* rr/remote-helper-doc:
Documentation/remote-helpers: Fix typos and improve language
Fixup: Second argument may be any arbitrary string
Documentation/remote-helpers: Add invocation section
Documentation/urls: Rewrite to accomodate <transport>::<address>
Documentation/remote-helpers: Rewrite description
git-remote-helpers - Helper programs for interoperation with remote git
git-remote-helpers - Helper programs to interact with remote repositories
SYNOPSIS
--------
'git remote-<transport>' <remote>
'git remote-<transport>' <repository> [<URL>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
These programs are normally not used directly by end users, but are
invoked by various git programs that interact with remote repositories
when the repository they would operate on will be accessed using
transport code not linked into the main git binary. Various particular
helper programs will behave as documented here.
Remote helper programs are normally not used directly by end users,
but they are invoked by git when it needs to interact with remote
repositories git does not support natively. A given helper will
implement a subset of the capabilities documented here. When git
needs to interact with a repository using a remote helper, it spawns
the helper as an independent process, sends commands to the helper's
standard input, and expects results from the helper's standard
output. Because a remote helper runs as an independent process from
git, there is no need to re-link git to add a new helper, nor any
need to link the helper with the implementation of git.
Every helper must support the "capabilities" command, which git will
use to determine what other commands the helper will accept. Other
commands generally concern facilities like discovering and updating
remote refs, transporting objects between the object database and
the remote repository, and updating the local object store.
Helpers supporting the 'fetch' capability can discover refs from the
remote repository and transfer objects reachable from those refs to
the local object store. Helpers supporting the 'push' capability can
transfer local objects to the remote repository and update remote refs.
Git comes with a "curl" family of remote helpers, that handle various
transport protocols, such as 'git-remote-http', 'git-remote-https',
'git-remote-ftp' and 'git-remote-ftps'. They implement the capabilities
'fetch', 'option', and 'push'.
INVOCATION
----------
Remote helper programs are invoked with one or (optionally) two
arguments. The first argument specifies a remote repository as in git;
it is either the name of a configured remote or a URL. The second
argument specifies a URL; it is usually of the form
'<transport>://<address>', but any arbitrary string is possible.
When git encounters a URL of the form '<transport>://<address>', where
'<transport>' is a protocol that it cannot handle natively, it
automatically invokes 'git remote-<transport>' with the full URL as
the second argument. If such a URL is encountered directly on the
command line, the first argument is the same as the second, and if it
is encountered in a configured remote, the first argument is the name
of that remote.
A URL of the form '<transport>::<address>' explicitly instructs git to
invoke 'git remote-<transport>' with '<address>' as the second
argument. If such a URL is encountered directly on the command line,
the first argument is '<address>', and if it is encountered in a
configured remote, the first argument is the name of that remote.
Additionally, when a configured remote has 'remote.<name>.vcs' set to
'<transport>', git explicitly invokes 'git remote-<transport>' with
'<name>' as the first argument. If set, the second argument is
'remote.<name>.url'; otherwise, the second argument is omitted.
COMMANDS
--------
@ -25,8 +74,8 @@ Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one per line.
@@ -25,8 +74,8 @@ Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one per line.
'capabilities'::
Lists the capabilities of the helper, one per line, ending
with a blank line. Each capability may be preceded with '*'.
This marks them mandatory for git version using the remote
with a blank line. Each capability may be preceded with '*',
which marks them mandatory for git version using the remote
helper to understand (unknown mandatory capability is fatal
error).
@ -35,27 +84,27 @@ Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one per line.
@@ -35,27 +84,27 @@ Commands are given by the caller on the helper's standard input, one per line.
[<attr> ...]". The value may be a hex sha1 hash, "@<dest>" for
a symref, or "?" to indicate that the helper could not get the
value of the ref. A space-separated list of attributes follows
the name; unrecognized attributes are ignored. After the
complete list, outputs a blank line.
the name; unrecognized attributes are ignored. The list ends
with a blank line.
+
If 'push' is supported this may be called as 'list for-push'
to obtain the current refs prior to sending one or more 'push'
commands to the helper.
'option' <name> <value>::
Set the transport helper option <name> to <value>. Outputs a
Sets the transport helper option <name> to <value>. Outputs a
single line containing one of 'ok' (option successfully set),
'unsupported' (option not recognized) or 'error <msg>'
(option <name> is supported but <value> is not correct
(option <name> is supported but <value> is not valid
for it). Options should be set before other commands,
and may how those commands behave.
and may influence the behavior of those commands.
+
Supported if the helper has the "option" capability.
'fetch' <sha1> <name>::
Fetches the given object, writing the necessary objects
to the database. Fetch commands are sent in a batch, one
per line, and the batch is terminated with a blank line.
per line, terminated with a blank line.
Outputs a single blank line when all fetch commands in the
same batch are complete. Only objects which were reported
in the ref list with a sha1 may be fetched this way.
Junio C Hamano
15 years ago