GIT-BUNDLE(1) Git Manual GIT-BUNDLE(1)NAMEgit-bundle - Move objects and refs by archive
SYNOPSISgit-bundle create <file> [git-rev-list args]
git-bundle verify <file>
git-bundle list-heads <file> [refname...]
git-bundle unbundle <file> [refname...]
DESCRIPTION
Some workflows require that one or more branches of development on one
machine be replicated on another machine, but the two machines cannot
be directly connected so the interactive git protocols (git, ssh,
rsync, http) cannot be used. This command provides support for
git-fetch and git-pull to operate by packaging objects and references
in an archive at the originating machine, then importing those into
another repository using git-fetch(1) and git-pull(1) after moving the
archive by some means (i.e., by sneakernet). As no direct connection
between repositories exists, the user must specify a basis for the
bundle that is held by the destination repository: the bundle assumes
that all objects in the basis are already in the destination
repository.
OPTIONS
create <file>
Used to create a bundle named file. This requires the
git-rev-list arguments to define the bundle contents.
verify <file>
Used to check that a bundle file is valid and will apply cleanly
to the current repository. This includes checks on the bundle
format itself as well as checking that the prerequisite commits
exist and are fully linked in the current repository. git-bundle
prints a list of missing commits, if any, and exits with
non-zero status.
list-heads <file>
Lists the references defined in the bundle. If followed by a
list of references, only references matching those given are
printed out.
unbundle <file>
Passes the objects in the bundle to git-index-pack(1) for
storage in the repository, then prints the names of all defined
references. If a reflist is given, only references matching
those in the given list are printed. This command is really
plumbing, intended to be called only by git-fetch(1).
[git-rev-list-args...]
A list of arguments, acceptable to git-rev-parse and
git-rev-list, that specify the specific objects and references
to transport. For example, "master~10..master" causes the
current master reference to be packaged along with all objects
added since its 10th ancestor commit. There is no explicit limit
to the number of references and objects that may be packaged.
[refname...]
A list of references used to limit the references reported as
available. This is principally of use to git-fetch, which
expects to receive only those references asked for and not
necessarily everything in the pack (in this case, git-bundle is
acting like git-fetch-pack(1)).
SPECIFYING REFERENCESgit-bundle will only package references that are shown by git-show-ref:
this includes heads, tags, and remote heads. References such as master1
cannot be packaged, but are perfectly suitable for defining the basis.
More than one reference may be packaged, and more than one basis can be
specified. The objects packaged are those not contained in the union of
the given bases. Each basis can be specified explicitly (e.g.,
^master10), or implicitly (e.g., master~10..master, master
--since=10.days.ago).
It is very important that the basis used be held by the destination. It
is okay to err on the side of conservatism, causing the bundle file to
contain objects already in the destination as these are ignored when
unpacking at the destination.
EXAMPLE
Assume two repositories exist as R1 on machine A, and R2 on machine B.
For whatever reason, direct connection between A and B is not allowed,
but we can move data from A to B via some mechanism (CD, email, etc).
We want to update R2 with developments made on branch master in R1.
To create the bundle you have to specify the basis. You have some
options:
· Without basis.
This is useful when sending the whole history.
$ git bundle create mybundle master
· Using temporally tags.
We set a tag in R1 (lastR2bundle) after the previous such transport,
and move it afterwards to help build the bundle.
$ git-bundle create mybundle master ^lastR2bundle
$ git tag -f lastR2bundle master
· Using a tag present in both repositories
$ git bundle create mybundle master ^v1.0.0
· A basis based on time.
$ git bundle create mybundle master --since=10.days.ago
· With a limit on the number of commits
$ git bundle create mybundle master -n 10
Then you move mybundle from A to B, and in R2 on B:
$ git-bundle verify mybundle
$ git-fetch mybundle master:localRef
With something like this in the config in R2:
[remote "bundle"]
url = /home/me/tmp/file.bdl
fetch = refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
You can first sneakernet the bundle file to ~/tmp/file.bdl and then
these commands on machine B:
$ git ls-remote bundle
$ git fetch bundle
$ git pull bundle
would treat it as if it is talking with a remote side over the
network.
AUTHOR
Written by Mark Levedahl <mdl123@verizon.net>
GIT
Part of the git(7) suite
Git 1.5.5.2 10/21/2008 GIT-BUNDLE(1)
