 automatically with a suitable default commit message.
762 The commit message can be changed with the ``-m`` (or ``--message``) or
763 ``-F`` (or ``--file``) option. The automatic commit can be suppressed
764 by using the ``--no-ccmmit`` option. Running the editor on the new
765 ``.topmsg`` file can be suppressed by using ``-n`` (or ``--no-edit``)
766 (which also suppresses the automatic commit) or by providing an
767 explicit value for the new ``.topmsg`` file using the ``--topmsg`` or
768 ``--topmsg-file`` option. In any case the ``.topmsg`` content will be
769 automatically reformated to have a ``Subject:`` header line if needed.
771 If more than one dependency is listed, the automatic commit will not
772 take place until AFTER all the listed dependencies have been merged
773 into a base commit which will require some manual merge resolutions if
774 conflicts occur during the merge operations.
776 Previous versions of TopGit behaved as though the ``--no-edit`` option
777 was always given on the command line.
779 The default behavior has been changed to promote a separation between
780 commits that modify ``.topmsg`` and/or ``.topdeps`` and commits that
781 modify other files. This facilitates cleaner cherry picking and other
782 patch maintenance activities.
784 You should edit the patch description (contained in the ``.topmsg``
785 file) as appropriate. It will already contain some prefilled bits.
786 You can set the ``topgit.to``, ``topgit.cc`` and ``topgit.bcc``
787 git configuration variables (see ``man git-config``) in order to
788 have ``tg create`` add these headers with the given default values
789 to ``.topmsg`` before invoking the editor.
791 The main task of ``tg create`` is to set up the topic branch base
792 from the dependencies. This may fail due to merge conflicts if more
793 than one dependency is given. In that case, after you commit the
794 conflict resolution, you should call ``tg update --continue`` to
795 finish merging the dependencies into the new topic branch base.
797 With the ``--base`` (aka ``--no-deps``) option at most one dependency
798 may be listed which may be any valid committish (instead of just
799 refs/heads/...) and the newly created TopGit-controlled branch will
800 have an empty ``.topdeps`` file. This may be desirable in order to
801 create a TopGit-controlled branch that has no changes of its own and
802 serves merely to mark the common dependency that all other
803 TopGit-controlled branches in some set of TopGit-controlled branches
804 depend on. A plain, non-TopGit-controlled branch can be used for the
805 same purpose, but the advantage of a TopGit-controlled branch with no
806 dependencies is that it will be pushed with ``tg push``, it will show
807 up in the ``tg summary`` and ``tg info`` output with the subject from
808 its ``.topmsg`` file thereby documenting what it's for and finally it
809 can be set up with ``tg create -r`` and/or ``tg remote --populate`` to
812 For example, ``tg create --base release v2.1`` will create a TopGit-
813 controlled ``release`` branch based off the ``v2.1`` tag that can then
814 be used as a base for creation of other TopGit-controlled branches.
815 Then when the time comes to move the base for an entire set of changes
816 up to ``v2.2`` the command ``tg update --base release v2.2`` can be
817 used followed by ``tg update --all``.
819 Using ``--base`` it's also possible to use ``tg create`` on an
820 unborn branch (omit the dependency name or specify ``HEAD``). The
821 unborn branch itself can be made into the new TopGit branch (rather
822 than being born empty and then having the new TopGit branch based off
823 that) by specifying ``HEAD`` as the new branch's name (which is
824 probably what you normally want to do in this case anyway so you can
825 just run ``tg create --base HEAD`` to accomplish that).
827 In an alternative use case, if ``-r <branch>`` is given instead of a
828 dependency list, the topic branch is created based on the given
829 remote branch. With just ``-r`` the remote branch name is assumed
830 to be the same as the local topic branch being created. Since no
831 new commits are created in this mode (only two refs will be updated)
832 the editor will never be run for this use case. Note that no other
833 options may be combined with ``-r``.
835 The ``--quiet`` (or ``-q``) option suppresses most informational
840 Remove a TopGit-controlled topic branch of the given name
841 (required argument). Normally, this command will remove only an
842 empty branch (base == head) without dependendents; use ``-f`` to
843 remove a non-empty branch or a branch that is depended upon by
846 The ``-f`` option is also useful to force removal of a branch's
847 base, if you used ``git branch -D B`` to remove branch B, and then
848 certain TopGit commands complain, because the base of branch B
851 Normally ``tg delete`` will refuse to delete the current branch.
852 However, giving ``-f`` twice (or more) will force it to do so but it
853 will first detach your HEAD.
855 IMPORTANT: Currently, this command will *NOT* remove the branch
856 from the dependency list in other branches. You need to take
857 care of this *manually*. This is even more complicated in
858 combination with ``-f`` -- in that case, you need to manually
859 unmerge the removed branch's changes from the branches depending
862 See also ``tg annihilate``.
864 | TODO: ``-a`` to delete all empty branches, depfix, revert
868 Make a commit on the current TopGit-controlled topic branch
869 that makes it equal to its base, including the presence or
870 absence of .topmsg and .topdeps. Annihilated branches are not
871 displayed by ``tg summary``, so they effectively get out of your
872 way. However, the branch still exists, and ``tg push`` will
873 push it (except if given the ``-a`` option). This way, you can
874 communicate that the branch is no longer wanted.
876 When annihilating a branch that has dependents (i.e. branches
877 that depend on it), those dependents have the dependencies of
878 the branch being annihilated added to them if they do not already
879 have them as dependencies. Essentially the DAG is repaired to
880 skip over the annihilated branch.
882 Normally, this command will remove only an empty branch
883 (base == head, except for changes to the .top* files); use
884 ``-f`` to annihilate a non-empty branch.
886 After completing the annihilation itself, normally ``tg update``
887 is run on any modified dependents. Use the ``--no-update`` option
888 to suppress running ``tg update``.
892 Change the dependencies of a TopGit-controlled topic branch.
893 This should have several subcommands, but only ``add`` is
896 The ``add`` subcommand takes an argument naming a topic branch to
897 be added, adds it to ``.topdeps``, performs a commit and then
898 updates your topic branch accordingly. If you want to do other
899 things related to the dependency addition, like adjusting
900 ``.topmsg``, use the option ``--no-commit``. Adding the
901 ``--no-update`` (or ``--no-commit``) option will suppress the
902 ``tg update`` normally performed after committing the change.
904 It is safe to run ``tg depend add`` in a dirty worktree, but the
905 normally performed ``tg update`` will be suppressed in that case
906 (even if neither ``--no-update`` nor ``--no-commit`` is given).
908 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
910 | TODO: Subcommand for removing dependencies, obviously
914 List files changed by the current or specified topic branch.
917 -i list files based on index instead of branch
918 -w list files based on working tree instead of branch
922 Show summary information about the current or specified topic
925 Numbers in parenthesis after a branch name such as "(11/3 commits)"
926 indicate how many commits on the branch (11) and how many of those
927 are non-merge commits (3).
929 With ``--verbose`` (or ``-v``) include a list of dependents (i.e. other
930 branches that depend on this one). Another ``--verbose`` annotates
931 them with "[needs merge]" if the current tip of branch for which info
932 is being shown has not yet been merged into the base of the dependent.
934 Alternatively, if ``--heads`` is used then which of the independent
935 TopGit branch heads (as output by ``tg summary --topgit-heads``)
936 logically contains the specified commit (which may be any committish --
937 defaults to ``HEAD`` if not given). Zero or more results will be
938 output. Note that "logically" means with regard to the TopGit
939 dependency relationships as established by the ``.topdeps`` file(s).
940 It's the answer that would be given when all the TopGit branches are
941 up-to-date (even though they need not be to use this option) and the
942 ``git branch --contains`` command is run and the output then filtered
943 to only those branches that appear in ``tg summary --topgit-heads``.
944 This computation may require several seconds on complex repositories.
946 If ``--leaves`` is used then the unique list of leaves of the current
947 or specified topic branch is shown as one fully-qualified ref per line.
948 Duplicates are suppressed and a tag name will be used when appropriate.
949 A "leaf" is any dependency that is either not a TopGit branch or is
950 the base of a non-annihilated TopGit branch with no non-annihilated
953 A linearized patch series can only be automatically created for a
954 TopGit topic branch (including its recursive dependencies) when exactly
955 one line is output by ``tg info --leaves <topic-branch>``.
957 With ``--series`` the list of TopGit branches in the order they would
958 be linearized into a patch series is shown along with the description
959 of each branch. If branch name passed to ``tg info`` is not the last
960 branch in the series a marker column will be provided to quickly
961 locate it in the list.
963 Some patches shown in the list may not actually end up introducing any
964 changes if exported and be therefore end up being omitted. The ``0``
965 indicator in ``tg summary`` output can help to identify some of these.
967 The patches shown in the series in the order they are shown form the
968 basis for the ``tg next`` and ``tg prev`` operations with the first
969 patch shown being considered the first and so on up to the last.
973 Generate a patch from the current or specified topic branch.
974 This means that the diff between the topic branch base and head
975 (latest commit) is shown, appended to the description found in
976 the ``.topmsg`` file.
978 The patch is simply dumped to stdout. In the future, ``tg patch``
979 will be able to automatically send the patches by mail or save
980 them to files. (TODO)
983 -i base patch generation on index instead of branch
984 -w base patch generation on working tree instead of branch
985 --binary pass --binary to ``git diff-tree`` to enable generation
987 --quiet be quiet (aka ``-q``) about missing and unfixed From:
988 --from make sure patch has a From: line, if not add one using
989 --from=<a> <a> or Signed-off-by value or ident value; ``git am``
990 really gets unhappy with patches missing From: lines;
991 will NOT replace an existing non-empty From: header
992 --no-from leave all From: lines alone, missing or not (default)
993 --diff-opt options after the branch name (and an optional ``--``)
994 are passed directly to ``git diff-tree``
996 In order to pass a sole explicit ``-w`` through to ``git diff-tree`` it
997 must be separated from the ``tg`` options by an explicit ``--``.
998 Or it can be spelled as ``--ignore-all-space`` to distinguuish it from
999 ``tg``'s ``-w`` option.
1001 If the config variable ``topgit.from`` is set to a boolean it can be
1002 used to enable or disable the ``--from`` option by default. If it's
1003 set to the speical value ``quiet`` the ``--quiet`` option is enabled
1004 and From: lines are left alone by default. Any other non-empty value
1005 is taken as a default ``--from=<value>`` option. The ``--no-from``
1006 option will temporarily disable use of the config value.
1008 If additional non-``tg`` options are passed through to
1009 ``git diff-tree`` (other than ``--binary`` which is fully supported)
1010 the resulting ``tg patch`` output may not be appliable.
1014 Send a patch from the current or specified topic branch as
1017 Takes the patch given on the command line and emails it out.
1018 Destination addresses such as To, Cc and Bcc are taken from the
1021 Since it actually boils down to ``git send-email``, please refer
1022 to the documentation for that for details on how to setup email
1023 for git. You can pass arbitrary options to this command through
1024 the ``-s`` parameter, but you must double-quote everything. The
1025 ``-r`` parameter with a msgid can be used to generate in-reply-to
1026 and reference headers to an earlier mail.
1028 WARNING: be careful when using this command. It easily sends
1029 out several mails. You might want to run::
1031 git config sendemail.confirm always
1033 to let ``git send-email`` ask for confirmation before sending any
1037 -i base patch generation on index instead of branch
1038 -w base patch generation on working tree instead of branch
1040 | TODO: ``tg mail patchfile`` to mail an already exported patch
1041 | TODO: mailing patch series
1042 | TODO: specifying additional options and addresses on command line
1046 Register the given remote as TopGit-controlled. This will create
1047 the namespace for the remote branch bases and teach ``git fetch``
1048 to operate on them. However, from TopGit 0.8 onwards you need to
1049 use ``tg push``, or ``git push --mirror``, for pushing
1050 TopGit-controlled branches.
1052 ``tg remote`` takes an optional remote name argument, and an
1053 optional ``--populate`` switch. Use ``--populate`` for your
1054 origin-style remotes: it will seed the local topic branch system
1055 based on the remote topic branches. ``--populate`` will also make
1056 ``tg remote`` automatically fetch the remote, and ``tg update`` look
1057 at branches of this remote for updates by default.
1059 Using ``--populate`` with a remote name causes the ``topgit.remote``
1060 git configuration variable to be set to the given remote name.
1064 Show overview of all TopGit-tracked topic branches and their
1065 up-to-date status. With a branch name limit output to that branch.
1066 Using ``--deps-only`` or ``--rdeps`` changes the default from all
1067 related branches to just the current ``HEAD`` branch but using
1068 ``--all`` as the branch name will show results for all branches
1069 instead of ``HEAD``.
1072 marks the current topic branch
1075 indicates that it introduces no changes of its own
1078 indicates respectively whether it is local-only
1079 or has a remote mate
1082 indicates respectively if it is ahead or out-of-date
1083 with respect to its remote mate
1086 indicates that it is out-of-date with respect to its
1090 indicates that it has missing dependencies [even if
1091 they are recursive ones]
1094 indicates that it is out-of-date with respect to
1098 indicates it is ahead of (and needs to be merged into)
1099 at least one of its dependents -- only computed when
1100 showing all branches or using the (possibly implied)
1101 ``--with-deps`` option.
1103 This can take a longish time to accurately determine all the
1104 relevant information about each branch; you can pass ``-t`` (or ``-l``
1105 or ``--list``) to get just a terse list of topic branch names quickly.
1106 Also adding ``--verbose`` (or ``-v``) includes the subjects too.
1108 If no options or arguments are passed, the default is not actually to
1109 show ``--all`` branches (that was the default once upon a time).
1110 Instead, the default is essentially ``--with-deps $(tg info --heads)``
1111 with a fallback to ``--all`` if ``tg info`` doesn't give up any heads.
1112 This usually provides a more intuitive result. Explicitly using
1113 ``--all`` will always show all branches (related or not to ``HEAD``).
1115 Passing ``--heads`` shows independent topic branch names and when
1116 combined with ``--rdeps`` behaves as though ``--rdeps`` were run with
1117 the output of ``--heads``.
1119 The ``--heads-independent`` option works just like ``--heads`` except
1120 that it computes the heads using ``git merge-base --independent``
1121 rather than examining the TopGit ``.topdeps`` relationships. If the
1122 TopGit branches are all up-to-date (as shown in ``tg summary``) then
1123 both ``--heads`` and ``--heads-independent`` should compute the same
1124 list of heads (unless some overlapping TopGit branches have been
1125 manually created). If not all the TopGit branches are up-to-date then
1126 the ``--heads-independent`` results may have extra items in it, but
1127 occasionally that's what's needed; usually it's the wrong answer.
1128 (Note that ``--topgit-heads`` is accepted as an alias for ``--heads``
1131 Using ``--heads-only`` behaves as though the output of ``--heads`` was
1132 passed as the list of branches along with ``--without-deps``.
1134 Alternatively, you can pass ``--graphviz`` to get a dot-suitable output
1135 for drawing a dependency graph between the topic branches.
1137 You can also use the ``--sort`` option to sort the branches using
1138 a topological sort. This is especially useful if each
1139 TopGit-tracked topic branch depends on a single parent branch,
1140 since it will then print the branches in the dependency order.
1141 In more complex scenarios, a text graph view would be much more
1142 useful, but that has not yet been implemented.
1144 The ``--deps`` option outputs dependency information between
1145 branches in a machine-readable format. Feed this to ``tsort`` to
1146 get the output from --sort.
1148 The ``--deps-only`` option outputs a sorted list of the unique branch
1149 names given on the command line plus all of their recursive
1150 dependencies (subject to ``--exclude`` of course). When
1151 ``--deps-only`` is given the default is to just display information for
1152 ``HEAD``, but that can be changed by using ``--all`` as the branch
1153 name. Each branch name will appear only once in the output no matter
1154 how many times it's visited while tracing the dependency graph or how
1155 many branch names are given on the command line to process.
1157 The ``--rdeps`` option outputs dependency information in an indented
1158 text format that clearly shows all the dependencies and their
1159 relationships to one another. When ``--rdeps`` is given the default is
1160 to just display information for ``HEAD``, but that can be changed by
1161 using ``--all`` as the branch name or by adding the ``--heads`` option.
1162 Note that ``tg summary --rdeps --heads`` can be particularly helpful in
1163 seeing all the TopGit-controlled branches in the repository and their
1164 relationships to one another.
1166 Note that ``--rdeps`` has two flavors. The first (and default) is
1167 ``--rdeps-once`` which only shows the dependencies of a branch when
1168 it's first visited. For example, if D depends on several other
1169 branches perhaps recursively and both branch A and B depend on D, then
1170 whichever of A or B is shown first will show the entire dependency
1171 chain for D underneath it and the other one will just show a line for
1172 D itself. This can make the output a bit more compact without actually
1173 losing any information which is why it's the default. However, using
1174 the ``--rdeps-full`` variant will repeat the full dependency chain
1175 every time it's encountered.
1177 Adding ``--with-deps`` replaces the given list of branches (which will
1178 default to ``HEAD`` if none are given) with the result of running
1179 ``tg summary --deps-only --tgish`` on the list of branches. This can
1180 be helpful in limiting ``tg summary`` output to only the list of given
1181 branches and their dependencies when many TopGit-controlled branches
1182 are present in the repository. When it would be allowed,
1183 ``--with-deps`` is now the default. Use ``--without-deps`` to switch
1184 back to the old behavior.
1186 With ``--exclude branch``, branch can be excluded from the output
1187 meaning it will be skipped and its name will be omitted from any
1188 dependency output. The ``--exclude`` option may be repeated to omit
1189 more than one branch from the output. Limiting the output to a single
1190 branch that has been excluded will result in no output at all.
1192 The ``--tgish-only`` option behaves as though any non-TopGit-controlled
1193 dependencies encountered during processing had been listed after an
1194 ``--exclude`` option.
1196 Note that the branch name can be specified as ``HEAD`` or ``@`` as a
1197 shortcut for the TopGit-controlled branch that ``HEAD`` is a
1198 symbolic ref to. The ``tg summary @`` command can be quite useful.
1201 -i Use TopGit metadata from the index instead of the branch
1202 -w Use TopGit metadata from the working tree instead of the branch
1206 Search all TopGit-controlled branches (and optionally their remotes)
1207 to find which TopGit-controlled branch contains the specified commit.
1209 This is more than just basic branch containment as provided for by the
1210 ``git branch --contains`` command. While the shown branch name(s)
1211 will, indeed, be one (or more) of those output by the
1212 ``git branch --contains`` command, the result(s) will exclude any
1213 TopGit-controlled branches from the result(s) that have one (or more)
1214 of their TopGit dependencies (either direct or indirect) appearing in
1215 the ``git branch --contains`` output.
1217 Normally the result will be only the one, single TopGit-controlled
1218 branch for which the specified committish appears in the ``tg log``
1219 output for that branch (unless the committish lies outside the
1220 TopGit-controlled portion of the DAG and ``--no-strict`` was used).
1222 Unless ``--annihilated-okay`` (or ``--ann`` or ``--annihilated``) is
1223 used then annihilated branches will be immediately removed from the
1224 ``git branch --contains`` output before doing anything else. This
1225 means a committish that was originally located in a now-annihilated
1226 branch will show up in whatever branch picked up the annihilated
1227 branch's changes (if there is one). This is usually the correct
1228 answer, but occasionally it's not; hence this option. If this option
1229 is used together with ``--verbose`` then annihilated branches will
1230 be shown as "[:annihilated:]".
1232 In other words, if a ``tg patch`` is generated for the found branch
1233 (assuming one was found and a subsequent commit in the same branch
1234 didn't then revert or otherwise back out the change), then that patch
1235 will include the changes introduced by the specified committish
1236 (unless, of course, that committish is outside the TopGit-controlled
1237 portion of the DAG and ``--no-strict`` was given).
1239 This can be very helpful when, for example, a bug is discovered and
1240 then after using ``git bisect`` (or some other tool) to find the
1241 offending commit it's time to commit the fix. But because the
1242 TopGit merging history can be quite complicated and maybe the one
1243 doing the fix wasn't the bug's author (or the author's memory is just
1244 going), it can sometimes be rather tedious to figure out which
1245 TopGit branch the fix belongs in. The ``tg contains`` command can
1246 quickly tell you the answer to that question.
1248 With the ``--remotes`` (or ``-r``) option a TopGit-controlled remote
1249 branch name may be reported as the result but only if there is no
1250 non-remote branch containing the committish (this can only happen
1251 if at least one of the TopGit-controlled local branches are not yet
1252 up-to-date with their remotes).
1254 With the ``--verbose`` option show which TopGit DAG head(s) (one or
1255 more of the TopGit-controlled branch names output by
1256 ``tg summary --heads``) have the result as a dependency (either direct
1257 or indirect). Using this option will noticeably increase running time.
1259 With the default ``--strict`` option, results for which the base of the
1260 TopGit-controlled branch contains the committish will be suppressed.
1261 For example, if the committish was deep-down in the master branch
1262 history somewhere far outside of the TopGit-controlled portion of
1263 the DAG, with ``--no-strict``, whatever TopGit-controlled branch(es)
1264 first picked up history containing that committish will be shown.
1265 While this is a useful result it's usually not the desired result
1266 which is why it's not the default.
1268 To summarize, even with ``--remotes``, remote results are only shown
1269 if there are no non-remote results. Without ``--no-strict`` (because
1270 ``--strict`` is the default) results outside the TopGit-controlled
1271 portion of the DAG are never shown and even with ``--no-strict`` they
1272 will only be shown if there are no ``--strict`` results. Finally,
1273 the TopGit head info shown with ``--verbose`` only ever appears for
1274 local (i.e. not a remote branch) results. Annihilated branches are
1275 never considered possible matches without ``--annihilated-okay``.
1279 Switch to a topic branch. You can use ``git checkout <branch>``
1280 to get the same effect, but this command helps you navigate
1281 the dependency graph, or allows you to match the topic branch
1282 name using a regular expression, so it can be more convenient.
1284 There following subcommands are available:
1286 ``tg checkout next``
1287 Check out a branch that directly
1288 depends on your current branch.
1291 ``tg checkout prev``
1292 Check out a branch that this branch
1293 directly depends on.
1294 (AKA ``p`` or ``previous``)
1296 ``tg checkout [goto] [--] <pattern>``
1297 Check out a topic branch that
1298 matches ``<pattern>``. ``<pattern>``
1299 is used as a sed BRE pattern to filter
1300 all the topic branches. Both ``goto`` and
1301 ``--`` may be omitted provided ``<pattern>``
1302 is not ``-a``, ``--all``, ``-h``, --help``,
1303 ``goto``, ``--``, ``n``, ``next``, ``push``,
1304 ``child``, ``p``, ``prev``, ``previous``,
1305 ``pop``, ``parent`` or ``..``.
1307 ``tg checkout push``
1308 An alias for ``next``.
1310 ``tg checkout child``
1311 Deprecated alias for ``next``.
1314 Semi-deprecated alias for ``next``.
1317 An alias for ``prev``.
1319 ``tg checkout parent``
1320 Deprecated alias for ``prev``.
1323 Semi-deprecated alias for ``prev``.
1325 If any of the above commands can find more than one possible
1326 branch to switch to, you will be presented with the matches
1327 and asked to select one of them.
1329 If the ``--ignore-other-worktrees`` (or ``--iow``) option is given and
1330 the current Git version is at least 2.5.0 then the full
1331 ``--ignore-other-worktrees`` option will be passed along to the
1332 ``git checkout`` command when it's run (otherwise the option will be
1333 silently ignored and not passed to Git as it would cause an error).
1335 The ``--force`` (or ``-f``) option, when given, gets passed through to
1336 the ``git checkout`` command.
1338 The ``<pattern>`` of ``tg checkout goto`` is optional. If you don't
1339 supply it, all the available topic branches are listed and you
1340 can select one of them.
1342 Normally, the ``push`` and ``pop`` commands moves one step in
1343 the dependency graph of the topic branches. The ``-a`` option
1344 causes them (and their aliases) to move as far as possible.
1345 That is, ``tg checkout push -a`` moves to a topic branch that
1346 depends (directly or indirectly) on the current branch and
1347 that no other branch depends on. ``tg checkout pop -a``
1348 moves to a regular branch that the current topic branch
1349 depends on (directly or indirectly). If there is more than
1350 one possibility, you will be prompted for your selection.
1352 See also NAVIGATION_.
1356 Export a tidied-up history of the current topic branch and its
1357 dependencies, suitable for feeding upstream. Each topic branch
1358 corresponds to a single commit or patch in the cleaned up
1359 history (corresponding basically exactly to ``tg patch`` output
1360 for the topic branch).
1362 The command has three possible outputs now -- either a Git branch
1363 with the collapsed history, a Git branch with a linearized
1364 history, or a quilt series in new directory.
1366 In the case where you are producing collapsed history in a new
1367 branch, you can use this collapsed structure either for
1368 providing a pull source for upstream, or for further
1369 linearization e.g. for creation of a quilt series using git log::
1371 git log --pretty=email -p --topo-order origin..exported
1373 To better understand the function of ``tg export``, consider this
1374 dependency structure::
1376 origin/master - t/foo/blue - t/foo/red - master
1377 `- t/bar/good <,----------'
1378 `- t/baz ------------'
1380 (where each of the branches may have a hefty history). Then::
1382 master$ tg export for-linus
1384 will create this commit structure on the branch ``for-linus``::
1386 origin/master - t/foo/blue -. merge - t/foo/red -.. merge - master
1387 `- t/bar/good <,-------------------'/
1388 `- t/baz ---------------------'
1390 In this mode, ``tg export`` works on the current topic branch, and
1391 can be called either without an option (in that case,
1392 ``--collapse`` is assumed), or with the ``--collapse`` option, and
1393 with one mandatory argument: the name of the branch where the
1394 exported result will be stored.
1396 When using the linearize mode::
1398 master$ tg export --linearize for-linus
1400 you get a linear history respecting the dependencies of your
1401 patches in a new branch ``for-linus``. The result should be more
1402 or less the same as using quilt mode and then reimporting it
1403 into a Git branch. (More or less because the topological order
1404 can usually be extended in more than one way into a total order,
1405 and the two methods may choose different ones.) The result
1406 might be more appropriate for merging upstream, as it contains
1409 Note that you might get conflicts during linearization because
1410 the patches are reordered to get a linear history. If linearization
1411 would produce conflicts then using ``--quilt`` will also likely result
1412 in conflicts when the exported quilt series is applied. Since the
1413 ``--quilt`` mode simply runs a series of ``tg patch`` commands to
1414 generate the patches in the exported quilt series and those patches
1415 will end up being applied linearly, the same conflicts that would be
1416 produced by the ``--linearize`` option will then occur at that time.
1418 To avoid conflicts produced by ``--linearize`` (or by applying the
1419 ``--quilt`` output), use the default ``--collapse`` mode and then use
1420 ``tg rebase`` (or ``git rebase -m`` directly) on the collapsed branch
1421 (with a suitable <upstream>) followed by ``git format-patch`` on the
1422 rebased result to produce a conflict-free patch set. A suitable
1423 upstream may be determined with the ``tg info --leaves`` command (if
1424 it outputs more than one line, linearization will be problematic).
1426 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1428 When using the quilt mode::
1430 master$ tg export --quilt for-linus
1432 would create the following directory ``for-linus``::
1434 for-linus/t/foo/blue.diff
1435 for-linus/t/foo/red.diff
1436 for-linus/t/bar/good.diff
1437 for-linus/t/baz.diff
1444 With ``--quilt``, you can also pass the ``-b`` parameter followed
1445 by a comma-separated explicit list of branches to export, or
1446 the ``--all`` parameter (which can be shortened to ``-a``) to
1447 export them all. The ``--binary`` option enables producing Git
1448 binary patches. These options are currently only supported
1451 In ``--quilt`` mode the patches are named like the originating
1452 topgit branch. So usually they end up in subdirectories of the
1453 output directory. With the ``--flatten`` option the names are
1454 mangled so that they end up directly in the output dir (slashes
1455 are replaced with underscores). With the ``--strip[=N]`` option
1456 the first ``N`` subdirectories (all if no ``N`` is given) get
1457 stripped off. Names are always ``--strip``'d before being
1458 ``--flatten``'d. With the option ``--numbered`` (which implies
1459 ``--flatten``) the patch names get a number as prefix to allow
1460 getting the order without consulting the series file, which
1461 eases sending out the patches.
1463 | TODO: Make stripping of non-essential headers configurable
1464 | TODO: Make stripping of [PATCH] and other prefixes configurable
1465 | TODO: ``--mbox`` option to export instead as an mbox file
1466 | TODO: support ``--all`` option in other modes of operation
1467 | TODO: For quilt exporting, export the linearized history created in
1468 a temporary branch--this would allow producing conflict-less
1473 Import commits within the given revision range into TopGit,
1474 creating one topic branch per commit. The dependencies are set
1475 up to form a linear sequence starting on your current branch --
1476 or a branch specified by the ``-d`` parameter, if present.
1478 The branch names are auto-guessed from the commit messages and
1479 prefixed by ``t/`` by default; use ``-p <prefix>`` to specify an
1480 alternative prefix (even an empty one).
1482 Alternatively, you can use the ``-s NAME`` parameter to specify
1483 the name of the target branch; the command will then take one
1484 more argument describing a *single* commit to import.
1488 Update the current, specified or all topic branches with respect
1489 to changes in the branches they depend on and remote branches.
1490 This is performed in two phases -- first, changes within the
1491 dependencies are merged to the base, then the base is merged
1492 into the topic branch. The output will guide you on what to do
1493 next in case of conflicts.
1495 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1497 If you also enable the ``rerere.autoUpdate`` mode then ``tg update``
1498 will be able to automatically continue an update when ``git rerere``
1499 resolves all the conflicts and then stages the results in the index.
1500 This can be a big time saver.
1502 When ``-a`` (or ``--all``) is specifed, updates all topic branches
1503 matched by ``<pattern>``'s (see ``git-for-each-ref(1)`` for details),
1504 or all if no ``<pattern>`` is given. Any topic branches with missing
1505 dependencies will be skipped entirely unless ``--skip-missing`` is
1508 When ``--skip-missing`` is specifed, an attempt is made to update topic
1509 branches with missing dependencies by skipping only the dependencies
1510 that are missing. Caveat utilitor.
1512 When ``--stash`` is specified (or the ``topgit.autostash`` config
1513 value is set to ``true``), a ref stash will be automatically created
1514 just before beginning updates if any are needed. The ``--no-stash``
1515 option may be used to disable a ``topgit.autostash=true`` setting.
1516 See the ``tg tag`` ``--stash`` option for details.
1518 After the update, if a single topic branch was specified, it is
1519 left as the current one; if ``-a`` was specified, it returns to
1520 the branch which was current at the beginning.
1522 If your dependencies are not up-to-date, ``tg update`` will first
1523 recurse into them and update them.
1525 If a remote branch update brings in dependencies on branches
1526 that are not yet instantiated locally, you can either bring in
1527 all the new branches from the remote using ``tg remote
1528 --populate``, or only pick out the missing ones using ``tg create
1529 -r`` (``tg summary`` will point out branches with incomplete
1530 dependencies by showing an ``!`` next to them). TopGit will attempt to
1531 instantiate just the missing ones automatically for you, if possible,
1532 when ``tg update`` merges in the new dependencies from the remote.
1534 Using the alternative ``--base`` mode, ``tg update`` will update
1535 the base of a specified ``[BASE]`` branch (which is a branch created
1536 by ``tg create`` using the ``--base`` option) to the specified
1537 committish (the second argument) and then immediately merge that into
1538 the branch itself using the specified message for the merge commit.
1539 If no message is specified on the command line, an editor will open.
1540 Unless ``--force`` is used the new value for the base must contain
1541 the old value (i.e. be a fast-forward update). This is for safety.
1543 This mode makes updates to ``[BASE]`` branches quick and easy.
1545 | TODO: ``tg update -a -c`` to autoremove (clean) up-to-date branches
1549 If ``-a`` or ``--all`` was specified, pushes all non-annihilated
1550 TopGit-controlled topic branches, to a remote repository.
1551 Otherwise, pushes the specified topic branches -- or the
1552 current branch, if you don't specify which. By default, the
1553 remote gets all the dependencies (both TopGit-controlled and
1554 non-TopGit-controlled) and bases pushed to it too. If
1555 ``--tgish-only`` was specified, only TopGit-controlled
1556 dependencies will be pushed, and if ``--no-deps`` was specified,
1557 no dependencies at all will be pushed.
1559 The ``--dry-run`` and ``--force`` options are passed directly to
1560 ``git push`` if given.
1562 The remote may be specified with the ``-r`` option. If no remote
1563 was specified, the configured default TopGit remote will be
1568 Prints the base commit of each of the named topic branches, or
1569 the current branch if no branches are named. Prints an error
1570 message and exits with exit code 1 if the named branch is not
1575 Prints the git log of the named topgit branch -- or the current
1576 branch, if you don't specify a name.
1578 This is really just a convenient shortcut for:
1580 ``git log --first-parent --no-merges $(tg base <name>)..<name>``
1582 where ``<name>`` is the name of the TopGit topic branch (or omitted
1583 for the current branch).
1585 However, if ``<name>`` is a ``[BASE]`` branch the ``--no-merges``
1588 If ``--compact`` is used then ``git log-compact`` will be used instead
1589 of ``git log``. The ``--command=<git-alias>`` option can be used to
1590 replace "log" with any non-whitespace-containing command alias name,
1591 ``--compact`` is just a shortcut for ``--command=log-compact``. The
1592 ``git-log-compact`` tool may be found on its project page located at:
1594 https://mackyle.github.io/git-log-compact
1596 Note that the ``--compact`` or ``--command=`` option must be used
1597 before any ``--`` or ``git log`` options to be recognized.
1599 NOTE: if you have merged changes from a different repository, this
1600 command might not list all interesting commits.
1604 Creates a TopGit annotated/signed tag or lists the reflog of one.
1606 A TopGit annotated tag records the current state of one or more TopGit
1607 branches and their dependencies and may be used to revert to the tagged
1608 state at any point in the future.
1610 When reflogs are enabled (the default in a non-bare repository) and
1611 combined with the ``--force`` option a single tag name may be used as a
1612 sort of TopGit branch state stash. The special branch name ``--all``
1613 may be used to tag the state of all current TopGit branches to
1614 facilitate this function and has the side-effect of suppressing the
1615 out-of-date check allowing out-of-date branches to be included.
1617 As a special feature, ``--stash`` may be used as the tag name in which
1618 case ``--all`` is implied if no branch name is listed (instead of the
1619 normal default of ``HEAD``), ``--force`` and ``--no-edit`` (use
1620 ``--edit`` to change that) are automatically activated and the tag will
1621 be saved to ``refs/tgstash`` instead of ``refs/tags/<tagname>``.
1622 The ``--stash`` tag name may also be used with the ``-g``/``--reflog``
1625 The mostly undocumented option ``--allow-outdated`` will bypass the
1626 out-of-date check and is implied when ``--stash`` or ``--all`` is used.
1628 A TopGit annotated/signed tag is simply a Git annotated/signed tag with
1629 a "TOPGIT REFS" section appended to the end of the tag message (and
1630 preceding the signature for signed tags). PEM-style begin and end
1631 lines surround one line per ref where the format of each line is
1632 full-hash SP ref-name. A line will be included for each branch given
1633 on the command line and each ref they depend on either directly or
1636 If more than one TopGit branch is given on the command line, a new
1637 commit will be created that has an empty tree and all of the given
1638 TopGit branches as parents and that commit will be tagged. If a single
1639 TopGit branch is given, then it will be tagged. If the ``--tree``
1640 option is used then it will be used instead of an empty tree (a new
1641 commit will be created if necessary to guarantee the specified tree is
1642 what's in the commit the newly created tag refers to). The argument to
1643 the ``--tree`` option may be any valid treeish.
1645 If exactly one of the branches to be tagged is prefixed with a tilde
1646 (``~``) it will be made the first parent of a consolidation commit if
1647 it is not already the sole commit needing to be tagged. If ``--tree``
1648 is NOT used, its tree will also be used instead of the empty tree for
1649 any new consolidation commit if one is created. Note that if
1650 ``--tree`` is given explicitly it's tree is always used but that does
1651 not in any way affect the choice of first parent. Beware that the
1652 ``~`` may need to be quoted to prevent the shell from misinterpreting
1653 it into something else.
1655 All the options for creating a tag serve the same purpose as their Git
1656 equivalents except for two. The ``--refs`` option suppresses tag
1657 creation entirely and emits the "TOPGIT REFS" section that would have
1658 been included with the tag. If the ``--no-edit`` option is given and
1659 no message is supplied (via the ``-m`` or ``-F`` option) then the
1660 default message created by TopGit will be used without running the
1663 With ``-g`` or ``--reflog`` show the reflog for a tag. With the
1664 ``--reflog-message`` option the message from the reflog is shown.
1665 With the ``--commit-message`` option the first line of the tag's
1666 message (if the object is a tag) or the commit message (if the object
1667 is a commit) falling back to the reflog message for tree and blob
1668 objects is shown. The default is ``--reflog-message`` unless the
1669 ``--stash`` (``refs/tgstash``) is being shown in which case the default
1670 is then ``--commit-message``. Just add either option explicitly to
1671 override the default.
1673 When showing reflogs, non-tag entries are annotated with their type
1674 unless ``--no-type`` is given.
1676 TopGit tags are created with a reflog if core.logallrefupdates is
1677 enabled (the default for non-bare repositories). Unfortunately Git
1678 is incapable of showing an annotated/signed tag's reflog
1679 (using git log -g) as it will first resolve the tag before checking to
1680 see if it has a reflog. Git can, however, show reflogs for lightweight
1681 tags (using git log -g) just fine but that's not helpful here. Use
1682 ``tg tag`` with the ``-g`` or ``--reflog`` option to see the reflog for
1683 an actual tag object. This also works on non-TopGit annotated/signed
1684 tags as well provided they have a reflog.
1686 The number of entries shown may be limited with the ``-n`` option. If
1687 the tagname is omitted then ``--stash`` is assumed.
1689 The ``--delete`` option is a convenience option that runs the
1690 ``git update-ref -d`` command on the specified tag removing it and its
1691 reflog (if it has one).
1693 The ``--clear`` option clears all but the most recent (the ``@{0}``)
1694 reflog entries from the reflog for the specified tag. It's equivalent
1695 to dropping all the higher numbered reflog entries.
1697 The ``--drop`` option drops the specified reflog entry and requires the
1698 given tagname to have an ``@{n}`` suffix where ``n`` is the reflog
1699 entry number to be dropped. This is really just a convenience option
1700 that runs the appropriate ``git reflog delete`` command.
1702 Note that when combined with ``tg revert``, a tag created by ``tg tag``
1703 can be used to transfer TopGit branches. Simply create the tag, push
1704 it somewhere and then have the recipient run ``tg revert`` to recreate
1705 the TopGit branches. This may be helpful in situations where it's not
1706 feasible to push all the refs corresponding to the TopGit-controlled
1707 branches and their top-bases.
1711 Provides a ``git rebase`` rerere auto continue function. It may be
1712 used as a drop-in replacement front-end for ``git rebase -m`` that
1713 automatically continues the rebase when ``git rerere`` information is
1714 sufficient to resolve all conflicts.
1716 You have enabled ``git rerere`` haven't you?
1718 If the ``-m`` or ``--merge`` option is not present then ``tg rebase``
1719 will complain and not do anything.
1721 When ``git rerere`` is enabled, previously resolved conflicts are
1722 remembered and can be automatically staged (see ``rerere.autoUpdate``).
1724 However, even with auto staging, ``git rebase`` still stops and
1725 requires an explicit ``git rebase --continue`` to keep going.
1727 In the case where ``git rebase -m`` is being used to flatten history
1728 (such as after a ``tg export --collapse`` prior to a
1729 ``git format-patch``), there's a good chance all conflicts have already
1730 been resolved during normal merge maintenance operations so there's no
1731 reason ``git rebase`` could not automatically continue, but there's no
1732 option to make it do so.
1734 The ``tg rebase`` command provides a ``git rebase --auto-continue``
1737 All the same rebase options can be used (they are simply passed through
1738 to Git unchanged). However, the ``rerere.autoUpdate`` option is
1739 automatically temporarily enabled while running ``git rebase`` and
1740 should ``git rebase`` stop asking one to resolve and continue, but all
1741 conflicts have already been resolved and staged using rerere
1742 information, then ``git rebase --continue`` will be automatically run.
1746 Provides the ability to revert one or more TopGit branches and their
1747 dependencies to a previous state contained within a tag created using
1748 the ``tg tag`` command. In addition to the actual revert mode
1749 operation a list mode operation is also provided to examine a tag's ref
1752 The default mode (``-l`` or ``--list``) shows the state of one or more
1753 of the refs/branches stored in the tag data. When no refs are given on
1754 the command line, all refs in the tag data are shown. With the special
1755 ref name ``--heads`` then the indepedent heads contained in the tag
1756 data are shown. The ``--deps`` option shows the specified refs and all
1757 of their dependencies in a single list with no duplicates. The
1758 ``--rdeps`` option shows a display similar to ``tg summary --rdeps``
1759 for each ref or all TopGit heads if no ref is given on the command
1760 line. The standard ``--no-short``, ``--short=n`` etc. options may be
1761 used to override the default ``--short`` output. With ``--hash`` (or
1762 ``--hash-only``) show only the hash in ``--list`` mode in which case
1763 the default is ``--no-short``. The ``--hash`` option can be used much
1764 like the ``git rev-parse --verify`` command to extract a specific hash
1765 value out of a TopGit tag.
1767 Note that unlike `tg summary`_, here ``--heads`` actually does mean the
1768 ``git merge-base --independent`` heads of the stored refs from the tag
1769 data. To see only the independent TopGit topic branch heads stored in
1770 the tag data use the ``--topgit-heads`` option instead. The default
1771 for the ``--rdeps`` option is ``--topgit-heads`` but ``--heads`` can
1772 be given explicitly to change that. (Note that ``--heads-independent``
1773 is accepted as an alias for ``--heads`` as well.)
1775 The revert mode has three submodes, dry-run mode (``-n`` or
1776 ``--dry-run``), force mode (``-f`` or ``--force``) and interactive mode
1777 (``-i`` or ``--interactive``). If ``--dry-run`` (or ``-n``) is given
1778 no ref updates will actually be performed but what would have been
1779 updated is shown instead. If ``--interactive`` (or ``-i``) is given
1780 then the editor is invoked on an instruction sheet allowing manual
1781 selection of the refs to be updated before proceeding. Since revert is
1782 potentially a destructive operation, at least one of the submodes must
1783 be specified explicitly. If no refs are listed on the command line
1784 then all refs in the tag data are reverted. Otherwise the listed refs
1785 and all of their dependencies (unless ``--no-deps`` is given) are
1786 reverted. Unless ``--no-stash`` is given a new stash will be created
1787 using ``tg tag --stash`` (except, of course, in dry-run mode) just
1788 before actually performing the updates to facilitate recovery from
1791 Both modes accept fully-qualified (i.e. starts with ``refs/``) ref
1792 names as well as unqualified names (which will be assumed to be located
1793 under ``refs/heads/``). In revert mode a tgish ref will always have
1794 both its ``refs/heads/`` and ``refs/top-bases/`` values included no
1795 matter how it's listed unless ``--no-deps`` is given and the ref is
1796 fully qualified (i.e. starts with ``refs/``) or one or the other of its
1797 values was removed from the instruction sheet in interactive mode. In
1798 list mode a tgish ref will always have both its ``refs/heads/`` and
1799 ``refs/top-bases/`` values included only when using the ``--deps`` or
1800 ``--rdeps`` options.
1802 The ``--tgish-only`` option excludes non-tgish refs (i.e. refs that do
1803 not have a ``refs/heads/<name>``, ``refs/top-bases/<name>`` pair).
1805 The ``--exclude`` option (which can be repeated) excludes specific
1806 refs. If the name given to ``--exclude`` is not fully-qualified (i.e.
1807 starts with ``refs/``) then it will exclude both members of a tgish ref
1810 The ``--quiet`` (or ``-q``) option may be used in revert mode to
1811 suppress non-dry-run ref change status messages.
1813 The special tag name ``--stash`` (as well as with ``@{n}`` suffixes)
1814 can be used to refer to ``refs/tgstash``.
1816 The ``tg revert`` command supports tags of tags that contains TopGit
1817 refs. So, for example, if you do this::
1820 git tag -f -a -m "tag the tag" newtag newtag
1822 Then ``newtag`` will be a tag of a tag containing a ``TOPGIT REFS``
1823 section. ``tg revert`` knows how to dereference the outermost
1824 tag to get to the next (and the next etc.) tag to find the
1825 ``TOPGIT REFS`` section so after the above sequence, the tag ``newtag``
1826 can still be used successfully with ``tg revert``.
1828 NOTE: If HEAD points to a ref that is updated by a revert operation
1829 then NO WARNING whatsoever will be issued, but the index and working
1830 tree will always be left completely untouched (and the reflog for
1831 the pointed-to ref can always be used to find the previous value).
1835 Outputs the direct dependencies for the current or named branch.
1838 -i show dependencies based on index instead of branch
1839 -w show dependencies based on working tree instead of branch
1841 See also NAVIGATION_.
1845 Outputs all branches which directly depend on the current or
1849 -i show dependencies based on index instead of branch
1850 -w show dependencies based on working tree instead of branch
1852 See also NAVIGATION_.
1856 Transition top-bases from old location to new location.
1858 Beginning with TopGit release 0.19.4, TopGit has the ability to store
1859 the top-bases refs in either the old ``ref/top-bases/...`` location or
1860 the new ``refs/heads/{top-bases}/...`` location. Starting with TopGit
1861 release 0.20.0, the default is the new location.
1863 By storing the top-bases under heads, Git is less likely to complain
1864 when manipulating them, hosting providers are more likely to provide
1865 access to them and Git prevents them from pointing at anything other
1866 than a commit object. All in all a win for everyone.
1868 TopGit attempts to automatically detect whether the new or old location
1869 is being used for the top-bases and just do the right thing. However,
1870 by explicitly setting the config value ``topgit.top-bases`` to either
1871 ``refs`` for the old location or ``heads`` for the new location the
1872 auto-detection can be bypassed. If no top-bases refs are present in
1873 the repository the default prior to TopGit release 0.20.0 is to use the
1874 old location but starting with TopGit release 0.20.0 the default is to
1875 use the new location.
1877 The ``tg migrate-bases`` command may be used to migrate top-bases refs
1878 from the old location to the new location (or, by using the
1879 undocumented ``--reverse`` option, vice versa).
1881 With few exceptions (``tg create -r`` and ``tg revert``), all top-bases
1882 refs (both local *and* remote refs) are expected to be stored in the
1883 same location (either new or old). A repository's current location for
1884 storing top-bases refs may be shown with the ``tg --top-bases`` command.
1892 TopGit stores all the topic branches in the regular ``refs/heads/``
1893 namespace (so we recommend distinguishing them with the ``t/`` prefix).
1894 Apart from that, TopGit also maintains a set of auxiliary refs in
1895 ``refs/top-*``. Currently, only ``refs/top-bases/`` is used, containing the
1896 current *base* of the given topic branch -- this is basically a merge of
1897 all the branches the topic branch depends on; it is updated during ``tg
1898 update`` and then merged to the topic branch, and it is the base of a
1899 patch generated from the topic branch by ``tg patch``.
1901 All the metadata is tracked within the source tree and history of the
1902 topic branch itself, in ``.top*`` files; these files are kept isolated
1903 within the topic branches during TopGit-controlled merges and are of
1904 course omitted during ``tg patch``. The state of these files in base
1905 commits is undefined; look at them only in the topic branches
1906 themselves. Currently, two files are defined:
1909 Contains the description of the topic branch in a
1910 mail-like format, plus the author information, whatever
1911 Cc headers you choose or the post-three-dashes message.
1912 When mailing out your patch, basically only a few extra
1913 mail headers are inserted and then the patch itself is
1914 appended. Thus, as your patches evolve, you can record
1915 nuances like whether the particular patch should have
1916 To-list / Cc-maintainer or vice-versa and similar
1917 nuances, if your project is into that. ``From`` is
1918 prefilled from your current ``GIT_AUTHOR_IDENT``; other
1919 headers can be prefilled from various optional
1920 ``topgit.*`` git config options.
1923 Contains the one-per-line list of branches this branch
1924 depends on, pre-seeded by ``tg create``. A (continuously
1925 updated) merge of these branches will be the *base* of
1928 IMPORTANT: DO NOT EDIT ``.topdeps`` MANUALLY!!! If you do so, you need to
1929 know exactly what you are doing, since this file must stay in sync with
1930 the Git history information, otherwise very bad things will happen.
1932 TopGit also automagically installs a bunch of custom commit-related
1933 hooks that will verify whether you are committing the ``.top*`` files in a
1934 sane state. It will add the hooks to separate files within the ``hooks/``
1935 subdirectory, and merely insert calls to them to the appropriate hooks
1936 and make them executable (but will make sure the original hook's code is
1937 not called if the hook was not executable beforehand).
1939 Another automagically installed piece is a ``.git/info/attributes``
1940 specifier for an ``ours`` merge strategy for the files ``.topmsg`` and
1941 ``.topdeps``, and the (intuitive) ``ours`` merge strategy definition in
1948 There are two remaining issues with accessing topic branches in remote
1951 (i) Referring to remote topic branches from your local repository
1952 (ii) Developing some of the remote topic branches locally
1954 There are two somewhat contradictory design considerations here:
1956 (a) Hacking on multiple independent TopGit remotes in a single
1958 (b) Having a self-contained topic system in local refs space
1960 To us, (a) does not appear to be very convincing, while (b) is quite
1961 desirable for ``git-log topic`` etc. working, and increased conceptual
1964 Thus, we choose to instantiate all the topic branches of given remote
1965 locally; this is performed by ``tg remote --populate``. ``tg update``
1966 will also check if a branch can be updated from its corresponding remote
1967 branch. The logic needs to be somewhat involved if we are to "do the
1968 right thing". First, we update the base, handling the remote branch as
1969 if it was the first dependency; thus, conflict resolutions made in the
1970 remote branch will be carried over to our local base automagically.
1971 Then, the base is merged into the remote branch and the result is merged
1972 to the local branch -- again, to carry over remote conflict resolutions.
1973 In the future, this order might be adjustable on a per-update basis, in
1974 case local changes happen to be diverging more than the remote ones.
1975 (See the details in `The Update Process`_ for more in depth coverage.)
1977 All commands by default refer to the remote that ``tg remote --populate``
1978 was called on the last time (stored in the ``topgit.remote`` git
1979 configuration variable). You can manually run any command with a
1980 different base remote by passing ``-r REMOTE`` *before* the subcommand
1981 name or passing ``-u`` *before* the subcommand to run without one.
1987 A familiarity with the terms in the GLOSSARY_ is helpful for understanding the
1988 content of this sections. See also the IMPLEMENTATION_ section.
1993 When a branch is "updated" using the ``tg update`` command the following steps
1996 1) The branch and all of its dependencies (and theirs recursively)
1997 are checked to see which ones are *out-of-date*. See glossary_.
1999 2) Each of the branch's direct dependencies (i.e. they are listed in
2000 the branch's ``.topdeps`` file) which is out of date is updated
2001 before proceeding (yup, this is a recursive process).
2003 3) Each of the branch's direct dependencies (i.e. they are listed in
2004 the branch's ``.topdes`` file) that was updated in the previous
2005 step is now merged into the branch's corresponding base. If a
2006 remote is involved, and the branch's corresponding base does NOT
2007 contain the remote branch's corresponding base that remote base is
2008 also merged into the branch's base at this time as well (it will be
2009 the first item merged into the branch's base).
2011 4) If the branch has a corresponding remote branch and the branch
2012 does not already contain it, it's merged into the branch's base
2013 (which was possibly already updated in step (3) to contain the
2014 remote branch's base but not the remote branch itself) on a detached
2015 HEAD. Yup, this step can be a bit confusing and no, the updated
2016 base from step (3) has not yet been merged into the branch itself
2017 yet either. If there is no remote branch this step does not apply.
2018 Using a detached HEAD allows the remote branch to be merged into the
2019 contents of the base without actually perturbing the base's ref.
2021 5) If there is a remote branch present then use the result of step (4)
2022 otherwise use the branch's base and merge that into the branch
2025 That's it! Simple, right? ;)
2027 Unless the auto stash option has been disabled (see `no undo`_, `tg update`_
2028 and `tg tag`_), a copy of all the old refs values will be stashed away
2029 immediately after step (1) before starting step (2), but only if anything is
2030 actually found to be out-of-date.
2035 The ``tg update`` command regularly performs merges while executing an update
2036 operation. In order to speed things up, it attempts to do in-index merges
2037 where possible. It accomplishes this by using a separate, temporary index
2038 file and the ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` command possibly assisted by
2039 the ``git merge-index`` and ``git merge-file`` commands. This combination may
2040 be repeated more than once to perform an octopus in-index merge. If this
2041 fails, the files are checked out and a normal ``git merge`` three-way merge is
2042 performed (possily multiple times). If the normal ``git merge`` fails then
2043 user intervention is required to resolve the merge conflict(s) and continue.
2045 Since the ``tg annihilate``, ``tg create`` and ``tg depend add`` commands may
2046 end up running the ``tg update`` machinery behind the scenes to complete their
2047 operation they may also result in any of these merge strategies being used.
2049 In addition to the normal Git merge strategies (if the in-index merging fails),
2050 there are four possible TopGit merge strategies that may be shown. Since they
2051 all involve use of the ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` command they are all
2052 variations of a "trivial aggressive" merge. The "trivial" part because all of
2053 the merges done by ``git read-tree -m`` are described as "trivial" and the
2054 "aggressive" part because the ``--aggressive`` option is always used.
2056 1) "trivial aggressive"
2057 Only two heads were involved and all merging was completed by
2058 the ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` command.
2060 2) "trivial aggressive automatic"
2061 Only two heads were involved but after the
2062 ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` command completed there were
2063 still unresolved items and ``git merge-index`` had to be run
2064 (using the ``tg index-merge-one-file`` driver) which ultimately
2065 ran ``git merge-file`` at least once to perform a simple
2066 automatic three-way merge. Hence the "automatic" description
2067 and the "Auto-merging ..." output line(s).
2069 3) "trivial aggressive octopus"
2070 This is the same as a "trivial aggressive" merge except that
2071 more than two heads were involved and after merging the first
2072 two heads, the ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` step was
2073 repeated again on the result for each additional head. All
2074 merging was completed via multiple
2075 ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` commands only.
2076 This beast is relatively rare in the wild.
2078 4) "trivial aggressive automatic octopus"
2079 This is very similar to the "trivial aggressive octopus"
2080 except that at least one of the ``git read-tree -m --aggressive``
2081 commands left unresolved items that were handled the same way
2082 as the "trivial aggressive automatic" strategy. This species
2083 is commonly seen in the wild.
2090 Version-controlled file stored at the root level of each
2091 TopGit branch that contains the patch header for a TopGit
2092 branch. See also IMPLEMENTATION_;
2095 Version-controlled file stored at the root level of each
2096 TopGit branch that lists the branch's dependencies one per
2097 line omitting the leading ``refs/heads/`` part. See also
2101 Given two Git commit identifiers (e.g. hashes) C1 and C2,
2102 commit C1 "contains" commit C2 if either they are the same
2103 commit or C2 can be reached from C1 by following one or more
2104 parent links from C1 (perhaps via one or more intermediate
2105 commits along the way). In other words, if C1 contains C2
2106 then C2 is an ancestor of C1 or conversely C1 is a descendant
2107 of C2. Since a TopGit branch name is also the name of a Git
2108 branch (something located under the ``refs/heads`` Git
2109 namespace) and similarly for a TopGit base, they can both be
2110 resolved to a Git commit identifier and then participate in
2111 a branch containment test. An easy mnemonic for this is
2112 "children contain the genes of their parents."
2115 A Basic Regular Expression (BRE) pattern. These are older
2116 style regular expressions but have the advantage that all
2117 characters other than ``\``, ``.``, ``*`` and ``[``
2118 automatically match themselves without need for backslash
2119 quoting (well actually, ``^`` and ``$`` are special at the
2120 beginning and end respectively but otherwise match themselves).
2123 See branch containment.
2126 Excellent system for managing a history of changes to one
2127 or more possibly interrelated patches.
2130 A Git branch that has an associated TopGit base. Conceptually
2131 it represents a single patch that is the difference between
2132 the associated TopGit base and the TopGit branch. In other
2133 words ``git diff-tree <TopGit base> <TopGit branch>`` except
2134 that any ``.topdeps`` and/or ``.topmsg`` files are excluded
2135 from the result and the contents of the ``.topmsg`` file from
2136 the TopGit branch is prefixed to the result.
2139 A Git branch that records the base upon which a TopGit branch's
2140 single conceptual "patch" is built. The name of the Git branch
2141 is derived from the TopGit branch name by stripping off the
2142 leading ``refs/heads/`` and appending the correct prefix where
2143 all TopGit bases are stored (typically either
2144 ``refs/top-bases/`` or ``refs/heads/{top-bases}/`` -- the
2145 prefix for any given repository can be shown by using the
2146 ``tg --top-bases`` command and updated using the
2147 ``tg migrate-bases`` command).
2149 All of a TopGit branch's dependencies are merged into the
2150 corresponding TopGit base during a ``tg update`` of a branch.
2155 TopGit ``[PATCH]`` branch
2156 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[PATCH]``. By
2157 convention these TopGit branches contain a single patch
2158 (equivalent to a single patch file) and have at least one
2159 dependency (i.e. their ``.topdeps`` files are never empty).
2161 TopGit ``[BASE]`` branch
2162 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[BASE]``. By
2163 convention these TopGit branches do not actually contain
2164 any changes and their ``.topdeps`` files are empty. They
2165 are used to control a base dependency that another set of
2166 branches depends on.
2168 TopGit ``[STAGE]`` branch
2169 A TopGit branch whose subject starts with ``[STAGE]``. By
2170 convention these TopGit branches do not actually contain any
2171 changes of their own but do have one or (typically) more
2172 dependencies in their ``.topdeps`` file. These branches are
2173 used to bring together one or (typically) more independent
2174 TopGit ``[PATCH]`` branches into a single branch so that
2175 testing and/or evaluation can be performed on the result.
2178 When merging two (or more) heads that touch the same lines in
2179 the file but in different ways the result is a merge conflict
2180 that requires manual intervention. If a merge conflict occurs
2181 with more than two heads (an octopus merge) it's generally
2182 replaced by multiple three-way merges so that by the time a
2183 user sees a merge conflict needing manual resolution, there
2184 will be only two heads involved.
2187 A Git merge strategy (see the "MERGE STRATEGIES" section of
2188 ``git help merge``) or one of the TopGit `merge strategies`_
2189 used to merge two or more heads.
2191 TopGit merge strategy
2192 See the `Merge Strategies`_ section above for details but
2193 basically these are just in-index merges done using the
2194 ``git read-tree -m --aggressive`` command one or more times
2195 possibily assisted by the ``git merge-index`` and the
2196 ``git merge-file`` commands.
2199 In TopGit context the "next" branch refers to the branch that
2200 corresponds to the next (aka following) patch in an ordered
2201 (aka linearized) list of patches created by exporting the
2202 TopGit branches in patch application order.
2205 A merge involving more than two heads. Note that if there are
2206 less than three independent heads the resulting merge that
2207 started out as an octopus will end up not actually being an
2211 A TopGit branch is considered to be "out-of-date" when ANY of
2212 the following are true:
2214 a) The TopGit branch does NOT contain its
2217 b) The TopGit branch does NOT contain its
2218 corresponding remote branch (there may not be
2219 a remote branch in which case this does not apply)
2221 c) The TopGit branch's base does NOT contain its
2222 corresponding remote branch's base (there may not be
2223 a remote branch in which case this does not apply)
2225 d) Any of the TopGit branches listed in the branch's
2226 ``.topdeps`` file are NOT contained by the branch.
2227 (See "branch containment" above.)
2229 e) Any of the TopGit branches listed in the branch's
2230 ``.topdeps`` file are out-of-date.
2232 Note that if a remote branch is present and is NOT out-of-date
2233 then it will contain its own base and (c) is mostly redundant.
2236 In TopGit context the "previous" (or "prev") branch refers to
2237 the branch that corresponds to the previous (aka preceding)
2238 patch in an ordered (aka linearized) list of patches created by
2239 exporting the TopGit branches in patch application order.
2241 remote TopGit branch
2242 A Git branch with the same branch name as a TopGit branch
2243 but living under ``refs/remotes/<some remote>/`` instead
2244 of just ``refs/heads/``.
2247 The TopGit base branch corresponding to a remote TopGit branch,
2248 which lives under ``refs/remotes/`` somewhere (depending on
2249 what the output of ``tg --top-bases`` is for that remote).
2252 A three-way merge takes a common base and two heads (call them
2253 A and B) and creates a new file that is the common base plus
2254 all of the changes made between the common base and head A
2255 *AND* all of the changes made between the common base and
2256 head B. The technique used to accomplish this is called a
2263 The following references are useful to understand the development of
2264 topgit and its subcommands.
2267 http://public-inbox.org/git/36ca99e90904091034m4d4d31dct78acb333612e678@mail.gmail.com/T/#u
2270 THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE
2271 --------------------
2273 The following software understands TopGit branches:
2275 * `magit <http://magit.github.io/>`_ -- a git mode for emacs
2277 IMPORTANT: Magit requires its topgit mode to be enabled first, as
2278 described in its documentation, in the "Activating extensions"
2279 subsection. If this is not done, it will not push TopGit branches
2280 correctly, so it's important to enable it even if you plan to mostly use
2281 TopGit from the command line.