956 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
956 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
PEP: 103
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Title: Collecting information about git
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Version: $Revision$
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Last-Modified: $Date$
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Author: Oleg Broytman <phd@phdru.name>
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Status: Draft
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Type: Informational
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Content-Type: text/x-rst
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Created: 01-Jun-2015
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Post-History: 12-Sep-2015
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Abstract
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========
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This Informational PEP collects information about git. There is, of
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course, a lot of documentation for git, so the PEP concentrates on
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more complex (and more related to Python development) issues,
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scenarios and examples.
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The plan is to extend the PEP in the future collecting information
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about equivalence of Mercurial and git scenarios to help migrating
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Python development from Mercurial to git.
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The author of the PEP doesn't currently plan to write a Process PEP on
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migration Python development from Mercurial to git.
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Documentation
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=============
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Git is accompanied with a lot of documentation, both online and
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offline.
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Documentation for starters
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--------------------------
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Git Tutorial: `part 1
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<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gittutorial.html>`_,
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`part 2
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<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gittutorial-2.html>`_.
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`Git User's manual
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<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html>`_.
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`Everyday GIT With 20 Commands Or So
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<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/giteveryday.html>`_.
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`Git workflows
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<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitworkflows.html>`_.
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Advanced documentation
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----------------------
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`Git Magic
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<http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~blynn/gitmagic/index.html>`_,
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with a number of translations.
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`Pro Git <https://git-scm.com/book>`_. The Book about git. Buy it at
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Amazon or download in PDF, mobi, or ePub form. It has translations to
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many different languages. Download Russian translation from `GArik
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<https://github.com/GArik/progit/wiki>`_.
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`Git Wiki <https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page>`_.
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`Git Buch <http://gitbu.ch/index.html>`_ (German).
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Offline documentation
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---------------------
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Git has builtin help: run ``git help $TOPIC``. For example, run
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``git help git`` or ``git help help``.
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Quick start
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===========
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Download and installation
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-------------------------
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Unix users: `download and install using your package manager
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<https://git-scm.com/download/linux>`_.
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Microsoft Windows: download `git-for-windows
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<https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases>`_ or `msysGit
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<https://github.com/msysgit/msysgit/releases>`_.
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MacOS X: use git installed with `XCode
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<https://developer.apple.com/xcode/downloads/>`_ or download from
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`MacPorts <https://www.macports.org/ports.php?by=name&substr=git>`_ or
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`git-osx-installer
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<http://sourceforge.net/projects/git-osx-installer/files/>`_ or
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install git with `Homebrew <http://brew.sh/>`_: ``brew install git``.
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`git-cola <https://git-cola.github.io/index.html>`_ is a Git GUI
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written in Python and GPL licensed. Linux, Windows, MacOS X.
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`TortoiseGit <https://tortoisegit.org/>`_ is a Windows Shell Interface
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to Git based on TortoiseSVN; open source.
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Initial configuration
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---------------------
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This simple code is often appears in documentation, but it is
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important so let repeat it here. Git stores author and committer
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names/emails in every commit, so configure your real name and
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preferred email::
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$ git config --global user.name "User Name"
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$ git config --global user.email user.name@example.org
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Examples in this PEP
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====================
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Examples of git commands in this PEP use the following approach. It is
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supposed that you, the user, works with a local repository named
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``python`` that has an upstream remote repo named ``origin``. Your
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local repo has two branches ``v1`` and ``master``. For most examples
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the currently checked out branch is ``master``. That is, it's assumed
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you have done something like that::
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$ git clone https://git.python.org/python.git
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$ cd python
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$ git branch v1 origin/v1
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The first command clones remote repository into local directory
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`python``, creates a new local branch master, sets
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remotes/origin/master as its upstream remote-tracking branch and
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checks it out into the working directory.
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The last command creates a new local branch v1 and sets
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remotes/origin/v1 as its upstream remote-tracking branch.
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The same result can be achieved with commands::
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$ git clone -b v1 https://git.python.org/python.git
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$ cd python
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$ git checkout --track origin/master
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The last command creates a new local branch master, sets
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remotes/origin/master as its upstream remote-tracking branch and
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checks it out into the working directory.
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Branches and branches
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=====================
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Git terminology can be a bit misleading. Take, for example, the term
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"branch". In git it has two meanings. A branch is a directed line of
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commits (possibly with merges). And a branch is a label or a pointer
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assigned to a line of commits. It is important to distinguish when you
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talk about commits and when about their labels. Lines of commits are
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by itself unnamed and are usually only lengthening and merging.
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Labels, on the other hand, can be created, moved, renamed and deleted
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freely.
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Remote repositories and remote branches
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=======================================
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Remote-tracking branches are branches (pointers to commits) in your
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local repository. They are there for git (and for you) to remember
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what branches and commits have been pulled from and pushed to what
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remote repos (you can pull from and push to many remotes).
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Remote-tracking branches live under ``remotes/$REMOTE`` namespaces,
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e.g. ``remotes/origin/master``.
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To see the status of remote-tracking branches run::
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$ git branch -rv
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To see local and remote-tracking branches (and tags) pointing to
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commits::
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$ git log --decorate
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You never do your own development on remote-tracking branches. You
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create a local branch that has a remote branch as upstream and do
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development on that local branch. On push git pushes commits to the
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remote repo and updates remote-tracking branches, on pull git fetches
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commits from the remote repo, updates remote-tracking branches and
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fast-forwards, merges or rebases local branches.
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When you do an initial clone like this::
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$ git clone -b v1 https://git.python.org/python.git
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git clones remote repository ``https://git.python.org/python.git`` to
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directory ``python``, creates a remote named ``origin``, creates
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remote-tracking branches, creates a local branch ``v1``, configure it
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to track upstream remotes/origin/v1 branch and checks out ``v1`` into
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the working directory.
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Updating local and remote-tracking branches
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-------------------------------------------
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There is a major difference between
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::
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$ git fetch $REMOTE $BRANCH
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and
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::
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$ git fetch $REMOTE $BRANCH:$BRANCH
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The first command fetches commits from the named $BRANCH in the
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$REMOTE repository that are not in your repository, updates
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remote-tracking branch and leaves the id (the hash) of the head commit
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in file .git/FETCH_HEAD.
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The second command fetches commits from the named $BRANCH in the
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$REMOTE repository that are not in your repository and updates both
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the local branch $BRANCH and its upstream remote-tracking branch. But
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it refuses to update branches in case of non-fast-forward. And it
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refuses to update the current branch (currently checked out branch,
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where HEAD is pointing to).
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The first command is used internally by ``git pull``.
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::
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$ git pull $REMOTE $BRANCH
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is equivalent to
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::
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$ git fetch $REMOTE $BRANCH
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$ git merge FETCH_HEAD
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Certainly, $BRANCH in that case should be your current branch. If you
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want to merge a different branch into your current branch first update
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that non-current branch and then merge::
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$ git fetch origin v1:v1 # Update v1
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$ git pull --rebase origin master # Update the current branch master
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# using rebase instead of merge
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$ git merge v1
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If you have not yet pushed commits on ``v1``, though, the scenario has
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to become a bit more complex. Git refuses to update
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non-fast-forwardable branch, and you don't want to do force-pull
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because that would remove your non-pushed commits and you would need
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to recover. So you want to rebase ``v1`` but you cannot rebase
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non-current branch. Hence, checkout ``v1`` and rebase it before
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merging::
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$ git checkout v1
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$ git pull --rebase origin v1
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$ git checkout master
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$ git pull --rebase origin master
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$ git merge v1
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It is possible to configure git to make it fetch/pull a few branches
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or all branches at once, so you can simply run
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::
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$ git pull origin
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or even
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::
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$ git pull
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Default remote repository for fetching/pulling is ``origin``. Default
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set of references to fetch is calculated using matching algorithm: git
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fetches all branches having the same name on both ends.
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Push
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''''
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Pushing is a bit simpler. There is only one command ``push``. When you
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run
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::
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$ git push origin v1 master
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git pushes local v1 to remote v1 and local master to remote master.
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The same as::
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$ git push origin v1:v1 master:master
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Git pushes commits to the remote repo and updates remote-tracking
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branches. Git refuses to push commits that aren't fast-forwardable.
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You can force-push anyway, but please remember - you can force-push to
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your own repositories but don't force-push to public or shared repos.
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If you find git refuses to push commits that aren't fast-forwardable,
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better fetch and merge commits from the remote repo (or rebase your
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commits on top of the fetched commits), then push. Only force-push if
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you know what you do and why you do it. See the section `Commit
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editing and caveats`_ below.
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It is possible to configure git to make it push a few branches or all
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branches at once, so you can simply run
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::
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$ git push origin
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or even
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::
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$ git push
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Default remote repository for pushing is ``origin``. Default set of
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references to push in git before 2.0 is calculated using matching
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algorithm: git pushes all branches having the same name on both ends.
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Default set of references to push in git 2.0+ is calculated using
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simple algorithm: git pushes the current branch back to its
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@{upstream}.
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To configure git before 2.0 to the new behaviour run::
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$ git config push.default simple
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To configure git 2.0+ to the old behaviour run::
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$ git config push.default matching
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Git doesn't allow to push a branch if it's the current branch in the
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remote non-bare repository: git refuses to update remote working
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directory. You really should push only to bare repositories. For
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non-bare repositories git prefers pull-based workflow.
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When you want to deploy code on a remote host and can only use push
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(because your workstation is behind a firewall and you cannot pull
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from it) you do that in two steps using two repositories: you push
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from the workstation to a bare repo on the remote host, ssh to the
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remote host and pull from the bare repo to a non-bare deployment repo.
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That changed in git 2.3, but see `the blog post
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<https://github.com/blog/1957-git-2-3-has-been-released#push-to-deploy>`_
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for caveats; in 2.4 the push-to-deploy feature was `further improved
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<https://github.com/blog/1994-git-2-4-atomic-pushes-push-to-deploy-and-more#push-to-deploy-improvements>`_.
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Tags
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''''
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Git automatically fetches tags that point to commits being fetched
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during fetch/pull. To fetch all tags (and commits they point to) run
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``git fetch --tags origin``. To fetch some specific tags fetch them
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explicitly::
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$ git fetch origin tag $TAG1 tag $TAG2...
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For example::
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$ git fetch origin tag 1.4.2
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$ git fetch origin v1:v1 tag 2.1.7
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Git doesn't automatically pushes tags. That allows you to have private
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tags. To push tags list them explicitly::
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$ git push origin tag 1.4.2
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$ git push origin v1 master tag 2.1.7
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Or push all tags at once::
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$ git push --tags origin
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Don't move tags with ``git tag -f`` or remove tags with ``git tag -d``
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after they have been published.
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Private information
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'''''''''''''''''''
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When cloning/fetching/pulling/pushing git copies only database objects
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(commits, trees, files and tags) and symbolic references (branches and
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lightweight tags). Everything else is private to the repository and
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never cloned, updated or pushed. It's your config, your hooks, your
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private exclude file.
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If you want to distribute hooks, copy them to the working tree, add,
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commit, push and instruct the team to update and install the hooks
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manually.
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Commit editing and caveats
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==========================
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A warning not to edit published (pushed) commits also appears in
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documentation but it's repeated here anyway as it's very important.
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It is possible to recover from a forced push but it's PITA for the
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entire team. Please avoid it.
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To see what commits have not been published yet compare the head of the
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branch with its upstream remote-tracking branch::
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$ git log origin/master.. # from origin/master to HEAD (of master)
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$ git log origin/v1..v1 # from origin/v1 to the head of v1
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For every branch that has an upstream remote-tracking branch git
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maintains an alias @{upstream} (short version @{u}), so the commands
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above can be given as::
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$ git log @{u}..
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$ git log v1@{u}..v1
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To see the status of all branches::
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$ git branch -avv
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To compare the status of local branches with a remote repo::
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$ git remote show origin
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Read `how to recover from upstream rebase
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<https://git-scm.com/docs/git-rebase#_recovering_from_upstream_rebase>`_.
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It is in ``git help rebase``.
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On the other hand don't be too afraid about commit editing. You can
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safely edit, reorder, remove, combine and split commits that haven't
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been pushed yet. You can even push commits to your own (backup) repo,
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edit them later and force-push edited commits to replace what have
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already been pushed. Not a problem until commits are in a public
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or shared repository.
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Undo
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====
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Whatever you do, don't panic. Almost anything in git can be undone.
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git checkout: restore file's content
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------------------------------------
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``git checkout``, for example, can be used to restore the content of
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file(s) to that one of a commit. Like this::
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git checkout HEAD~ README
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The commands restores the contents of README file to the last but one
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commit in the current branch. By default the commit ID is simply HEAD;
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i.e. ``git checkout README`` restores README to the latest commit.
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(Do not use ``git checkout`` to view a content of a file in a commit,
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use ``git cat-file -p``; e.g. ``git cat-file -p HEAD~:path/to/README``).
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git reset: remove (non-pushed) commits
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--------------------------------------
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``git reset`` moves the head of the current branch. The head can be
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moved to point to any commit but it's often used to remove a commit or
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a few (preferably, non-pushed ones) from the top of the branch - that
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is, to move the branch backward in order to undo a few (non-pushed)
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commits.
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``git reset`` has three modes of operation - soft, hard and mixed.
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Default is mixed. ProGit `explains
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<https://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Tools-Reset-Demystified>`_ the
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difference very clearly. Bare repositories don't have indices or
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working trees so in a bare repo only soft reset is possible.
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Unstaging
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'''''''''
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Mixed mode reset with a path or paths can be used to unstage changes -
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that is, to remove from index changes added with ``git add`` for
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committing. See `The Book
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<https://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Undoing-Things>`_ for details
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about unstaging and other undo tricks.
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git reflog: reference log
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-------------------------
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Removing commits with ``git reset`` or moving the head of a branch
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sounds dangerous and it is. But there is a way to undo: another
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reset back to the original commit. Git doesn't remove commits
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immediately; unreferenced commits (in git terminology they are called
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"dangling commits") stay in the database for some time (default is two
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weeks) so you can reset back to it or create a new branch pointing to
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the original commit.
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For every move of a branch's head - with ``git commit``, ``git
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checkout``, ``git fetch``, ``git pull``, ``git rebase``, ``git reset``
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and so on - git stores a reference log (reflog for short). For every
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move git stores where the head was. Command ``git reflog`` can be used
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to view (and manipulate) the log.
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In addition to the moves of the head of every branch git stores the
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moves of the HEAD - a symbolic reference that (usually) names the
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current branch. HEAD is changed with ``git checkout $BRANCH``.
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By default ``git reflog`` shows the moves of the HEAD, i.e. the
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command is equivalent to ``git reflog HEAD``. To show the moves of the
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head of a branch use the command ``git reflog $BRANCH``.
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So to undo a ``git reset`` lookup the original commit in ``git
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reflog``, verify it with ``git show`` or ``git log`` and run ``git
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reset $COMMIT_ID``. Git stores the move of the branch's head in
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reflog, so you can undo that undo later again.
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In a more complex situation you'd want to move some commits along with
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resetting the head of the branch. Cherry-pick them to the new branch.
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For example, if you want to reset the branch ``master`` back to the
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original commit but preserve two commits created in the current branch
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do something like::
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$ git branch save-master # create a new branch saving master
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$ git reflog # find the original place of master
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$ git reset $COMMIT_ID
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$ git cherry-pick save-master~ save-master
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$ git branch -D save-master # remove temporary branch
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git revert: revert a commit
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---------------------------
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``git revert`` reverts a commit or commits, that is, it creates a new
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commit or commits that revert(s) the effects of the given commits.
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It's the only way to undo published commits (``git commit --amend``,
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``git rebase`` and ``git reset`` change the branch in
|
||
non-fast-forwardable ways so they should only be used for non-pushed
|
||
commits.)
|
||
|
||
There is a problem with reverting a merge commit. ``git revert`` can
|
||
undo the code created by the merge commit but it cannot undo the fact
|
||
of merge. See the discussion `How to revert a faulty merge
|
||
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/howto/revert-a-faulty-merge.html>`_.
|
||
|
||
|
||
One thing that cannot be undone
|
||
-------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Whatever you undo, there is one thing that cannot be undone -
|
||
overwritten uncommitted changes. Uncommitted changes don't belong to
|
||
git so git cannot help preserving them.
|
||
|
||
Most of the time git warns you when you're going to execute a command
|
||
that overwrites uncommitted changes. Git doesn't allow you to switch
|
||
branches with ``git checkout``. It stops you when you're going to
|
||
rebase with non-clean working tree. It refuses to pull new commits
|
||
over non-committed files.
|
||
|
||
But there are commands that do exactly that - overwrite files in the
|
||
working tree. Commands like ``git checkout $PATHs`` or ``git reset
|
||
--hard`` silently overwrite files including your uncommitted changes.
|
||
|
||
With that in mind you can understand the stance "commit early, commit
|
||
often". Commit as often as possible. Commit on every save in your
|
||
editor or IDE. You can edit your commits before pushing - edit commit
|
||
messages, change commits, reorder, combine, split, remove. But save
|
||
your changes in git database, either commit changes or at least stash
|
||
them with ``git stash``.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Merge or rebase?
|
||
================
|
||
|
||
Internet is full of heated discussions on the topic: "merge or
|
||
rebase?" Most of them are meaningless. When a DVCS is being used in a
|
||
big team with a big and complex project with many branches there is
|
||
simply no way to avoid merges. So the question's diminished to
|
||
"whether to use rebase, and if yes - when to use rebase?" Considering
|
||
that it is very much recommended not to rebase published commits the
|
||
question's diminished even further: "whether to use rebase on
|
||
non-pushed commits?"
|
||
|
||
That small question is for the team to decide. The author of the PEP
|
||
recommends to use rebase when pulling, i.e. always do ``git pull
|
||
--rebase`` or even configure automatic setup of rebase for every new
|
||
branch::
|
||
|
||
$ git config branch.autosetuprebase always
|
||
|
||
and configure rebase for existing branches::
|
||
|
||
$ git config branch.$NAME.rebase true
|
||
|
||
For example::
|
||
|
||
$ git config branch.v1.rebase true
|
||
$ git config branch.master.rebase true
|
||
|
||
After that ``git pull origin master`` becomes equivalent to ``git pull
|
||
--rebase origin master``.
|
||
|
||
It is recommended to create new commits in a separate feature or topic
|
||
branch while using rebase to update the mainline branch. When the
|
||
topic branch is ready merge it into mainline. To avoid a tedious task
|
||
of resolving large number of conflicts at once you can merge the topic
|
||
branch to the mainline from time to time and switch back to the topic
|
||
branch to continue working on it. The entire workflow would be
|
||
something like::
|
||
|
||
$ git checkout -b issue-42 # create a new issue branch and switch to it
|
||
...edit/test/commit...
|
||
$ git checkout master
|
||
$ git pull --rebase origin master # update master from the upstream
|
||
$ git merge issue-42
|
||
$ git branch -d issue-42 # delete the topic branch
|
||
$ git push origin master
|
||
|
||
When the topic branch is deleted only the label is removed, commits
|
||
are stayed in the database, they are now merged into master::
|
||
|
||
o--o--o--o--o--M--< master - the mainline branch
|
||
\ /
|
||
--*--*--* - the topic branch, now unnamed
|
||
|
||
The topic branch is deleted to avoid cluttering branch namespace with
|
||
small topic branches. Information on what issue was fixed or what
|
||
feature was implemented should be in the commit messages.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Null-merges
|
||
===========
|
||
|
||
Git has a builtin merge strategy for what Python core developers call
|
||
"null-merge"::
|
||
|
||
$ git merge -s ours v1 # null-merge v1 into master
|
||
|
||
|
||
Branching models
|
||
================
|
||
|
||
Git doesn't assume any particular development model regarding
|
||
branching and merging. Some projects prefer to graduate patches from
|
||
the oldest branch to the newest, some prefer to cherry-pick commits
|
||
backwards, some use squashing (combining a number of commits into
|
||
one). Anything is possible.
|
||
|
||
There are a few examples to start with. `git help workflows
|
||
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitworkflows.html>`_
|
||
describes how the very git authors develop git.
|
||
|
||
ProGit book has a few chapters devoted to branch management in
|
||
different projects: `Git Branching - Branching Workflows
|
||
<https://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Branching-Branching-Workflows>`_ and
|
||
`Distributed Git - Contributing to a Project
|
||
<https://git-scm.com/book/en/Distributed-Git-Contributing-to-a-Project>`_.
|
||
|
||
There is also a well-known article `A successful Git branching model
|
||
<http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/>`_ by Vincent
|
||
Driessen. It recommends a set of very detailed rules on creating and
|
||
managing mainline, topic and bugfix branches. To support the model the
|
||
author implemented `git flow <https://github.com/nvie/gitflow>`_
|
||
extension.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Advanced configuration
|
||
======================
|
||
|
||
Line endings
|
||
------------
|
||
|
||
Git has builtin mechanisms to handle line endings between platforms
|
||
with different end-of-line styles. To allow git to do CRLF conversion
|
||
assign ``text`` attribute to files using `.gitattributes
|
||
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitattributes.html>`_.
|
||
For files that have to have specific line endings assign ``eol``
|
||
attribute. For binary files the attribute is, naturally, ``binary``.
|
||
|
||
For example::
|
||
|
||
$ cat .gitattributes
|
||
*.py text
|
||
*.txt text
|
||
*.png binary
|
||
/readme.txt eol=CRLF
|
||
|
||
To check what attributes git uses for files use ``git check-attr``
|
||
command. For example::
|
||
|
||
$ git check-attr -a -- \*.py
|
||
|
||
|
||
Advanced topics
|
||
===============
|
||
|
||
Staging area
|
||
------------
|
||
|
||
Staging area aka index aka cache is a distinguishing feature of git.
|
||
Staging area is where git collects patches before committing them.
|
||
Separation between collecting patches and commit phases provides a
|
||
very useful feature of git: you can review collected patches before
|
||
commit and even edit them - remove some hunks, add new hunks and
|
||
review again.
|
||
|
||
To add files to the index use ``git add``. Collecting patches before
|
||
committing means you need to do that for every change, not only to add
|
||
new (untracked) files. To simplify committing in case you just want to
|
||
commit everything without reviewing run ``git commit --all`` (or just
|
||
``-a``) - the command adds every changed tracked file to the index and
|
||
then commit. To commit a file or files regardless of patches collected
|
||
in the index run ``git commit [--only|-o] -- $FILE...``.
|
||
|
||
To add hunks of patches to the index use ``git add --patch`` (or just
|
||
``-p``). To remove collected files from the index use ``git reset HEAD
|
||
-- $FILE...`` To add/inspect/remove collected hunks use ``git add
|
||
--interactive`` (``-i``).
|
||
|
||
To see the diff between the index and the last commit (i.e., collected
|
||
patches) use ``git diff --cached``. To see the diff between the
|
||
working tree and the index (i.e., uncollected patches) use just ``git
|
||
diff``. To see the diff between the working tree and the last commit
|
||
(i.e., both collected and uncollected patches) run ``git diff HEAD``.
|
||
|
||
See `WhatIsTheIndex
|
||
<https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/WhatIsTheIndex>`_ and
|
||
`IndexCommandQuickref
|
||
<https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/IndexCommandQuickref>`_ in Git
|
||
Wiki.
|
||
|
||
|
||
ReReRe
|
||
======
|
||
|
||
Rerere is a mechanism that helps to resolve repeated merge conflicts.
|
||
The most frequent source of recurring merge conflicts are topic
|
||
branches that are merged into mainline and then the merge commits are
|
||
removed; that's often performed to test the topic branches and train
|
||
rerere; merge commits are removed to have clean linear history and
|
||
finish the topic branch with only one last merge commit.
|
||
|
||
Rerere works by remembering the states of tree before and after a
|
||
successful commit. That way rerere can automatically resolve conflicts
|
||
if they appear in the same files.
|
||
|
||
Rerere can be used manually with ``git rerere`` command but most often
|
||
it's used automatically. Enable rerere with these commands in a
|
||
working tree::
|
||
|
||
$ git config rerere.enabled true
|
||
$ git config rerere.autoupdate true
|
||
|
||
You don't need to turn rerere on globally - you don't want rerere in
|
||
bare repositories or single-branche repositories; you only need rerere
|
||
in repos where you often perform merges and resolve merge conflicts.
|
||
|
||
See `Rerere <https://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Tools-Rerere>`_ in The
|
||
Book.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Database maintenance
|
||
====================
|
||
|
||
Git object database and other files/directories under ``.git`` require
|
||
periodic maintenance and cleanup. For example, commit editing left
|
||
unreferenced objects (dangling objects, in git terminology) and these
|
||
objects should be pruned to avoid collecting cruft in the DB. The
|
||
command ``git gc`` is used for maintenance. Git automatically runs
|
||
``git gc --auto`` as a part of some commands to do quick maintenance.
|
||
Users are recommended to run ``git gc --aggressive`` from time to
|
||
time; ``git help gc`` recommends to run it every few hundred
|
||
changesets; for more intensive projects it should be something like
|
||
once a week and less frequently (biweekly or monthly) for lesser
|
||
active projects.
|
||
|
||
``git gc --aggressive`` not only removes dangling objects, it also
|
||
repacks object database into indexed and better optimized pack(s); it
|
||
also packs symbolic references (branches and tags). Another way to do
|
||
it is to run ``git repack``.
|
||
|
||
There is a well-known `message
|
||
<https://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2007-12/msg00165.html>`_ from Linus
|
||
Torvalds regarding "stupidity" of ``git gc --aggressive``. The message
|
||
can safely be ignored now. It is old and outdated, ``git gc
|
||
--aggressive`` became much better since that time.
|
||
|
||
For those who still prefer ``git repack`` over ``git gc --aggressive``
|
||
the recommended parameters are ``git repack -a -d -f --depth=20
|
||
--window=250``. See `this detailed experiment
|
||
<http://vcscompare.blogspot.ru/2008/06/git-repack-parameters.html>`_
|
||
for explanation of the effects of these parameters.
|
||
|
||
From time to time run ``git fsck [--strict]`` to verify integrity of
|
||
the database. ``git fsck`` may produce a list of dangling objects;
|
||
that's not an error, just a reminder to perform regular maintenance.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tips and tricks
|
||
===============
|
||
|
||
Command-line options and arguments
|
||
----------------------------------
|
||
|
||
`git help cli
|
||
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitcli.html>`_
|
||
recommends not to combine short options/flags. Most of the times
|
||
combining works: ``git commit -av`` works perfectly, but there are
|
||
situations when it doesn't. E.g., ``git log -p -5`` cannot be combined
|
||
as ``git log -p5``.
|
||
|
||
Some options have arguments, some even have default arguments. In that
|
||
case the argument for such option must be spelled in a sticky way:
|
||
``-Oarg``, never ``-O arg`` because for an option that has a default
|
||
argument the latter means "use default value for option ``-O`` and
|
||
pass ``arg`` further to the option parser". For example, ``git grep``
|
||
has an option ``-O`` that passes a list of names of the found files to
|
||
a program; default program for ``-O`` is a pager (usually ``less``),
|
||
but you can use your editor::
|
||
|
||
$ git grep -Ovim # but not -O vim
|
||
|
||
BTW, if git is instructed to use ``less`` as the pager (i.e., if pager
|
||
is not configured in git at all it uses ``less`` by default, or if it
|
||
gets ``less`` from GIT_PAGER or PAGER environment variables, or if it
|
||
was configured with ``git config --global core.pager less``, or
|
||
``less`` is used in the command ``git grep -Oless``) ``git grep``
|
||
passes ``+/$pattern`` option to ``less`` which is quite convenient.
|
||
Unfortunately, ``git grep`` doesn't pass the pattern if the pager is
|
||
not exactly ``less``, even if it's ``less`` with parameters (something
|
||
like ``git config --global core.pager less -FRSXgimq``); fortunately,
|
||
``git grep -Oless`` always passes the pattern.
|
||
|
||
|
||
bash/zsh completion
|
||
-------------------
|
||
|
||
It's a bit hard to type ``git rebase --interactive --preserve-merges
|
||
HEAD~5`` manually even for those who are happy to use command-line,
|
||
and this is where shell completion is of great help. Bash/zsh come
|
||
with programmable completion, often automatically installed and
|
||
enabled, so if you have bash/zsh and git installed, chances are you
|
||
are already done - just go and use it at the command-line.
|
||
|
||
If you don't have necessary bits installed, install and enable
|
||
bash_completion package. If you want to upgrade your git completion to
|
||
the latest and greatest download necessary file from `git contrib
|
||
<https://git.kernel.org/cgit/git/git.git/tree/contrib/completion>`_.
|
||
|
||
Git-for-windows comes with git-bash for which bash completion is
|
||
installed and enabled.
|
||
|
||
|
||
bash/zsh prompt
|
||
---------------
|
||
|
||
For command-line lovers shell prompt can carry a lot of useful
|
||
information. To include git information in the prompt use
|
||
`git-prompt.sh
|
||
<https://git.kernel.org/cgit/git/git.git/tree/contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh>`_.
|
||
Read the detailed instructions in the file.
|
||
|
||
Search the Net for "git prompt" to find other prompt variants.
|
||
|
||
|
||
git on server
|
||
=============
|
||
|
||
The simplest way to publish a repository or a group of repositories is
|
||
``git daemon``. The daemon provides anonymous access, by default it is
|
||
read-only. The repositories are accessible by git protocol (git://
|
||
URLs). Write access can be enabled but the protocol lacks any
|
||
authentication means, so it should be enabled only within a trusted
|
||
LAN. See ``git help daemon`` for details.
|
||
|
||
Git over ssh provides authentication and repo-level authorisation as
|
||
repositories can be made user- or group-writeable (see parameter
|
||
``core.sharedRepository`` in ``git help config``). If that's too
|
||
permissive or too restrictive for some project's needs there is a
|
||
wrapper `gitolite <http://gitolite.com/gitolite/index.html>`_ that can
|
||
be configured to allow access with great granularity; gitolite is
|
||
written in Perl and has a lot of documentation.
|
||
|
||
Web interface to browse repositories can be created using `gitweb
|
||
<https://git.kernel.org/cgit/git/git.git/tree/gitweb>`_ or `cgit
|
||
<http://git.zx2c4.com/cgit/about/>`_. Both are CGI scripts (written in
|
||
Perl and C). In addition to web interface both provide read-only dumb
|
||
http access for git (http(s):// URLs).
|
||
|
||
There are also more advanced web-based development environments that
|
||
include ability to manage users, groups and projects; private,
|
||
group-accessible and public repositories; they often include issue
|
||
trackers, wiki pages, pull requests and other tools for development
|
||
and communication. Among these environments are `Kallithea
|
||
<https://kallithea-scm.org/>`_ and `pagure <https://pagure.io/>`_,
|
||
both are written in Python; pagure was written by Fedora developers
|
||
and is being used to develop some Fedora projects. `GitPrep
|
||
<http://gitprep.yukikimoto.com/>`_ is yet another Github clone,
|
||
written in Perl. `Gogs <https://gogs.io/>`_ is written in Go.
|
||
`GitBucket <https://takezoe.github.io/gitbucket/about/>`_ is written
|
||
in Scala.
|
||
|
||
And last but not least, `Gitlab <https://about.gitlab.com/>`_. It's
|
||
perhaps the most advanced web-based development environment for git.
|
||
Written in Ruby, community edition is free and open source (MIT
|
||
license).
|
||
|
||
|
||
From Mercurial to git
|
||
=====================
|
||
|
||
There are many tools to convert Mercurial repositories to git. The
|
||
most famous are, probably, `hg-git <https://hg-git.github.io/>`_ and
|
||
`fast-export <http://repo.or.cz/w/fast-export.git>`_ (many years ago
|
||
it was known under the name ``hg2git``).
|
||
|
||
But a better tool, perhaps the best, is `git-remote-hg
|
||
<https://github.com/felipec/git-remote-hg>`_. It provides transparent
|
||
bidirectional (pull and push) access to Mercurial repositories from
|
||
git. Its author wrote a `comparison of alternatives
|
||
<https://github.com/felipec/git/wiki/Comparison-of-git-remote-hg-alternatives>`_
|
||
that seems to be mostly objective.
|
||
|
||
To use git-remote-hg, install or clone it, add to your PATH (or copy
|
||
script ``git-remote-hg`` to a directory that's already in PATH) and
|
||
prepend ``hg::`` to Mercurial URLs. For example::
|
||
|
||
$ git clone https://github.com/felipec/git-remote-hg.git
|
||
$ PATH=$PATH:"`pwd`"/git-remote-hg
|
||
$ git clone hg::https://hg.python.org/peps/ PEPs
|
||
|
||
To work with the repository just use regular git commands including
|
||
``git fetch/pull/push``.
|
||
|
||
To start converting your Mercurial habits to git see the page
|
||
`Mercurial for Git users
|
||
<https://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/GitConcepts>`_ at Mercurial wiki.
|
||
At the second half of the page there is a table that lists
|
||
corresponding Mercurial and git commands. Should work perfectly in
|
||
both directions.
|
||
|
||
Python Developer's Guide also has a chapter `Mercurial for git
|
||
developers <https://docs.python.org/devguide/gitdevs.html>`_ that
|
||
documents a few differences between git and hg.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Copyright
|
||
=========
|
||
|
||
This document has been placed in the public domain.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
..
|
||
Local Variables:
|
||
mode: indented-text
|
||
indent-tabs-mode: nil
|
||
sentence-end-double-space: t
|
||
fill-column: 70
|
||
coding: utf-8
|
||
End:
|
||
vim: set fenc=us-ascii tw=70 :
|