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author | Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> | 2007-11-25 19:04:27 -0800 |
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committer | Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> | 2007-11-25 19:04:27 -0800 |
commit | dc3e3ea3c838c1ddf7423401b4cf7a7dba528cff (patch) | |
tree | 5ab3f9de080e71b50234eae432caba430514f269 | |
parent | git-checkout: describe detached head correctly (diff) | |
parent | user-manual: recovering from corruption (diff) | |
download | tgif-dc3e3ea3c838c1ddf7423401b4cf7a7dba528cff.tar.xz |
Merge branch 'maint' of git://linux-nfs.org/~bfields/git into maint
* 'maint' of git://linux-nfs.org/~bfields/git:
user-manual: recovering from corruption
user-manual: clarify language about "modifying" old commits
user-manual: failed push to public repository
user-manual: define "branch" and "working tree" at start
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/user-manual.txt | 225 |
1 files changed, 201 insertions, 24 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/user-manual.txt b/Documentation/user-manual.txt index c027353337..b0a873bd7f 100644 --- a/Documentation/user-manual.txt +++ b/Documentation/user-manual.txt @@ -56,11 +56,12 @@ $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git The initial clone may be time-consuming for a large project, but you will only need to clone once. -The clone command creates a new directory named after the project -("git" or "linux-2.6" in the examples above). After you cd into this +The clone command creates a new directory named after the project ("git" +or "linux-2.6" in the examples above). After you cd into this directory, you will see that it contains a copy of the project files, -together with a special top-level directory named ".git", which -contains all the information about the history of the project. +called the <<def_working_tree,working tree>>, together with a special +top-level directory named ".git", which contains all the information +about the history of the project. [[how-to-check-out]] How to check out a different version of a project @@ -71,8 +72,13 @@ of files. It stores the history as a compressed collection of interrelated snapshots of the project's contents. In git each such version is called a <<def_commit,commit>>. -A single git repository may contain multiple branches. It keeps track -of them by keeping a list of <<def_head,heads>> which reference the +Those snapshots aren't necessarily all arranged in a single line from +oldest to newest; instead, work may simultaneously proceed along +parallel lines of development, called <def_branch,branches>>, which may +merge and diverge. + +A single git repository can track development on multiple branches. It +does this by keeping a list of <<def_head,heads>> which reference the latest commit on each branch; the gitlink:git-branch[1] command shows you the list of branch heads: @@ -1410,8 +1416,8 @@ with the changes to be reverted, then you will be asked to fix conflicts manually, just as in the case of <<resolving-a-merge, resolving a merge>>. -[[fixing-a-mistake-by-editing-history]] -Fixing a mistake by editing history +[[fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history]] +Fixing a mistake by rewriting history ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the problematic commit is the most recent commit, and you have not @@ -1434,7 +1440,7 @@ Again, you should never do this to a commit that may already have been merged into another branch; use gitlink:git-revert[1] instead in that case. -It is also possible to edit commits further back in the history, but +It is also possible to replace commits further back in the history, but this is an advanced topic to be left for <<cleaning-up-history,another chapter>>. @@ -1554,6 +1560,11 @@ This may be time-consuming. Unlike most other git operations (including git-gc when run without any options), it is not safe to prune while other git operations are in progress in the same repository. +If gitlink:git-fsck[1] complains about sha1 mismatches or missing +objects, you may have a much more serious problem; your best option is +probably restoring from backups. See +<<recovering-from-repository-corruption>> for a detailed discussion. + [[recovering-lost-changes]] Recovering lost changes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @@ -1923,15 +1934,9 @@ or just $ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git master ------------------------------------------------- -As with git-fetch, git-push will complain if this does not result in -a <<fast-forwards,fast forward>>. Normally this is a sign of -something wrong. However, if you are sure you know what you're -doing, you may force git-push to perform the update anyway by -proceeding the branch name by a plus sign: - -------------------------------------------------- -$ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git +master -------------------------------------------------- +As with git-fetch, git-push will complain if this does not result in a +<<fast-forwards,fast forward>>; see the following section for details on +handling this case. Note that the target of a "push" is normally a <<def_bare_repository,bare>> repository. You can also push to a @@ -1959,6 +1964,52 @@ See the explanations of the remote.<name>.url, branch.<name>.remote, and remote.<name>.push options in gitlink:git-config[1] for details. +[[forcing-push]] +What to do when a push fails +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +If a push would not result in a <<fast-forwards,fast forward>> of the +remote branch, then it will fail with an error like: + +------------------------------------------------- +error: remote 'refs/heads/master' is not an ancestor of + local 'refs/heads/master'. + Maybe you are not up-to-date and need to pull first? +error: failed to push to 'ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git' +------------------------------------------------- + +This can happen, for example, if you: + + - use `git reset --hard` to remove already-published commits, or + - use `git commit --amend` to replace already-published commits + (as in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history>>), or + - use `git rebase` to rebase any already-published commits (as + in <<using-git-rebase>>). + +You may force git-push to perform the update anyway by preceding the +branch name with a plus sign: + +------------------------------------------------- +$ git push ssh://yourserver.com/~you/proj.git +master +------------------------------------------------- + +Normally whenever a branch head in a public repository is modified, it +is modified to point to a descendent of the commit that it pointed to +before. By forcing a push in this situation, you break that convention. +(See <<problems-with-rewriting-history>>.) + +Nevertheless, this is a common practice for people that need a simple +way to publish a work-in-progress patch series, and it is an acceptable +compromise as long as you warn other developers that this is how you +intend to manage the branch. + +It's also possible for a push to fail in this way when other people have +the right to push to the same repository. In that case, the correct +solution is to retry the push after first updating your work by either a +pull or a fetch followed by a rebase; see the +<<setting-up-a-shared-repository,next section>> and +link:cvs-migration.html[git for CVS users] for more. + [[setting-up-a-shared-repository]] Setting up a shared repository ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @@ -2426,11 +2477,11 @@ return mywork to the state it had before you started the rebase: $ git rebase --abort ------------------------------------------------- -[[modifying-one-commit]] -Modifying a single commit +[[rewriting-one-commit]] +Rewriting a single commit ------------------------- -We saw in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-editing-history>> that you can replace the +We saw in <<fixing-a-mistake-by-rewriting-history>> that you can replace the most recent commit using ------------------------------------------------- @@ -2440,8 +2491,10 @@ $ git commit --amend which will replace the old commit by a new commit incorporating your changes, giving you a chance to edit the old commit message first. -You can also use a combination of this and gitlink:git-rebase[1] to edit -commits further back in your history. First, tag the problematic commit with +You can also use a combination of this and gitlink:git-rebase[1] to +replace a commit further back in your history and recreate the +intervening changes on top of it. First, tag the problematic commit +with ------------------------------------------------- $ git tag bad mywork~5 @@ -3172,6 +3225,127 @@ confusing and scary messages, but it won't actually do anything bad. In contrast, running "git prune" while somebody is actively changing the repository is a *BAD* idea). +[[recovering-from-repository-corruption]] +Recovering from repository corruption +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +By design, git treats data trusted to it with caution. However, even in +the absence of bugs in git itself, it is still possible that hardware or +operating system errors could corrupt data. + +The first defense against such problems is backups. You can back up a +git directory using clone, or just using cp, tar, or any other backup +mechanism. + +As a last resort, you can search for the corrupted objects and attempt +to replace them by hand. Back up your repository before attempting this +in case you corrupt things even more in the process. + +We'll assume that the problem is a single missing or corrupted blob, +which is sometimes a solveable problem. (Recovering missing trees and +especially commits is *much* harder). + +Before starting, verify that there is corruption, and figure out where +it is with gitlink:git-fsck[1]; this may be time-consuming. + +Assume the output looks like this: + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git-fsck --full +broken link from tree 2d9263c6d23595e7cb2a21e5ebbb53655278dff8 + to blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 +missing blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 +------------------------------------------------ + +(Typically there will be some "dangling object" messages too, but they +aren't interesting.) + +Now you know that blob 4b9458b3 is missing, and that the tree 2d9263c6 +points to it. If you could find just one copy of that missing blob +object, possibly in some other repository, you could move it into +.git/objects/4b/9458b3... and be done. Suppose you can't. You can +still examine the tree that pointed to it with gitlink:git-ls-tree[1], +which might output something like: + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git ls-tree 2d9263c6d23595e7cb2a21e5ebbb53655278dff8 +100644 blob 8d14531846b95bfa3564b58ccfb7913a034323b8 .gitignore +100644 blob ebf9bf84da0aab5ed944264a5db2a65fe3a3e883 .mailmap +100644 blob ca442d313d86dc67e0a2e5d584b465bd382cbf5c COPYING +... +100644 blob 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200 myfile +... +------------------------------------------------ + +So now you know that the missing blob was the data for a file named +"myfile". And chances are you can also identify the directory--let's +say it's in "somedirectory". If you're lucky the missing copy might be +the same as the copy you have checked out in your working tree at +"somedirectory/myfile"; you can test whether that's right with +gitlink:git-hash-object[1]: + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git hash-object -w somedirectory/myfile +------------------------------------------------ + +which will create and store a blob object with the contents of +somedirectory/myfile, and output the sha1 of that object. if you're +extremely lucky it might be 4b9458b3786228369c63936db65827de3cc06200, in +which case you've guessed right, and the corruption is fixed! + +Otherwise, you need more information. How do you tell which version of +the file has been lost? + +The easiest way to do this is with: + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git log --raw --all --full-history -- somedirectory/myfile +------------------------------------------------ + +Because you're asking for raw output, you'll now get something like + +------------------------------------------------ +commit abc +Author: +Date: +... +:100644 100644 4b9458b... newsha... M somedirectory/myfile + + +commit xyz +Author: +Date: + +... +:100644 100644 oldsha... 4b9458b... M somedirectory/myfile +------------------------------------------------ + +This tells you that the immediately preceding version of the file was +"newsha", and that the immediately following version was "oldsha". +You also know the commit messages that went with the change from oldsha +to 4b9458b and with the change from 4b9458b to newsha. + +If you've been committing small enough changes, you may now have a good +shot at reconstructing the contents of the in-between state 4b9458b. + +If you can do that, you can now recreate the missing object with + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git hash-object -w <recreated-file> +------------------------------------------------ + +and your repository is good again! + +(Btw, you could have ignored the fsck, and started with doing a + +------------------------------------------------ +$ git log --raw --all +------------------------------------------------ + +and just looked for the sha of the missing object (4b9458b..) in that +whole thing. It's up to you - git does *have* a lot of information, it is +just missing one particular blob version. + [[the-index]] The index ----------- @@ -4381,4 +4555,7 @@ Write a chapter on using plumbing and writing scripts. Alternates, clone -reference, etc. -git unpack-objects -r for recovery +More on recovery from repository corruption. See: + http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=git&m=117263864820799&w=2 + http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=git&m=117147855503798&w=2 + http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=git&m=117147855503798&w=2 |