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Michael Haggerty 3bc581b940 refs: introduce an iterator interface
Currently, the API for iterating over references is via a family of
for_each_ref()-type functions that invoke a callback function for each
selected reference. All of these eventually call do_for_each_ref(),
which knows how to do one thing: iterate in parallel through two
ref_caches, one for loose and one for packed refs, giving loose
references precedence over packed refs. This is rather complicated code,
and is quite specialized to the files backend. It also requires callers
to encapsulate their work into a callback function, which often means
that they have to define and use a "cb_data" struct to manage their
context.

The current design is already bursting at the seams, and will become
even more awkward in the upcoming world of multiple reference storage
backends:

* Per-worktree vs. shared references are currently handled via a kludge
  in git_path() rather than iterating over each part of the reference
  namespace separately and merging the results. This kludge will cease
  to work when we have multiple reference storage backends.

* The current scheme is inflexible. What if we sometimes want to bypass
  the ref_cache, or use it only for packed or only for loose refs? What
  if we want to store symbolic refs in one type of storage backend and
  non-symbolic ones in another?

In the future, each reference backend will need to define its own way of
iterating over references. The crux of the problem with the current
design is that it is impossible to compose for_each_ref()-style
iterations, because the flow of control is owned by the for_each_ref()
function. There is nothing that a caller can do but iterate through all
references in a single burst, so there is no way for it to interleave
references from multiple backends and present the result to the rest of
the world as a single compound backend.

This commit introduces a new iteration primitive for references: a
ref_iterator. A ref_iterator is a polymorphic object that a reference
storage backend can be asked to instantiate. There are three functions
that can be applied to a ref_iterator:

* ref_iterator_advance(): move to the next reference in the iteration
* ref_iterator_abort(): end the iteration before it is exhausted
* ref_iterator_peel(): peel the reference currently being looked at

Iterating using a ref_iterator leaves the flow of control in the hands
of the caller, which means that ref_iterators from multiple
sources (e.g., loose and packed refs) can be composed and presented to
the world as a single compound ref_iterator.

It also means that the backend code for implementing reference iteration
will sometimes be more complicated. For example, the
cache_ref_iterator (which iterates over a ref_cache) can't use the C
stack to recurse; instead, it must manage its own stack internally as
explicit data structures. There is also a lot of boilerplate connected
with object-oriented programming in C.

Eventually, end-user callers will be able to be written in a more
natural way—managing their own flow of control rather than having to
work via callbacks. Since there will only be a few reference backends
but there are many consumers of this API, this is a good tradeoff.

More importantly, we gain composability, and especially the possibility
of writing interchangeable parts that can work with any ref_iterator.

For example, merge_ref_iterator implements a generic way of merging the
contents of any two ref_iterators. It is used to merge loose + packed
refs as part of the implementation of the files_ref_iterator. But it
will also be possible to use it to merge other pairs of reference
sources (e.g., per-worktree vs. shared refs).

Another example is prefix_ref_iterator, which can be used to trim a
prefix off the front of reference names before presenting them to the
caller (e.g., "refs/heads/master" -> "master").

In this patch, we introduce the iterator abstraction and many utilities,
and implement a reference iterator for the files ref storage backend.
(I've written several other obvious utilities, for example a generic way
to filter references being iterated over. These will probably be useful
in the future. But they are not needed for this patch series, so I am
not including them at this time.)

In a moment we will rewrite do_for_each_ref() to work via reference
iterators (allowing some special-purpose code to be discarded), and do
something similar for reflogs. In future patch series, we will expose
the ref_iterator abstraction in the public refs API so that callers can
use it directly.

Implementation note: I tried abstracting this a layer further to allow
generic iterators (over arbitrary types of objects) and generic
utilities like a generic merge_iterator. But the implementation in C was
very cumbersome, involving (in my opinion) too much boilerplate and too
much unsafe casting, some of which would have had to be done on the
caller side. However, I did put a few iterator-related constants in a
top-level header file, iterator.h, as they will be useful in a moment to
implement iteration over directory trees and possibly other types of
iterators in the future.

Signed-off-by: Ramsay Jones <ramsay@ramsayjones.plus.com>
Signed-off-by: Michael Haggerty <mhagger@alum.mit.edu>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
2016-06-20 11:38:20 -07:00
Documentation Seventh batch for post 2.8 cycle 2016-04-25 15:18:35 -07:00
block-sha1
builtin remote rm: handle symbolic refs correctly 2016-06-20 11:38:18 -07:00
compat Merge branch 'ky/imap-send-openssl-1.1.0' 2016-04-22 15:45:08 -07:00
contrib Merge branch 'mg/complete-cherry-mark-to-log' 2016-04-13 14:12:40 -07:00
ewah ewah: convert to REALLOC_ARRAY, etc 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
git-gui
gitk-git Merge branch 'master' of git://ozlabs.org/~paulus/gitk 2016-03-20 18:05:10 -07:00
gitweb
mergetools mergetools: add support for ExamDiff 2016-04-04 09:15:14 -07:00
perl git-svn: shorten glob error message 2016-03-15 01:35:39 +00:00
po l10n-2.8.0-rnd3-fr 2016-04-25 13:36:26 -07:00
ppc
refs refs: introduce an iterator interface 2016-06-20 11:38:20 -07:00
t refs: resolve symbolic refs first 2016-06-13 11:23:50 +02:00
templates Merge branch 'ma/update-hooks-sample-typofix' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:50 -08:00
vcs-svn
xdiff Merge branch 'rj/xdiff-prepare-plug-leak-on-error-codepath' into maint 2016-04-14 18:57:46 -07:00
.gitattributes
.gitignore
.mailmap
.travis.yml add DEVELOPER makefile knob to check for acknowledged warnings 2016-02-25 12:49:45 -08:00
COPYING
GIT-VERSION-GEN First batch for post 2.8 cycle 2016-04-03 10:55:36 -07:00
INSTALL
LGPL-2.1
Makefile refs: introduce an iterator interface 2016-06-20 11:38:20 -07:00
README.md README.md: don't take 'commandname' literally 2016-04-03 10:12:48 -07:00
RelNotes Second batch for post 2.8 cycle 2016-04-06 11:44:24 -07:00
abspath.c Windows: shorten code by re-using convert_slashes() 2016-04-04 18:03:02 -07:00
aclocal.m4
advice.c
advice.h
alias.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
alloc.c
archive-tar.c
archive-zip.c
archive.c use st_add and st_mult for allocation size computation 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
archive.h
argv-array.c argv-array: add detach function 2016-02-22 14:50:32 -08:00
argv-array.h argv-array: add detach function 2016-02-22 14:50:32 -08:00
attr.c Merge branch 'ss/exc-flag-is-a-collection-of-bits' into maint 2016-04-14 18:37:15 -07:00
attr.h
base85.c
bisect.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
bisect.h
blob.c
blob.h
branch.c branch -m: update all per-worktree HEADs 2016-04-04 12:57:22 -07:00
branch.h branch -m: update all per-worktree HEADs 2016-04-04 12:57:22 -07:00
builtin.h
bulk-checkin.c
bulk-checkin.h
bundle.c bundle: don't leak an fd in case of early return 2016-04-01 10:33:18 -07:00
bundle.h
cache-tree.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:43 -08:00
cache-tree.h
cache.h safe_create_leading_directories(): improve docstring 2016-05-05 16:37:30 +02:00
check-builtins.sh
check-racy.c
check_bindir
color.c
color.h
column.c use xmallocz to avoid size arithmetic 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
column.h
combine-diff.c use st_add and st_mult for allocation size computation 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
command-list.txt
commit-slab.h
commit.c use st_add and st_mult for allocation size computation 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
commit.h pretty: allow tweaking tabwidth in --expand-tabs 2016-03-30 12:52:26 -07:00
config.c Merge branch 'jk/do-not-printf-NULL' 2016-04-22 15:45:09 -07:00
config.mak.in
config.mak.uname Merge branch 'ad/cygwin-wants-rename' 2016-04-22 15:45:10 -07:00
configure.ac Merge branch 'ky/imap-send-openssl-1.1.0' 2016-04-22 15:45:08 -07:00
connect.c Merge branch 'cn/deprecate-ssh-git-url' 2016-03-16 13:16:40 -07:00
connect.h
connected.c
connected.h
convert.c Merge branch 'tb/conversion' 2016-02-26 13:37:23 -08:00
convert.h
copy.c
credential-cache--daemon.c Merge branch 'jk/credential-cache-comment-exit' into maint 2016-04-14 18:37:16 -07:00
credential-cache.c credential-cache, send_request: close fd when done 2016-04-01 10:33:18 -07:00
credential-store.c
credential.c credential: let empty credential specs reset helper list 2016-02-26 10:58:14 -08:00
credential.h
csum-file.c
csum-file.h
ctype.c
daemon.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
date.c
decorate.c
decorate.h
delta.h
diff-delta.c
diff-lib.c
diff-no-index.c
diff.c Merge branch 'mm/diff-renames-default' 2016-04-03 10:29:22 -07:00
diff.h Merge branch 'mm/diff-renames-default' 2016-04-03 10:29:22 -07:00
diffcore-break.c
diffcore-delta.c use st_add and st_mult for allocation size computation 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
diffcore-order.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
diffcore-pickaxe.c
diffcore-rename.c Merge branch 'sg/diff-multiple-identical-renames' 2016-04-13 14:12:32 -07:00
diffcore.h
dir.c Merge branch 'ss/exc-flag-is-a-collection-of-bits' into maint 2016-04-14 18:37:15 -07:00
dir.h remove_dir_recursively(): add docstring 2016-05-05 16:37:30 +02:00
editor.c
entry.c use xmallocz to avoid size arithmetic 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
environment.c Merge branch 'jk/check-repository-format' 2016-04-13 14:12:28 -07:00
exec_cmd.c Merge branch 'ak/extract-argv0-last-dir-sep' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:47 -08:00
exec_cmd.h prepare_{git,shell}_cmd: use argv_array 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
fast-import.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
fetch-pack.c fetch-pack: ignore SIGPIPE in sideband demuxer 2016-02-25 13:51:47 -08:00
fetch-pack.h
fmt-merge-msg.h
fsck.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
fsck.h
generate-cmdlist.sh
gettext.c
gettext.h
git-add--interactive.perl add--interactive: allow custom diff highlighting programs 2016-02-28 10:53:54 -08:00
git-archimport.perl
git-bisect.sh
git-compat-util.h Merge branch 'ky/imap-send-openssl-1.1.0' 2016-04-22 15:45:08 -07:00
git-cvsexportcommit.perl
git-cvsimport.perl
git-cvsserver.perl
git-difftool--helper.sh
git-difftool.perl
git-filter-branch.sh
git-instaweb.sh
git-merge-octopus.sh merge-octopus: abort if index does not match HEAD 2016-04-12 18:39:43 -07:00
git-merge-one-file.sh Merge branch 'jk/no-diff-emit-common' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:42 -08:00
git-merge-resolve.sh
git-mergetool--lib.sh mergetools: create mergetool_find_win32_cmd() helper function for winmerge 2016-04-04 09:15:00 -07:00
git-mergetool.sh mergetool: honor tempfile configuration when resolving delete conflicts 2016-03-10 14:07:57 -08:00
git-p4.py Merge branch 'ls/p4-map-user' 2016-04-06 11:39:05 -07:00
git-parse-remote.sh
git-quiltimport.sh
git-rebase--am.sh
git-rebase--interactive.sh Merge branch 'rt/rebase-i-shorten-stop-report' 2016-04-13 14:12:30 -07:00
git-rebase--merge.sh
git-rebase.sh rebase: decouple --exec from --interactive 2016-03-18 14:35:31 -07:00
git-relink.perl
git-remote-testgit.sh
git-request-pull.sh
git-send-email.perl Merge branch 'ew/send-email-drop-data-dumper' 2016-04-22 15:45:06 -07:00
git-sh-i18n.sh
git-sh-setup.sh sane_grep: pass "-a" if grep accepts it 2016-03-10 15:35:43 -08:00
git-stash.sh
git-submodule.sh Merge branch 'sb/submodule-path-misc-bugs' 2016-04-25 15:17:16 -07:00
git-svn.perl git-svn: fix URL canonicalization during init w/ SVN 1.7+ 2016-03-16 20:16:23 +00:00
git-web--browse.sh
git.c Merge branch 'ak/git-strip-extension-from-dashed-command' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:48 -08:00
git.rc
git.spec.in git.spec.in: use README.md, not README 2016-04-03 10:12:48 -07:00
gpg-interface.c
gpg-interface.h
graph.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
graph.h
grep.c use xmallocz to avoid size arithmetic 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
grep.h
hashmap.c convert trivial cases to FLEX_ARRAY macros 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
hashmap.h
help.c convert trivial cases to FLEX_ARRAY macros 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
help.h
hex.c
http-backend.c show_head_ref(): check the result of resolve_ref_namespace() 2016-04-10 11:35:39 -07:00
http-fetch.c
http-push.c Merge branch 'jk/path-name-safety-2.6' into jk/path-name-safety-2.7 2016-03-16 10:42:32 -07:00
http-walker.c
http.c Merge branch 'jc/http-socks5h' 2016-04-22 15:45:09 -07:00
http.h Merge branch 'ew/force-ipv4' 2016-02-24 13:25:54 -08:00
ident.c
imap-send.c Merge branch 'ky/imap-send-openssl-1.1.0' 2016-04-22 15:45:08 -07:00
iterator.h refs: introduce an iterator interface 2016-06-20 11:38:20 -07:00
khash.h convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
kwset.c
kwset.h
levenshtein.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
levenshtein.h
line-log.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
line-log.h
line-range.c
line-range.h
list-objects.c Merge branch 'jk/path-name-safety-2.6' into jk/path-name-safety-2.7 2016-03-16 10:42:32 -07:00
list-objects.h list-objects: pass full pathname to callbacks 2016-03-16 10:41:04 -07:00
ll-merge.c use xmallocz to avoid size arithmetic 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
ll-merge.h
lockfile.c lockfile: improve error message when lockfile exists 2016-03-01 10:16:46 -08:00
lockfile.h
log-tree.c pretty: expand tabs in indented logs to make things line up properly 2016-03-30 11:25:35 -07:00
log-tree.h
mailinfo.c
mailinfo.h
mailmap.c mailmap: do not resolve blobs in a non-repository 2016-03-06 17:19:11 -08:00
mailmap.h
match-trees.c
merge-blobs.c Merge branch 'jk/no-diff-emit-common' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:42 -08:00
merge-blobs.h
merge-recursive.c merge-recursive: find-renames resets threshold 2016-02-24 10:39:02 -08:00
merge-recursive.h
merge.c
mergesort.c
mergesort.h
name-hash.c convert trivial cases to FLEX_ARRAY macros 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
notes-cache.c
notes-cache.h
notes-merge.c
notes-merge.h
notes-utils.c
notes-utils.h
notes.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
notes.h
object.c
object.h
pack-bitmap-write.c Merge branch 'jk/path-name-safety-2.6' into jk/path-name-safety-2.7 2016-03-16 10:42:32 -07:00
pack-bitmap.c Merge branch 'jk/path-name-safety-2.6' into jk/path-name-safety-2.7 2016-03-16 10:42:32 -07:00
pack-bitmap.h
pack-check.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
pack-objects.c
pack-objects.h
pack-revindex.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
pack-revindex.h
pack-write.c
pack.h
pager.c Merge branch 'jc/am-i-v-fix' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:41 -08:00
parse-options-cb.c
parse-options.c
parse-options.h
patch-delta.c
patch-ids.c
patch-ids.h
path.c Merge branch 'jk/check-repository-format' 2016-04-13 14:12:28 -07:00
pathspec.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
pathspec.h
pkt-line.c
pkt-line.h
preload-index.c
pretty.c pretty: allow tweaking tabwidth in --expand-tabs 2016-03-30 12:52:26 -07:00
prio-queue.c
prio-queue.h
progress.c use xmallocz to avoid size arithmetic 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
progress.h
prompt.c
prompt.h
quote.c quote: implement sq_quotef() 2016-03-01 12:24:15 -08:00
quote.h quote: implement sq_quotef() 2016-03-01 12:24:15 -08:00
reachable.c Merge branch 'maint-2.5' into maint-2.6 2016-03-17 11:26:18 -07:00
reachable.h
read-cache.c Merge branch 'nd/ita-cleanup' into maint 2016-02-22 13:10:21 -08:00
ref-filter.c ref-filter.c: mark strings for translation 2016-02-29 14:27:58 -08:00
ref-filter.h
reflog-walk.c
reflog-walk.h
refs.c ref_transaction_update(): check refname_is_safe() at a minimum 2016-06-13 11:23:50 +02:00
refs.h refs: introduce an iterator interface 2016-06-20 11:38:20 -07:00
remote-curl.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:43 -08:00
remote-testsvn.c
remote.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:43 -08:00
remote.h
replace_object.c
rerere.c Merge branch 'jc/rerere-multi' 2016-04-25 15:17:15 -07:00
rerere.h Merge branch 'jc/rerere-multi' 2016-04-25 15:17:15 -07:00
resolve-undo.c
resolve-undo.h
revision.c Merge branch 'lt/pretty-expand-tabs' 2016-04-13 14:12:36 -07:00
revision.h Merge branch 'lt/pretty-expand-tabs' 2016-04-13 14:12:36 -07:00
run-command.c Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
run-command.h Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
send-pack.c
send-pack.h
sequencer.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
sequencer.h
server-info.c
setup.c Merge branch 'jc/xstrfmt-null-with-prec-0' 2016-04-22 15:45:08 -07:00
sh-i18n--envsubst.c
sha1-array.c
sha1-array.h
sha1-lookup.c
sha1-lookup.h
sha1_file.c Merge branch 'jk/pack-idx-corruption-safety' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:46 -08:00
sha1_name.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' into maint 2016-03-10 11:13:43 -08:00
shallow.c use st_add and st_mult for allocation size computation 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
shell.c
shortlog.h
show-index.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
sideband.c
sideband.h
sigchain.c
sigchain.h
split-index.c
split-index.h
strbuf.c Merge branch 'jk/getwholeline-getdelim-empty' into maint 2016-04-14 18:57:46 -07:00
strbuf.h Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
streaming.c
streaming.h
string-list.c
string-list.h
submodule-config.c Merge branch 'ak/use-hashmap-iter-first-in-submodule-config' 2016-04-13 14:12:29 -07:00
submodule-config.h Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
submodule.c Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
submodule.h Merge branch 'sb/submodule-parallel-update' 2016-04-06 11:39:01 -07:00
symlinks.c
tag.c
tag.h
tar.h
tempfile.c
tempfile.h
test-chmtime.c
test-config.c
test-ctype.c
test-date.c
test-delta.c
test-dump-cache-tree.c
test-dump-split-index.c
test-dump-untracked-cache.c
test-fake-ssh.c
test-genrandom.c
test-hashmap.c
test-index-version.c
test-line-buffer.c
test-match-trees.c use setup_git_directory() in test-* programs 2016-03-07 12:27:35 -08:00
test-mergesort.c
test-mktemp.c
test-parse-options.c
test-path-utils.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
test-prio-queue.c
test-read-cache.c
test-regex.c
test-revision-walking.c use setup_git_directory() in test-* programs 2016-03-07 12:27:35 -08:00
test-run-command.c run-command: do not pass child process data into callbacks 2016-03-01 09:42:01 -08:00
test-scrap-cache-tree.c
test-sha1-array.c
test-sha1.c
test-sha1.sh
test-sigchain.c
test-string-list.c
test-submodule-config.c
test-subprocess.c
test-svn-fe.c
test-urlmatch-normalization.c
test-wildmatch.c
thread-utils.c
thread-utils.h
trace.c
trace.h
trailer.c trailer.c: mark strings for translation 2016-02-29 14:27:58 -08:00
trailer.h
transport-helper.c Merge branch 'ew/force-ipv4' 2016-02-24 13:25:54 -08:00
transport.c Merge branch 'cn/deprecate-ssh-git-url' 2016-03-16 13:16:40 -07:00
transport.h
tree-diff.c Merge branch 'maint-2.4' into maint-2.5 2016-03-17 11:24:14 -07:00
tree-walk.c
tree-walk.h
tree.c
tree.h
unicode_width.h
unimplemented.sh
unix-socket.c
unix-socket.h
unpack-trees.c
unpack-trees.h
update_unicode.sh
upload-pack.c upload-pack: use argv_array for pack_objects 2016-02-25 14:20:25 -08:00
url.c
url.h
urlmatch.c
urlmatch.h
usage.c
userdiff.c
userdiff.h diff: clarify textconv interface 2016-02-22 10:40:35 -08:00
utf8.c
utf8.h
varint.c
varint.h
version.c
version.h
versioncmp.c
walker.c
walker.h
wildmatch.c
wildmatch.h
worktree.c
worktree.h
wrap-for-bin.sh
wrapper.c Merge branch 'jk/tighten-alloc' 2016-02-26 13:37:16 -08:00
write_or_die.c write_or_die: handle EPIPE in async threads 2016-02-25 13:51:45 -08:00
ws.c
wt-status.c Merge branch 'sb/misc-cleanups' 2016-04-13 14:12:34 -07:00
wt-status.h
xdiff-interface.c convert trivial cases to ALLOC_ARRAY 2016-02-22 14:51:09 -08:00
xdiff-interface.h
zlib.c

README.md

Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system

Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.

Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.

Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.

Many Git online resources are accessible from http://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.

See Documentation/gittutorial.txt to get started, then see Documentation/giteveryday.txt for a useful minimum set of commands, and Documentation/git-commandname.txt for documentation of each command. If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be read with "man gittutorial" or "git help tutorial", and the documentation of each command with "man git-commandname" or "git help commandname".

CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.txt ("man gitcvs-migration" or "git help cvs-migration" if git is installed).

The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission). To subscribe to the list, send an email with just "subscribe git" in the body to majordomo@vger.kernel.org. The mailing list archives are available at http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/, http://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.

The maintainer frequently sends the "What's cooking" reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.

The name "git" was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as "the stupid content tracker" and the name as (depending on your mood):

  • random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of "get" may or may not be relevant.
  • stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
  • "global information tracker": you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
  • "goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t": when it breaks