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+gitrepository-layout(5)
+=======================
+
+NAME
+----
+gitrepository-layout - Git Repository Layout
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+$GIT_DIR/*
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+You may find these things in your git repository (`.git`
+directory for a repository associated with your working tree, or
+`<project>.git` directory for a public 'bare' repository. It is
+also possible to have a working tree where `.git` is a plain
+ascii file containing `gitdir: <path>`, i.e. the path to the
+real git repository).
+
+objects::
+ Object store associated with this repository. Usually
+ an object store is self sufficient (i.e. all the objects
+ that are referred to by an object found in it are also
+ found in it), but there are couple of ways to violate
+ it.
++
+. You could populate the repository by running a commit walker
+without `-a` option. Depending on which options are given, you
+could have only commit objects without associated blobs and
+trees this way, for example. A repository with this kind of
+incomplete object store is not suitable to be published to the
+outside world but sometimes useful for private repository.
+. You also could have an incomplete but locally usable repository
+by cloning shallowly. See linkgit:git-clone[1].
+. You can be using `objects/info/alternates` mechanism, or
+`$GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES` mechanism to 'borrow'
+objects from other object stores. A repository with this kind
+of incomplete object store is not suitable to be published for
+use with dumb transports but otherwise is OK as long as
+`objects/info/alternates` points at the right object stores
+it borrows from.
+
+objects/[0-9a-f][0-9a-f]::
+ Traditionally, each object is stored in its own file.
+ They are split into 256 subdirectories using the first
+ two letters from its object name to keep the number of
+ directory entries `objects` directory itself needs to
+ hold. Objects found here are often called 'unpacked'
+ (or 'loose') objects.
+
+objects/pack::
+ Packs (files that store many object in compressed form,
+ along with index files to allow them to be randomly
+ accessed) are found in this directory.
+
+objects/info::
+ Additional information about the object store is
+ recorded in this directory.
+
+objects/info/packs::
+ This file is to help dumb transports discover what packs
+ are available in this object store. Whenever a pack is
+ added or removed, `git update-server-info` should be run
+ to keep this file up-to-date if the repository is
+ published for dumb transports. 'git repack' does this
+ by default.
+
+objects/info/alternates::
+ This file records paths to alternate object stores that
+ this object store borrows objects from, one pathname per
+ line. Note that not only native Git tools use it locally,
+ but the HTTP fetcher also tries to use it remotely; this
+ will usually work if you have relative paths (relative
+ to the object database, not to the repository!) in your
+ alternates file, but it will not work if you use absolute
+ paths unless the absolute path in filesystem and web URL
+ is the same. See also 'objects/info/http-alternates'.
+
+objects/info/http-alternates::
+ This file records URLs to alternate object stores that
+ this object store borrows objects from, to be used when
+ the repository is fetched over HTTP.
+
+refs::
+ References are stored in subdirectories of this
+ directory. The 'git prune' command knows to keep
+ objects reachable from refs found in this directory and
+ its subdirectories.
+
+refs/heads/`name`::
+ records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branch `name`
+
+refs/tags/`name`::
+ records any object name (not necessarily a commit
+ object, or a tag object that points at a commit object).
+
+refs/remotes/`name`::
+ records tip-of-the-tree commit objects of branches copied
+ from a remote repository.
+
+packed-refs::
+ records the same information as refs/heads/, refs/tags/,
+ and friends record in a more efficient way. See
+ linkgit:git-pack-refs[1].
+
+HEAD::
+ A symref (see glossary) to the `refs/heads/` namespace
+ describing the currently active branch. It does not mean
+ much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
+ (i.e. a 'bare' repository), but a valid git repository
+ *must* have the HEAD file; some porcelains may use it to
+ guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
+ (usually 'master'). It is legal if the named branch
+ 'name' does not (yet) exist. In some legacy setups, it is
+ a symbolic link instead of a symref that points at the current
+ branch.
++
+HEAD can also record a specific commit directly, instead of
+being a symref to point at the current branch. Such a state
+is often called 'detached HEAD', and almost all commands work
+identically as normal. See linkgit:git-checkout[1] for
+details.
+
+branches::
+ A slightly deprecated way to store shorthands to be used
+ to specify URL to 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push'
+ commands is to store a file in `branches/<name>` and
+ give 'name' to these commands in place of 'repository'
+ argument.
+
+hooks::
+ Hooks are customization scripts used by various git
+ commands. A handful of sample hooks are installed when
+ 'git init' is run, but all of them are disabled by
+ default. To enable, the `.sample` suffix has to be
+ removed from the filename by renaming.
+ Read linkgit:githooks[5] for more details about
+ each hook.
+
+index::
+ The current index file for the repository. It is
+ usually not found in a bare repository.
+
+info::
+ Additional information about the repository is recorded
+ in this directory.
+
+info/refs::
+ This file helps dumb transports discover what refs are
+ available in this repository. If the repository is
+ published for dumb transports, this file should be
+ regenerated by 'git update-server-info' every time a tag
+ or branch is created or modified. This is normally done
+ from the `hooks/update` hook, which is run by the
+ 'git-receive-pack' command when you 'git push' into the
+ repository.
+
+info/grafts::
+ This file records fake commit ancestry information, to
+ pretend the set of parents a commit has is different
+ from how the commit was actually created. One record
+ per line describes a commit and its fake parents by
+ listing their 40-byte hexadecimal object names separated
+ by a space and terminated by a newline.
+
+info/exclude::
+ This file, by convention among Porcelains, stores the
+ exclude pattern list. `.gitignore` is the per-directory
+ ignore file. 'git status', 'git add', 'git rm' and
+ 'git clean' look at it but the core git commands do not look
+ at it. See also: linkgit:gitignore[5].
+
+remotes::
+ Stores shorthands to be used to give URL and default
+ refnames to interact with remote repository to
+ 'git fetch', 'git pull' and 'git push' commands.
+
+logs::
+ Records of changes made to refs are stored in this
+ directory. See linkgit:git-update-ref[1]
+ for more information.
+
+logs/refs/heads/`name`::
+ Records all changes made to the branch tip named `name`.
+
+logs/refs/tags/`name`::
+ Records all changes made to the tag named `name`.
+
+shallow::
+ This is similar to `info/grafts` but is internally used
+ and maintained by shallow clone mechanism. See `--depth`
+ option to linkgit:git-clone[1] and linkgit:git-fetch[1].
+
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-init[1],
+linkgit:git-clone[1],
+linkgit:git-fetch[1],
+linkgit:git-pack-refs[1],
+linkgit:git-gc[1],
+linkgit:git-checkout[1],
+linkgit:gitglossary[7],
+link:user-manual.html[The Git User's Manual]
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite.