X-Git-Url: https://git.notmuchmail.org/git?a=blobdiff_plain;f=tour.mdwn;h=7ff65f635f2d5f665232672d5354f581ffa72f93;hb=44d0c1f81ac57725e18f56431bf37609a68778b2;hp=933e1880e6b0bec2d59bd7fea142ce15fc77f5bf;hpb=5fdc7768965491f66b4f9191690b4279ba086890;p=hgbook-git diff --git a/tour.mdwn b/tour.mdwn index 933e188..7ff65f6 100644 --- a/tour.mdwn +++ b/tour.mdwn @@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ existing repository. remote: Done counting 15 objects. remote: Deltifying 15 objects... remote: 100% (15/15) done - remote: Total 15 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0) + remote: Total 15 (delta 2), reused 15 (delta remote: 2) Indexing 15 objects... 100% (15/15) done Resolving 2 deltas... @@ -162,26 +162,16 @@ efficiently) over http: $ git clone http://cworth.org/git/hello Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/hello/.git/ - got 8e5536eaf0c9313cfcfd3bb915c7ebb63d6f7a91 - walk 8e5536eaf0c9313cfcfd3bb915c7ebb63d6f7a91 - got e4c1447f272c0f90e0a80e55f495ec377863f6f5 - got d884386a016f03bdd6c2c72ceba5621568cc0329 - got 350a36688de4ee9dfeba52f09bf02385cb967bb2 - walk d884386a016f03bdd6c2c72ceba5621568cc0329 - got 9a3ff79a7c30a4b990d49fe7c9095d6bd2eab6c0 - got ab82c5460482579faae7841e8da3b98fbb34a41c - got e19aeb100a31497481bba401cea42a39fac230ae - walk e19aeb100a31497481bba401cea42a39fac230ae - got 80b260cae9cec3cd52d27c46741ff59c321b852c - got 23f952d3dccd5524c3c1b48b3558a5b7393286c2 - got 9fa6a8464b692252de9a3a20c9e579700d613b17 - walk 9fa6a8464b692252de9a3a20c9e579700d613b17 - got b8937ca165a312157658a67e7d413dd59e6ad377 - got b3f85f210ff86d334575f64cb01c5bf49895b63e - got 556e69f96b04bff82857ddd7f7c08b2f3231d664 - walk 556e69f96b04bff82857ddd7f7c08b2f3231d664 - got ed55ec04ebc1736a91997a6ce7d7091010647c3d - got 43d727f2f3f2f7cb3b098ddad1d7038464a4cee2 + Getting alternates list for http://cworth.org/git/hello + Getting pack list for http://cworth.org/git/hello + Getting index for pack 04ecb061314ecbd60fa0610ecf55a1cbf85ea294 + Getting pack 04ecb061314ecbd60fa0610ecf55a1cbf85ea294 + which contains a1a0e8b392b17caf50325498df54802fe3c03710 + walk a1a0e8b392b17caf50325498df54802fe3c03710 + walk 72d4f10e4a27dbb09ace1503c20dbac1912ee451 + walk 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + walk 0a633bf58b45fcf1a8299d3c82cd1fd26d3f48f2 + walk db7117a9dd9a6e57e8632ea5848e1101eee0fbde If our clone succeeded, we should now have a local directory called hello. This directory will contain some files. @@ -229,59 +219,64 @@ project at a particular point in history. ### 2.4 A tour through history One of the first things we might want to do with a new, unfamiliar -repository is understand its history. The “hg log” command gives us a +repository is understand its history. The “git log” command gives us a view of history. - $ hg log - changeset: 4:b57f9a090b62 - tag: tip - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - summary: Trim comments. + $ git log + commit a1a0e8b392b17caf50325498df54802fe3c03710 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - changeset: 3:ff5d7b70a2a9 - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - summary: Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + Trim comments. - changeset: 2:057d3c2d823c - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:43 2005 -0700 - summary: Introduce a typo into hello.c. + commit 72d4f10e4a27dbb09ace1503c20dbac1912ee451 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - changeset: 1:82e55d328c8c - user: mpm@selenic.com - date: Fri Aug 26 01:21:28 2005 -0700 - summary: Create a makefile + Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. - changeset: 0:0a04b987be5a - user: mpm@selenic.com - date: Fri Aug 26 01:20:50 2005 -0700 - summary: Create a standard "hello, world" program + commit 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:43 2005 -0700 + Introduce a typo into hello.c. + + commit 0a633bf58b45fcf1a8299d3c82cd1fd26d3f48f2 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Fri Aug 26 01:21:28 2005 -0700 + + Create a makefile + + commit db7117a9dd9a6e57e8632ea5848e1101eee0fbde + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Fri Aug 26 01:20:50 2005 -0700 + + Create a standard "hello, world" program By default, this command prints a brief paragraph of output for each change to the project that was recorded. In git terminology, we -call each of these recorded events a changeset, because it can contain -a record of changes to several files. - -The fields in a record of output from “hg log” are as follows. - - * changeset This field has the format of a number, followed by a - colon, followed by a hexadecimal string. These are identifiers for - the changeset. There are two identifiers because the number is - shorter and easier to type than the hex string. - * user The identity of the person who created the changeset. This is - a free-form field, but it most often contains a person’s name and - email address. - * date The date and time on which the changeset was created, and the - timezone in which it was created. (The date and time are local to - that timezone; they display what time and date it was for the - person who created the changeset.) - * summary The first line of the text message that the creator of the - changeset entered to describe the changeset. - -The default output printed by “hg log” is purely a summary; it is +call each of these recorded events a commit. + +The fields in a record of output from “git log” are as follows. + + * commit This field consists of a string of 40 hexadecimal characters. + This is a unique identifier for referring to particular commits. + * Author The identity of the person who authored the commit. This + field consist of two sub-fields for the user's name and email + address, (or at least an email-like idenitifer). Note that git + stores a separate "Committer" field for the person who commited + the change, (since often an author will email a change to a + maintainer that commits it). The "git log" command doesn't display + the Committer, but other git tools do. + * Date The date and time on which the commit was authored, (again + stored separately from the date the change was committed). + timezone in which it was created. (The date and time are displayed + in the timezone of the person who created the commit.) + * commit message The text message that the creator of the commit + entered to describe the commit, (generally a one-line summary + followed by more supporting text). + +The default output printed by “git log” is purely a summary; it is missing a lot of detail. Figure [2.1][8] provides a graphical representation of the history of @@ -298,189 +293,249 @@ Graphical history of the hello repository * * * -#### 2.4.1 Changesets, revisions, and talking to other people +#### 2.4.1 Commits, revisions, and talking to other people As English is a notoriously sloppy language, and computer science has a hallowed history of terminological confusion (why use one term when four will do?), revision control has a variety of words and phrases -that mean the same thing. If you are talking about Mercurial history -with other people, you will find that the word “changeset” is often -compressed to “change” or (when written) “cset”, and sometimes a -changeset is referred to as a “revision” or a “rev”. - -While it doesn’t matter what word you use to refer to the concept of -“a changeset”, the identifier that you use to refer to “a specific -changeset” is of great importance. Recall that the changeset field in -the output from “hg log” identifies a changeset using both a number -and a hexadecimal string. - - * The revision number is only valid in that repository, - * while the hex string is the permanent, unchanging identifier that - will always identify that exact changeset in every copy of the - repository. - -This distinction is important. If you send someone an email talking -about “revision 33”, there’s a high likelihood that their revision 33 -will not be the same as yours. The reason for this is that a revision -number depends on the order in which changes arrived in a repository, -and there is no guarantee that the same changes will happen in the -same order in different repositories. Three changes a,b,c can easily -appear in one repository as 0,1,2, while in another as 1,0,2. - -Mercurial uses revision numbers purely as a convenient shorthand. If -you need to discuss a changeset with someone, or make a record of a -changeset for some other reason (for example, in a bug report), use -the hexadecimal identifier. - -#### 2.4.2 Viewing specific revisions - -To narrow the output of “hg log” down to a single revision, use the -r -(or --rev) option. You can use either a revision number or a long-form -changeset identifier, and you can provide as many revisions as you -want. - - $ hg log -r 3 - changeset: 3:ff5d7b70a2a9 - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - summary: Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. +that mean the same thing. If you are talking about git history +with other people, you will find that what we have called a “commit” +is often called a "revision". In other systems, a similar notion +is referred to as a "changeset". You might even see abbreviations of +these terms such as "rev", "change", or even "cset". + +While it may not matter much what word you use to refer to the concept +of “a commit”, it's important to know how to name “a specific +commit”. We have already seen one means of referring to a particular +commit, the 40-character hexadecimal string shown by "git log". These +commit identifiers are powerful because they are permanent, unique +identifiers that always identify the same commit in any copy of a +repository. If two users are examining a working directory associated +with the same commit identifier, then those two users have precisely +the same contents in all files, and exactly the same history leading +to that commit. + +So there are places where it is often important to archive the +complete commit identifier, (perhaps in bug-tracking systems to +indicate a specific commit that fixes a bug, for example). But often, +in more casual settings, it's more convenient to use abbreviated +commit identifiers. Git accept any unique prefix of a commit +identifier, (and for reasonably-sized project the first 8 or 10 +characters are almost always unique). + +And unlike the permanent commit identifiers, git also provides +transient means of identifying commits. In fact, in day-to-day use of +git, you will probably use these names more than commit +identifiers. One example is branch names, (such as the default +"master" branch in any git repository), or any project-specific branch +names such as "stable", "experimental", or "crazy-insane-changes". Git +also provides a special name "HEAD" which always refers to the current +branch. + +#### 2.4.2 Naming related commits + +Git offers simple ways to name revisions that are related to +particular revisions in the history. One syntax is the ~ suffix which +refers to the parent of a commit, or if followed by a number, to the +Nth parent. For example, since "HEAD" refers to the most recent commit +in the current branch, "HEAD~", refers to the previous commit, and +"HEAD~2" refers to two commits back in the history. + +Another useful syntax is .. which can be used to specify a range of +commits. So "origin..master" specifies everything that has been +committed to master since it derived from origin. + +#### 2.4.3 Viewing specific revisions + +You can use "git log" to explore the range syntax just introduced. For +example, to see a list of the most recent 3 revisions you can use +"HEAD~3..", (the destination of the range is implicitly HEAD in this +case): + + $ git log HEAD~3.. + commit a1a0e8b392b17caf50325498df54802fe3c03710 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - $ hg log -r ff5d7b70a2a9 - changeset: 3:ff5d7b70a2a9 - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - summary: Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + Trim comments. - $ hg log -r 1 -r 4 - changeset: 1:82e55d328c8c - user: mpm@selenic.com - date: Fri Aug 26 01:21:28 2005 -0700 - summary: Create a makefile + commit 72d4f10e4a27dbb09ace1503c20dbac1912ee451 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - changeset: 4:b57f9a090b62 - tag: tip - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - summary: Trim comments. + Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + + commit 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:43 2005 -0700 + Introduce a typo into hello.c. -If you want to see the history of several revisions without having to -list each one, you can use range notation; this lets you express the -idea “I want all revisions between a and b, inclusive”. +#### 2.4.4 Other log filters - $ hg log -r 2:4 - changeset: 2:057d3c2d823c - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:43 2005 -0700 - summary: Introduce a typo into hello.c. +Besides filtering by commit identifiers, git allows you to easily +filter the log output according to which files (or directories) are +modified by listing them after "--" wihch is necessary to distinguish +commit names from file names: + + $ git log -- Makefile + commit 72d4f10e4a27dbb09ace1503c20dbac1912ee451 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - changeset: 3:ff5d7b70a2a9 - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - summary: Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. - changeset: 4:b57f9a090b62 - tag: tip - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - summary: Trim comments. + commit 0a633bf58b45fcf1a8299d3c82cd1fd26d3f48f2 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Fri Aug 26 01:21:28 2005 -0700 + Create a makefile -Mercurial also honours the order in which you specify revisions, so -“hg log -r 2:4” prints 2,3,4 while “hg log -r 4:2” prints 4,3,2. +And "git log" can also filter based on the dates at which commits were +created: + + $ git log --since="2 weeks ago" --until="yesterday" + +Another useful option is -n or --max-count which, unsurprisingly, +limits the maximum number of commits to be displayed. #### 2.4.3 More detailed information -While the summary information printed by “hg log” is useful if you -already know what you’re looking for, you may need to see a complete -description of the change, or a list of the files changed, if you’re -trying to decide whether a changeset is the one you’re looking -for. The “hg log” command’s -v (or --verbose) option gives you this -extra detail. +While the default information printed by “git log” is useful if you +already know what you’re looking for, you may need to see more details +of the change, such as the "diffstat" information with --stat: - $ hg log -v -r 3 - changeset: 3:ff5d7b70a2a9 - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:58 2005 -0700 - files: Makefile - description: - Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + $ git log --stat --max-count=3 + commit a1a0e8b392b17caf50325498df54802fe3c03710 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 15:43:07 2005 -0700 + Trim comments. - -If you want to see both the description and content of a change, add -the -p (or --patch) option. This displays the content of a change as a -unified diff (if you’ve never seen a unified diff before, see -section [12.4][10] for an overview). - - $ hg log -v -p -r 2 - changeset: 2:057d3c2d823c - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Tue Sep 06 13:15:43 2005 -0700 - files: hello.c - description: - Introduce a typo into hello.c. + hello.c | 8 ++------ + 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) + + commit 72d4f10e4a27dbb09ace1503c20dbac1912ee451 + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:58 2005 -0700 + + Get make to generate the final binary from a .o file. + + Makefile | 2 ++ + 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) + + commit 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:43 2005 -0700 + + Introduce a typo into hello.c. + + hello.c | 2 +- + 1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-) + +Or perhaps you'd like to see the actual patch content of each change, +which you can get with -p. That commit with the word typo in its name +looks suspicous, so let's tak a closer look. Remember that we can name +it as master~3, HEAD~3, or any prefix of its commit identifier, (such +as 13ed136b): + + $ git log -p -n 1 13ed136b + commit 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:43 2005 -0700 + Introduce a typo into hello.c. - diff -r 82e55d328c8c -r 057d3c2d823c hello.c - --- a/hello.c Fri Aug 26 01:21:28 2005 -0700 - +++ b/hello.c Tue Sep 06 13:15:43 2005 -0700 - @@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ + diff --git a/hello.c b/hello.c + index ed55ec0..80b260c 100644 + --- a/hello.c + +++ b/hello.c + @@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ + + int main(int argc, char **argv) + { + - printf("hello, world!\n"); + + printf("hello, world!\"); + return 0; + } + +Of course, wanting to see all this information for a single commit is +such a common operation that it's given its own name in git, "git +show". So "git show 13ed136b" is a much easier way to get exactly the +same output: + + $ git show 13ed136b + commit 13ed136b983a9c439eddeea8a1c2076cffbb685f + Author: Bryan O'Sullivan + Date: Tue Sep 6 13:15:43 2005 -0700 - int main(int argc, char ⋆⋆argv) - { - - printf("hello, world!∖n"); - + printf("hello, world!∖"); - return 0; - } + Introduce a typo into hello.c. + diff --git a/hello.c b/hello.c + index ed55ec0..80b260c 100644 + --- a/hello.c + +++ b/hello.c + @@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ + + int main(int argc, char **argv) + { + - printf("hello, world!\n"); + + printf("hello, world!\"); + return 0; + } ### 2.5 All about command options -Let’s take a brief break from exploring Mercurial commands to discuss +Let’s take a brief break from exploring git commands to discuss a pattern in the way that they work; you may find this useful to keep in mind as we continue our tour. -Mercurial has a consistent and straightforward approach to dealing +Git has a consistent and straightforward approach to dealing with the options that you can pass to commands. It follows the conventions for options that are common to modern Linux and Unix systems. - * Every option has a long name. For example, as we’ve already seen, - the “hg log” command accepts a --rev option. - * Most options have short names, too. Instead of --rev, we can use - -r. (The reason that some options don’t have short names is that - the options in question are rarely used.) - * Long options start with two dashes (e.g. --rev), while short - options start with one (e.g. -r). - * Option naming and usage is consistent across commands. For - example, every command that lets you specify a changeset ID or - revision number accepts both -r and --rev arguments. + * Most options have long names. For example, as we’ve already seen, + the “git log" command accepts a --max-count= option. + * Some options have short, single-character names. Often these are + aliases for long commands, (such as "-n " instead of + --max-count=), but sometimes the option exists in + short-form with no long-form equivalent, (such as -p). [XXX: It + wouldn't hurt to fix this by adding --patch, etc. right?] + * Long options start with two dashes (e.g. --max-count), while short + options start with one (e.g. -n). -In the examples throughout this book, I use short options instead of -long. This just reflects my own preference, so don’t read anything -significant into it. + * Option naming and usage is consistent across commands. For + example, every command that lets you specify a commit identifier + or range will accept the same expressions, (HEAD~3, + origin..master, 72d4f10e, etc), while any command that can be + limited by paths will accept the same expressions ("-- doc/ + some-file.c"), etc. -Most commands that print output of some kind will print more output -when passed a -v (or --verbose) option, and less when passed -q (or ---quiet). +Many commands that print output of some kind can be made more quiet by +passing the -q or --quiet options. ### 2.6 Making and reviewing changes -Now that we have a grasp of viewing history in Mercurial, let’s take a +Now that we have a grasp of viewing history in git, let’s take a look at making some changes and examining them. The first thing we’ll do is isolate our experiment in a repository of -its own. We use the “hg clone” command, but we don’t need to clone a +its own. We use the “git clone” command, but we don’t need to clone a copy of the remote repository. Since we already have a copy of it locally, we can just clone that instead. This is much faster than cloning over the network, and cloning a local repository uses less disk space in most cases, too. - $ cd .. - $ hg clone hello my-hello - 2 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved - $ cd my-hello + $ cd .. + $ git clone hello my-hello + Initialized empty Git repository in /home/cworth/src/hgbook-git/my-hello/.git/ + 0 blocks + + [XXX We say "empty" here, (presumably from the git-init part), + but shouldn't the command also report the succesful clone + which makes it non-empty? And what the heck does "0 blocks" + mean?] As an aside, it’s often good practice to keep a “pristine” copy of a remote repository around, which you can then make temporary clones of @@ -490,6 +545,17 @@ until it’s complete and you’re ready to integrate it back. Because local clones are so cheap, there’s almost no overhead to cloning and destroying repositories whenever you want. +Alternatively, you can achieve much the same effect by creating +multiple branches in a single repository, (but we won't go into detail +on how to do that in this chapter). Some people greatly appreciate +having multiple branches in a single repository rather than having +many repositories cluttering up their filesystem. Other people prefer +the ability to have working-tree changes, and intermediate build +files, etc. each isolated in a separate repository per branch. Both +modes are very well-supported by git, so it's really a matter of which +you find most appropriate at any time given your tastes and project +workflows. + In our my-hello repository, we have a file hello.c that contains the classic “hello, world” program. Let’s use the ancient and venerable sed command to edit this file so that it prints a second line of @@ -498,155 +564,219 @@ scripted example this way. Since you’re not under the same constraint, you probably won’t want to use sed; simply use your preferred text editor to do the same thing.) - $ sed -i '/printf/a∖∖tprintf("hello again!∖∖n");' hello.c - -Mercurial’s “hg status” command will tell us what Mercurial knows -about the files in the repository. + $ sed -i '/printf/a\\tprintf("hello again!\\n");' hello.c - $ ls - Makefile hello.c - $ hg status - M hello.c +The “git status” command will tell us what git knows about the files +in the repository. -The “hg status” command prints no output for some files, but a line -starting with “M” for hello.c. Unless you tell it to, “hg status” will -not print any output for files that have not been modified. - -The “M” indicates that Mercurial has noticed that we modified -hello.c. We didn’t need to inform Mercurial that we were going to -modify the file before we started, or that we had modified the file -after we were done; it was able to figure this out itself. + $ ls + hello.c Makefile + $ git status + # On branch master + # Changed but not updated: + # (use "git add ..." to update what will be committed) + # + # modified: hello.c + # + no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a") + +We see that “git status” command prints a line with "modified" for +hello.c. The “git status” command will not print any output for files +that have not been modified. + +Notice that we didn’t need to inform git that we were going to modify +the file before we started, or that we had modified the file after we +were done; it was able to figure this out itself. It’s a little bit helpful to know that we’ve modified hello.c, but we might prefer to know exactly what changes we’ve made to it. To do -this, we use the “hg diff” command. - - $ hg diff - diff -r b57f9a090b62 hello.c - --- a/hello.c Tue Sep 06 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - +++ b/hello.c Sun Jun 17 18:05:50 2007 +0000 - @@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ⋆⋆argv) - int main(int argc, char ⋆⋆argv) - { - printf("hello, world!∖"); - + printf("hello again!∖n"); - return 0; - } - -### 2.7 Recording changes in a new changeset - -We can modify files, build and test our changes, and use “hg status” -and “hg diff” to review our changes, until we’re satisfied with what +this, we use the “git diff” command. + + $ git diff + diff --git a/hello.c b/hello.c + index 9a3ff79..6d28887 100644 + --- a/hello.c + +++ b/hello.c + @@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ + int main(int argc, char **argv) + { + printf("hello, world!\"); + + printf("hello again!\n"); + return 0; + } + +### 2.7 Recording changes in a new commit + +We can modify files, build and test our changes, and use “git status” +and “git diff” to review our changes, until we’re satisfied with what we’ve done and arrive at a natural stopping point where we want to -record our work in a new changeset. +record our work in a new commit. -The “hg commit” command lets us create a new changeset; we’ll usually +The “git commit” command lets us create a new changeset; we’ll usually refer to this as “making a commit” or “committing”. #### 2.7.1 Setting up a username -When you try to run “hg commit” for the first time, it is not -guaranteed to succeed. Mercurial records your name and address with -each change that you commit, so that you and others will later be able -to tell who made each change. Mercurial tries to automatically figure -out a sensible username to commit the change with. It will attempt -each of the following methods, in order: - - 1. If you specify a -u option to the “hg commit” command on the - command line, followed by a username, this is always given the - highest precedence. - 2. If you have set the HGUSER environment variable, this is checked next. - 3. If you create a file in your home directory called .hgrc, with a - username entry, that will be used next. To see what the contents - of this file should look like, refer to section [2.7.1][11] - below. - 4. If you have set the EMAIL environment variable, this will be used - next. - 5. Mercurial will query your system to find out your local user name - and host name, and construct a username from these - components. Since this often results in a username that is not - very useful, it will print a warning if it has to do this. - -If all of these mechanisms fail, Mercurial will fail, printing an -error message. In this case, it will not let you commit until you set -up a username. - -You should think of the HGUSER environment variable and the -u option -to the “hg commit” command as ways to override Mercurial’s default -selection of username. For normal use, the simplest and most robust -way to set a username for yourself is by creating a .hgrc file; see -below for details. - -##### Creating a Mercurial configuration file - -To set a user name, use your favourite editor to create a file called -.hgrc in your home directory. Mercurial will use this file to look up -your personalised configuration settings. The initial contents of your -.hgrc should look like this. - - # This is a Mercurial configuration file. - [ui] - username = Firstname Lastname - -The “[ui]” line begins a section of the config file, so you can read -the “username = ...” line as meaning “set the value of the username -item in the ui section”. A section continues until a new section -begins, or the end of the file. Mercurial ignores empty lines and -treats any text from “#” to the end of a line as a comment. +When you try to run “git commit” for the first time, it might not do +exactly what you want. Git records your name and address with each +change that you commit, (as both author and committer unless you tell +it otherwise), so that you and others will later be able to tell who +made each change. Git tries to automatically figure out a sensible +name and address to attribute to both author and committer. It will +attempt each of the following methods, in order, (stopping for each field as soon as a value is found): + + 1. If you specify a --author option to the “git commit” command on + the command line, followed by a "Real Name " + string, then this name and addresss will be used for the author + fields. The committer fields will still be determined as + below. This option is very helpful for when applying a commit + originally authored by someone other than yourself. + 2. If any of the GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL, + GIT_COMMITTER_NAME, or GIT_COMMITER_EMAIL environment variables + are set, then those values will be used for the corresponding + fields. + 3. If you have a file in your home directory called .gitconfig, with + name or email settings in the [user] section, then these values + will be used to set any remaining author and committer + fields. For more details on the contents of this file, refer to + section 2.7.1 below. + 4. If you have a file in the local repository called .git/config, + again with name or email settings in the [user] section, then + these values will be used to set any remaining author and + committer fields. + 5. If you have set the EMAIL environment variable, this will be used + to set author and committer email addresses if still unset. + 6. git will query your system to find out your real name from + available GECOS field and your username, hostname, and domain to + construct an email address, (or at least an identifier resembling + an email address). + +If all of these mechanisms fail, "git commit" will fail, printing an +error message instructing you how to use "git config" to tell git your +name and email address. + +You should think of the GIT_AUTHOR/COMMITER_NAME/EMAIL environment +variables and the --author option to the “git commit” command as ways +to override git’s default selection. For normal use, the simplest and +most robust way to set your information is by creating a .gitconfig +file, (either manually or with the "git config" command); see below +for details. + +##### Creating a git configuration file + +To set your name and email address, just use the following commands: + + git config --global user.name "Your Name" + git config --global user.email "you@example.com" + +The --global option means that this command will set global +information, (affecting all repositories on this machine), in the +.gitconfig file in your home directory. Alternately, you could omit +the --global which would make the change take effect only in the local +repository. This is convenient if you want to have different email +addresses associated with different projects, for example. + +Of course, git's configuration file is a simple-to-edit plain-text +file, so instead of using the above commands, you can also just edit +the files directly. Use your favorite editor to create a file called +.gitconfig in your home directory, (or if you ran the above commands +then it will be there already). The initial contents of your +.gitconfig should look like this. + + # This is a git configuration file. + [user] + name = Your Name + email = you@example.com + +Similarly, you can make a repository-specific configuration by editing +.git/config in the local repository. It will already have some +sections present, (created by the "git clone"), just add a [user] +section as above. + +The “[user]” line begins a section of the config file, so you can read +the “name = ...” line as meaning “set the value of the name item in +the user section”. This is the same notion expressed with the +"user.name" syntax on the git-config command line. A section +continues until a new section begins, or the end of the file. Git +ignores empty lines and treats any text from “#” to the end of a line +as a comment. ##### Choosing a user name -You can use any text you like as the value of the username config -item, since this information is for reading by other people, but for -interpreting by Mercurial. The convention that most people follow is -to use their name and email address, as in the example above. - -Note: Mercurial’s built-in web server obfuscates email addresses, to -make it more difficult for the email harvesting tools that spammers -use. This reduces the likelihood that you’ll start receiving more junk -email if you publish a Mercurial repository on the web. +You can use any text you like as the value of the name and email +configuration items, since this information is for reading by other +people, not for interpreting by git. It is conventional to use a valid +email address, but some, (notably Linus Torvalds, the original author +of git), actually like the default user@hostname convention that git +falls back on without any additional information. There's no +requirement that the email address actually be valid, and perhaps it's +useful to be reminded which machine was used to create particular +commits. #### 2.7.2 Writing a commit message -When we commit a change, Mercurial drops us into a text editor, to +When we commit a change, git drops us into a text editor to enter a message that will describe the modifications we’ve made in -this changeset. This is called the commit message. It will be a record -for readers of what we did and why, and it will be printed by “hg log” +this commit. This is called the commit message. It will be a record +for readers of what we did and why, and it will be printed by “git log” after we’ve finished committing. - $ hg commit - -The editor that the “hg commit” command drops us into will contain an -empty line, followed by a number of lines starting with “HG:”. - - empty line - HG: changed hello.c - -Mercurial ignores the lines that start with “HG:”; it uses them only + $ git commit -a + +Note: The -a on the command-line instructs git to commit all changes +to tracked files. Without this, "git commit" will only commit changes +that have been previously staged for committing with "git add +file". The most common usage is to commit with "git commit -a" and +only use "git add file; git commit" when there is a need to commit +only some subset of changes that have been made. + +The editor that the “git commit” command drops us into will contain an +empty line, followed by a number of lines starting with “#”. + + empty line + # Please enter the commit message for your changes. + # (Comment lines starting with '#' will not be included) + # On branch master + # Changes to be committed: + # (use "git reset HEAD ..." to unstage) + # + # modified: hello.c + # + +git ignores the lines that start with “#”; it uses them only to tell us which files it’s recording changes to. Modifying or deleting these lines has no effect. #### 2.7.3 Writing a good commit message -Since “hg log” only prints the first line of a commit message by -default, it’s best to write a commit message whose first line stands -alone. Here’s a real example of a commit message that doesn’t follow +A good commit message will generally have a single line that +summarizes the commit, a blank line, and then one or more pargraphs +with supporting detail. Since many tools only print the first line of +a commit message by default, it’s important that the first line stands +alone. + +One example of a first-line-only viewer is "git log +--pretty=short". Other examples include graphical history viewers such +as gitk and gitview, and web-based viewers such as gitweb and cgit. + +Here’s a real example of a commit message that doesn’t follow this guideline, and hence has a summary that is not readable. - changeset: 73:584af0e231be - user: Censored Person - date: Tue Sep 26 21:37:07 2006 -0700 - summary: include buildmeister/commondefs. Add an exports and install + $ git log --pretty=short + commit 3ef5535144da88a854f7930503845cd44506c2e2 + Author: Censored Person + + include buildmeister/commondefs. Add an exports and install As far as the remainder of the contents of the commit message are -concerned, there are no hard-and-fast rules. Mercurial itself doesn’t +concerned, there are no hard-and-fast rules. git itself doesn’t interpret or care about the contents of the commit message, though your project may have policies that dictate a certain kind of formatting. My personal preference is for short, but informative, commit messages that tell me something that I can’t figure out with a quick glance at -the output of “hg log --patch”. +the output of “git log -p". #### 2.7.4 Aborting a commit @@ -655,41 +785,129 @@ editing a commit message, simply exit from your editor without saving the file that it’s editing. This will cause nothing to happen to either the repository or the working directory. -If we run the “hg commit” command without any arguments, it records -all of the changes we’ve made, as reported by “hg status” and “hg -diff”. - #### 2.7.5 Admiring our new handiwork -Once we’ve finished the commit, we can use the “hg tip” command to -display the changeset we just created. This command produces output -that is identical to “hg log”, but it only displays the newest -revision in the repository. +Once we’ve finished the commit, we can use the “git show” command to +display the commit we just created. As discussed previously, this +command produces output that is identical to “git log -p”, but for +only a single revision, (and the most recent revision by default): - $ hg tip -vp - changeset: 5:fa1321bf0c80 - tag: tip - user: Bryan O'Sullivan - date: Sun Jun 17 18:05:50 2007 +0000 - files: hello.c - description: - Added an extra line of output + $ git show + commit 018cfb742be6176443ffddac454e593e802ddf3e + Author: Carl Worth + Date: Thu Sep 27 23:55:00 2007 -0700 + Added an extra line of output. + + If I would have been clever I would have fixed that old typo + while I was at it... - diff -r b57f9a090b62 -r fa1321bf0c80 hello.c - --- a/hello.c Tue Sep 06 15:43:07 2005 -0700 - +++ b/hello.c Sun Jun 17 18:05:50 2007 +0000 - @@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ⋆⋆argv) - int main(int argc, char ⋆⋆argv) - { - printf("hello, world!∖"); - + printf("hello again!∖n"); - return 0; - } + diff --git a/hello.c b/hello.c + index 9a3ff79..6d28887 100644 + --- a/hello.c + +++ b/hello.c + @@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ + int main(int argc, char **argv) + { + printf("hello, world!\"); + + printf("hello again!\n"); + return 0; + } + +Note that you will not see the same commit identifier for your commit, +even if the change you made is identical to mine. The commit +identifier incorporates not only the contents of the files, but commit +message, the author and committer names and emails, and the author and +commit dates. (OK, so now you probably know enough to be able to guess +the right command to produce a commit with exactly the commit +identifier shown above. Can you do it?) + +#### 2.7.6 Fixing up a broken commit (before anyone else sees it) + +So now that we've cloned a local repository, made a change to the +code, setup our name and email address, and made a commit with a +careful message, we're just about ready to share our change with the +world. But wait, we forgot to try to compile it didn't we? + + $ make + cc -c -o hello.o hello.c + hello.c:10:9: warning: missing terminating " character + hello.c:10:9: warning: missing terminating " character + hello.c: In function ‘main’: + hello.c:10: error: missing terminating " character + hello.c:11: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘;’ token + hello.c:13: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘printf’ makes pointer from integer without a cast + hello.c:13: error: expected ‘;’ before ‘}’ token + make: *** [hello.o] Error 1 + +Oh look. The code's broken and doesn't compile. We don't want to share +code in this state. For situations where you notice one tiny detail +that got left out of the last commit, (a silly syntax error, a +misspelling in a comment or commit messsage), git provides a very +handy tool for just changing the last commit. + +So fix that typo, (a missing 'n' between the '\' and the '"'), with +your editor or with something like this: + + sed -i 's/\\"/\\n"/' hello.c + +And then you can just amend the previous commit rather than creating a +new one with the --amend option to "git commit": + + $ git commit -a --amend + +Note that we use -a to include the code change here. And that helps +point out a situation where "git commit" is useful without the -a +option, "git commit --amend" is a useful command for amend just the +last commit message, without committing any new code changes, even if +some files have been modified in the working tree. + +And here's the final result: + + $ git show + commit 839b58d021c618bd0e1d336d4d5878a0082672e6 + Author: Carl Worth + Date: Thu Sep 27 23:55:00 2007 -0700 - -We refer to the newest revision in the repository as the tip revision, -or simply the tip. + Added an extra line of output and fixed the typo bug. + + diff --git a/hello.c b/hello.c + index 9a3ff79..ca750e0 100644 + --- a/hello.c + +++ b/hello.c + @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ + + int main(int argc, char **argv) + { + - printf("hello, world!\"); + + printf("hello, world!\n"); + + printf("hello again!\n"); + return 0; + } + +I can't help but point out that this really was a poor example for +--amend. The end result is a single commit that does two independent +things, (fixes one bug and adds one new feature). It's much better to +create a code history where each commit makes an independent change, +(and as small as possible). This is important for several reasons: + + * Small changes are easier to review + + * Independent changes are easier to split up if only part of the + series gets accepted "upstream" for one reason or another. + + * The smaller the changes are the more useful the history will be + when actually using the history, not just viewing it. This is + particularly important when doing "git bisect"---that's a powerful + tool for isolating the single commit that introduces a bug. And + it's much more powerful if the commit it isolates is as small as + possible. + +So it's a good thing this document is available under a license that +allows for distribution of modified versions. Someone should clean up +the --amend example to not teach bad habits like I did above. [Note: +All this bad-habit stuff was introduced by me, and was not present in +Bryan's original chapter. -Carl] ### 2.8 Sharing changes