You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
53 lines
1.8 KiB
53 lines
1.8 KiB
19 years ago
|
git-symbolic-ref(1)
|
||
|
|
===================
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
NAME
|
||
|
|
----
|
||
|
|
git-symbolic-ref - read and modify symbolic refs
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
SYNOPSIS
|
||
|
|
--------
|
||
|
|
'git-symbolic-ref' <name> [<ref>]
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
DESCRIPTION
|
||
|
|
-----------
|
||
|
|
Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic
|
||
|
|
ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/`
|
||
|
|
directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name>
|
||
|
|
argument to see on which branch your working tree is on.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Give two arguments, create or update a symbolic ref <name> to
|
||
|
|
point at the given branch <ref>.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Traditionally, `.git/HEAD` is a symlink pointing at
|
||
|
|
`refs/heads/master`. When we want to switch to another branch,
|
||
|
|
we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we want
|
||
|
|
to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`.
|
||
|
|
This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by
|
||
|
|
default, but on platforms that does not have working symlinks,
|
||
|
|
or that does not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit
|
||
|
|
cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as
|
||
|
|
advertised (horrors).
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
A symbolic ref can be a regular file that stores a string that
|
||
|
|
begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` *can*
|
||
|
|
be a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`.
|
||
|
|
This can be used on a filesystem that does not support symbolic
|
||
|
|
links. Instead of doing `readlink .git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref
|
||
|
|
HEAD` can be used to find out which branch we are on. To point
|
||
|
|
the HEAD to `newbranch`, instead of `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch
|
||
|
|
.git/HEAD`, `git-symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/newbranch` can be
|
||
|
|
used.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Currently, .git/HEAD uses a regular file symbolic ref on Cygwin,
|
||
|
|
and everywhere else it is implemented as a symlink. This can be
|
||
|
|
changed at compilation time.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
Author
|
||
|
|
------
|
||
|
|
Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
GIT
|
||
|
|
---
|
||
|
|
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
|